[MT-ED]

Firstly, let me state that I am not a professional photographer. Anything written here is my personal opinions and preferences and may not necessarily mesh with photographic text books.

This isn’t exactly a Forum post, more of an article, so you might want to go grab a coffee or a cold one and make yourself comfortable.

Photography has changed a lot in the last 20 years. We’ve gone from roll film to digital in a short time and the camera technology has got smaller and smaller. Now most people with cell-phones can be photo-journalists and the exchange of image information is intense. But is it photography?

I consider taking photos to fall into 2 categories. There are snapshots and there are photos. The general public has been taking snapshots for ever. Patiently waiting for a minimum of one hour (but only fairly recently), previously for days to see the result of their endeavours. Sometimes the results were disappointing and Grandma’s head got cut of again (groan).

Digital imagery has changed that. Snap, check (expletive muttered under breath), re-take the picture……sweet!

Digital camera quality has improved incredibly and the resolution on even cell-phone cameras is often better than available in high-end cameras a few years back. Having a good resolution camera is half the battle to good pictures, but there’s a lot more to it than that.

Everybody takes family snaps right? Most people would tend not to regard them as Portraits and if they want a family Portrait, they’ll go all gussied up to a Portrait Studio and let themselves be photographed against a neutral and uncluttered background.

You still gotta check what’s happening behind you though.

Psycho Killer, Qu'est Que C'est .

A specific photographer may have other ideas about backgrounds and feel your family needs some showbiz pazzaz!

………….or not. Settings are important when photographing your Soul too. I’ll get back to that later.

The explosion in cell-phone selfies has highlighted a major problem with the average photographer out there. People simply do not look at the big picture when taking these snaps, or often other types of picture.

Concentrate on the pose, not the equipment.

Nice pink robe dude. The cat appears to be making a sound akin to Bagpipes.

Ok, this is a Kia Soul Forum, so let’s now look at how things relate to taking pictures of our Souls. At least we don't need to use the Bathroom mirror. If you take a photo of your car to show to others either in the Owners Photo Gallery or as an entry in Soul Of The Month what are you trying to achieve?

The answer has to be that you’re showing off your pride and joy right? So why not do that as well as can possibly be done? Do you want to take a Snap or do you want it to be a Portrait? Look through the pages of the Owners Photo Gallery and see how many pictures you see that are snaps of cars sitting in parking lots or on driveways with all sorts of visual clutter and street furniture cluttering up the overall picture. I can go to the local big-box store parking lot or Supermarket to see that.

Sometimes people post images that aren’t even oriented correctly. Why? It ain’t hard to rotate pictures so that people don’t have to crank their necks to view it correctly. And what’s up with those thumbnails? Why not post pictures as large as the Forum system will allow? If people right-click and choose “View Image” they can see it at the largest size the Forum will display. Better to show off your car’s details. I don't even know how to post a thumbnail.

If you don’t show off the car to its best advantage, you do your vehicle a serious disservice. And yourself too for that matter. Especially if the vehicle has modifications, that means all your hard-earned cash, plus blood, sweat and tears you’ve invested are not being given their due showcase. Celebrate your car and other’s will celebrate it back.

You’ve invested time in your car even if it’s bone-stock, but you just gave it a great wax-job. Isn’t it worth investing some time to take a Portrait of the car rather than a hurried snapshot? Investing time can be very satisfying when the end result is a cool picture of your baby.

While you are driving around, look for cool backgrounds. Log them in your brain or write them down. What is a cool background? It can be just about anything really depending on what overall “look” you want in the picture. Once you have a few locations planned, dedicate time to go round to these places and take calm, unhurried photos of the car at different angles. Straight on, side views are great for sales brochures, but not for portraits. Angle the car and you’ll naturally get perspective in the picture which will better define its shape and features.

I’m going to use a picture from Rick Busby because I know he’s cool with me critiquing it for educational purposes. Rick used this picture when he won the June 2013 Soul Of The Month, so people obviously felt it showcased the car adequately.

The scenery is nice……..Rick has some nice areas on his property………but the positioning of the car against the background has some issues. A large tree kind of “grows” out of the car and the trunk draws the eye away from the car. What are those orange things near the front bumper? They look like giant carrots to me, so my mind is being distracted by their presence. Overall, the picture is slightly out of focus, possibly due to camera shake.

Now in this picture, which I suspect Rick took from his Lawn-chair, the focus is spot-on.
The car looks meaner somehow because of the lower point of view and in this case the beautiful trees form a frame which follows the contours of the car’s shape. The car is “framed” by them. This picture was a little dark, due to cloudy conditions, but I played around with it using this online editing site:

Photo Editor | iPiccy: Free Online Photo Editing for You

I highly recommend this to anyone. Put it in your favourites. Play with it and see what you can do to your photos.

Using Photoshop, I added the sky graduation and edited out a few visually distracting grass blades to achieve the clean look. So watch your backgrounds. Look at the BIG picture before you press the shutter.

My Mother was artistic and painted. Her genes have made me naturally artistic and I subconsciously frame pictures as I take them. I can’t help it. The “Art” really comes out when I’m photo-editing though. I don’t believe anyone has seen a picture of mine here that hasn’t been tweaked in some way. Usually it’s something really subtle, but not always.

Here’s a Snap-shot.

Here’s a Portrait.

Here’s the same Portrait, but highly stylized. The original picture was copied. One copy was textured and changed using Ipiccy, then the car was copied and pasted from the original so that it was smooth against the background. Lot of work around the edges. This is advanced stuff, but something you can learn real quick.

I'll be back with a Part 2 soon.

 

[Rick Busby]

This is Texas. Those ARE carrots!

 

[MT-ED]

This is Texas. Those ARE carrots!

So the trees must be Celery? You must use some "Fixin" good manure.

 

[Rick Busby]

So the trees must be Celery? You must use some "Fixin" good manure.

Yessiree! Lotta manure around here! But seriously. Great article! Makes me wanna go take pictures. Now I have a better understanding of what to look for. Positioning is everthing! And the critiquing of my picture was great. Thanks. Hope it helps others as much as it did me!

 

[The Old Grouch]

Went to that iPiccy photo editor site and discovered that the download is loaded with adware and toolbar add-ons that you can't seem to opt out of. I strongly advise everyone to stay completely away from that download.

 

[Rick Busby]

So you can't SEEM to opt out?

 

[The Old Grouch]

I tried using the custom install to opt out of three different pieces of unwanted garbage that they were showing, and right after that it was still going to install yet another unwanted toolbar.

 

[MT-ED]

Went to that iPiccy photo editor site and discovered that the download is loaded with adware and toolbar add-ons that you can't seem to opt out of. I strongly advise everyone to stay completely away from that download.

I've never downloaded anything. I use the site online and have done for the last 3 years without any issue.

 

[The Old Grouch]

Then they have apparently added a bunch of junk to their download since you downloaded it, 'cause it's sure there now.

 

[MT-ED]

Then they have apparently added a bunch of junk to their download since you downloaded it, 'cause it's sure there now.

Are you looking at the same site? There ARE no downloads on there. It even says on the Homepage "100% no downloads"

It's purely an on-line editing site.

 

[The Old Grouch]

I believe I have discovered the problem. I (mistakenly) used the download button at the top of the page that your link took me to, as opposed to the start editing button on the center right of the page. I stand corrected.

 

[MT-ED]

Deinde, ego te absolvo a peccatis tuis in nomine Patris, et Filii, + et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.

 

[The Old Grouch]

It's the page that comes up when I click on the link you provided.

 

[MT-ED]

What I see is this:

 

[The Old Grouch]

I get the same page, but with 2 additional download buttons for other sites. Your ISP must block them from appearing.

 

[Rick Busby]

Deinde, ego te absolvo a peccatis tuis in nomine Patris, et Filii, + et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.

Couldn't have said it better myself!

 

[MT-ED]

PART 2

The first thing that digital photography allows you to do over film photography is take lots of pictures at no extra cost. All it really costs is extra time taking them, plus the time it takes to choose the best pics and edit them. More about editing in a while.

I take lots of pictures and discard lots. It doesn’t matter how good or bad your equipment is, or how skilful you are with it, you will get bad pictures……or inferior ones anyway.
Another great thing about digital photography is instant results. You can review what you just took and take it again (if that’s possible) if required. Gradually, you’ll learn what works and what doesn’t. You’ll find the learning curve to be quite steep if you take lots of pictures, which is self-satisfying because you’ll get better as you go.

All the pictures I’m using here were taken by me unless specifically stated otherwise.

In the first part I touched on backgrounds and being aware of visual clutter that can detract from the subject, the car. Here’s a picture just to set a scene for you. Soul Club Of Ontario members parked in a line. We’re at Scarboro Bluffs which is on the coast of Lake Ontario. It offers some nice photo opportunities.

Here’s a picture of Marc’s car. Ok, I’ve messed with this picture….darkened the sky and hand drawn (mouse) in lightning for dramatic effect.

The picture would be better without the bench in it and the pathway in the grass kind of detracts from the overall picture. Ideally, we should have moved the cars around and positioned the car where these visual distractions were not visible.

In this picture, our car is parked in a position without all this close background clutter. You tend to concentrate on the car itself, but the background doesn’t scream for attention.

This picture of Gary Townshend’s car against reeds gives a simple, textured background who’s colour compliments the car.

It’s a nice photo as it is, but I can make it pop quite easily.

The additions of graduated colours at top and bottom and an enhancement of the overall colour take it into magazine territory.

The picture above is a pure portrait, enhanced or stock. The sort of thing you would want to use if you’re showing off your pride and joy or entering Soul Of The Month. You may however wish to take a nice picture of your car in a setting where the background is an inherent part of the overall image. Generally, this means the car is proportionally smaller in the overall picture, but its presence gives scale to the scene.

Here, the wow is in the sky. If you draw two imaginary lines down either side of that cloud formation, you'll find that they are parrallel to the angle of the Soul's windshield. That was completely unintentional on my part, but I think it's why the picture "works" well aesthetically.

Here, the car gives scale to the massive trees, but it’s not that great a portrait of the car.

Digital cameras usually come with Photo-editing software and one of the greatest tools these include is a cropping tool. Crop the picture and the car becomes more of a major feature.

Crop further and the car becomes the main feature.

Having the car be a small feature in the overall feature may place it in the context of where it is, but not be exactly a thrilling picture.

Corvette on a race-track………ok, got that.

Corvette on a race-track………IN YOUR FACE.

Corvette on a race-track………Now the car becomes part of an artistic composition. The sweeping curves of tire marks suggest speed and movement.

In the first part, I talked about the three-quarter view (front or back) of the car being a good way to show it off. For entering Soul Of The Month, you can only post 3 pictures, so they had better show off the car to its best advantage. You can include a three-quarter front and rear view because that covers most of the car. If you have a really tricked-out engine bay, the third one might be most useful being of that. If not, you can do something more funky.

Look in magazines. Car photographers LOVE taking low down shots of cars. If you have a digital camera with swivelling screen it’s easy. If not, then just drop the camera close to the ground and take multiple pics at slightly different angles till you get the view you want.

I took this specifically because I wanted to contrast the black of the car against the pink Cherry blossom.

Souls look good from this angle and the tree kind of fans around the car. It was an overcast sky, so the sky is boring and the overall colours wishy-washy due to the light.

A bit of enhancement.

This helps, but it still wasn’t doing it for me.

In Photoshop, I added the Dusky Pink graduation to the sky and using Ipiccy, I filtered the picture using the Orton Effect, which gives a mild bloom to the picture.

So you can see how one picture can be many things. There’s lots of on-line editing stuff out there and a lot of it is very easy to learn

Part 3 later............

 

[GenuineSoul]

Great article! Although I don't share your affinity for adding artificial colors to the background skies or foreground... ground.

I certainly edit any pictures I put up, but I do try to just emphasize the colors already present in the photo. I like for them to look like they're right off the camera, which rules out pink or orange skies unless it's sunset or sunrise. To each their own.

Great tips on framing and angle of attack on these though!

 

[MT-ED]

Great article! Although I don't share your affinity for adding artificial colors to the background skies or foreground... ground.

I certainly edit any pictures I put up, but I do try to just emphasize the colors already present in the photo. I like for them to look like they're right off the camera, which rules out pink or orange skies unless it's sunset or sunrise. To each their own.

Great tips on framing and angle of attack on these though!

To be honest, I've only started playing with Photoshop fairly recently and the coloured graduation thing is still a novelty. It's not something I really use a lot. I'm just trying to cram a lot of ideas in here to maybe help people take more interesting photos.

Sunrise......no funky stuff

 

[MT-ED]

Part 3

Ok………..everyone still with me or is all this stuff causing you some kind of allergic reaction?

It is? Oh………….

Oh yeah……….looks nasty………nice shower curtain……….

It’s the selfies man, point the camera at your car will ya.

As a kind of Epinephrine starter I’ll state that this isn’t going to get into Apertures, Focal Lengths, etc……………and the only f-stops we’ll cover are trying to stop you using that word due to the fact you’ll be taking better pictures.

Photography can be a very technical subject indeed, but I’m not going to get into that stuff (mainly ‘cos I don’t understand half of it myself).

Right, back to backgrounds and stuff. Now sometimes there may be a very nice background that you wish to use, but some clown put an electrical cable right through the sky or put a garbage can right where you can’t hide it from view at the angle you wish to photograph. So you have to accept that life isn’t perfect and just take the picture anyway right? Well yes and no. You can take the picture, then edit out the imperfections.

This picture is taken in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto. To the right of the car on the grass (hidden under leaves) there were 3 bright blue water stand pipes which detracted from the overall image. I edited them out by copying areas of the adjacent leaves and then pasting them over the pipes. At normal magnification, you can’t see the edits.

I took this picture for June 2013 Soul Of The Month.

This is the original.

See how you just HAVE to look at those numbers. So I edited them out.
There’s more to this picture than meets the eye. It’s not the sort of thing you’re going to be able to take with your phone or most point and shoot cameras. I use a Canon Rebel Digital Single Lens Reflex camera (SLR). This allows the use of different lenses. This picture was taken with a Canon 75-300mm Telephoto lens. Because of the use of ambient fluorescent light within the underground garage, the camera is mounted on a tripod and I used the camera’s in-built delayed shutter release so I wasn’t even touching it when it fired. This eliminates any possibility of camera shake. Try this with the camera in your hand and it will be somewhat fuzzy.

Here’s an idea of how far from the car the camera was (about 60 feet).

So why take a picture so far away from the car? Why not just go closer with a regular lens? Without getting technical, different lenses do things to the image and this can be to your advantage if used correctly.

If I use the same Telephoto Lens on a car from a greater distance it foreshortens the vehicle and because the camera is focussed on the car, the background goes out of focus which makes the car stand out more.

Soul Sailor, you poser!

With the regular lens, the effect is different.

As you get closer to the subject with a regular lens it becomes more wide angle. Cameras in phones are usually pretty wide angle, so you can get some funky shots with them. I took this with my camera specifically to capture an odd perspective on a Soul owner’s meet.

Another version, I made “grittier” using the Advanced HDR filter on Ipiccy.

Note how it enhances certain details like the tire treads.

Primarily, I wrote this article to help people produce better pictures of their cars to show off to other owners here. I hope I’ve given you enough basic pointers to consider and that more people will have a go at producing “Portraits” of their beloved Souls.

You might find that you get really into it and suddenly find you have a new hobby. I have half-decent camera equipment now and bought it to make it possible to take better nature photographs. I used to specialize in taking pictures of Tropical Fish and even had photos published that were only 3.2 Megapixels from a point and shoot camera.

Example:

So you don't necessarily need fancy equipment, and less so for taking photos of cars. All that does is just broaden the possibilities. I’ve also always enjoyed photographing cars because I'm a car nut and I find plenty of opportunities to do that. With the Kia Soul, you can take portraits of it or you can use it as a background to something else.