BOOSTD 7

WAY too much blur applied to the background and out of focus areas ... really, if you want natural looking blur, you need a fast lens and shoot at less than f/2.8. But if you can't do that, just keep the effect natural looking. All that selective color is for weddings only, you'd get better results by slightly desaturating the background, not making it totally black/white.

HaloX

^lol. I see fisheye lenses can still be good. Is that the 15mm fisheye ? I noticed you shooting Nikon. Was that the D200 body ? If so, its very nice!

Good point about the lens and gaussian blurs in PS. I think after looking a bit at the pictures, they do seem kind of over-the-top in PS and should have been toned down. (PS-wise). Reminds me of how the young people on this forum mod like crazy while the older folks here tend to mellow down on modding.

BTW, I never shot weddings before so I never knew about how I should use the selective filters and colors for wedding shots. I guess I unknowingly applied wedding style
photography in car photography.

Lastly, thanks for the tips BOOSTD7. I think next time I will try to create natural bokeh before I run to photoshop for enhancements. I think you bring up a good point by opening the aperture wider and increasing the shutter speed and lowering the ISO and WB to create natural looking bokeh. (Assumed of course) I totally forgot about doing this due to the enormous number of rotaries out there.

BOOSTD 7

Not a fish ... it's the Nikon 12-24 f/4 DX lens. And yes, I have a D200 and a D70s. For shoots the majority of my work is done with the 12-24 and my 80-200 f/2.8 AF-S. I use the 28-75 f/2.8 for car to car shots and close-up detail work. Sometimes I'll use my 85 f/1.4 if the light is right and I want a narrow depth of field shot.

Even when I shoot at 2.8 with the 80-200, there's still enough DOF to cover the car ... just that you get good subject isolation over shoting at smaller apertures. You gotta have nice glass though to shoot wide open and still get the contrast and sharpness you need.

To get the WB right, I use an expodisc. I preset the WB whenever the lighting changes, and I always get it right that way. Sure you can change the WB in post processing if you shoot raw, but you'll still clip channels and loose data ... doing it with proper WB presets (expodisc or a whibal card) is the best way to get it spot on.

Light permitting, ALWAYS shoot as low ISO as you can. 99% of my stuff with the D200 is ISO 100, even in low light I keep it at ISO 100 - just use a tripod.

If you saw me there, why not say hi? Snobby RX-8 owners

HaloX

The only place I saw you was in Rishie's RX-8 picking your nose. I wouldn't have wanted to introduce myself and shake hands with fingers covered in boogers.

Seriously though, I would have introduced myself, but I didn't want to disturb you photographing cars. One thing I know about photography is to not disturb people on the shoot.

BTW, your camera gear is very impressive. I'm looking to get a setup similar to what you have for my Canon 20d when the money is there. Thanks for the tips too! Appreciate it!

BOOSTD 7

Ha, it was a good buger too ... you would have liked it

I was there to hang out and meet people, and cover the event for RX Tuner Mag. But then when everybody started leaving after only being there 30 minutes, I ran around like crazy trying to take pics. What was up with those FD guys, leaving so quick?

HaloX

^There was also an event that day in Fremont (close to San Jose). I think it was a go-kart/show/JDM event, so people went down there after Rotaryfest.

BOOSTD 7

That event sucked! I was there with Rishie before Rotary Fest ...

HardHitter

It was nice to meet you and glad you came along with Rishie. I was Brian, the one with the blue FD that organized the South Bay Caravan. Glad you came all that way and I hope you enjoyed your stay