Some stuff from my holiday to California

[HardRockCamaro]

I've been back a week now and I'm just going through my photos and videos, I'll post 'em in this thread...

It was a great trip, taking in LA, San Diego and San Francisco all in a Mustang Convertible hire car.

A SHELBY Mustang to be exact!  

After the inevitable "we don't have any Mustangs available, how about a Sebring?" conversation which resulted in a half hour argument, the intervention of the Manageress and some smooth talking, we secured the Shelby with unlimited mileage for just an extra $25 a day over the regular convertible!

Now, I'm a Camaro man at heart but I have to admit, it was a great bit of kit.  Although the engine doesn't have much more power over stock it does sound lovely at 2,500 - 4,500rpm and it handles very well.  The downsides are that it's a terrible ride (about the same as the IROC which rides like a tank) and is thus a tiring car to drive.  But a lot of fun!!!!

[55starchief]

nicely done mate, the pacific coast highway is awesome, it gets real twisty around marin county and the sun shining on the ocean just makes it sparkle

[HardRockCamaro]

[F Body]

You got any more pictures of the Rivera

[HardRockCamaro]

Some movie stuff:
BACK TO THE FUTURE:

The entrance to Marty's street


The car from Back to the Future 2


Docs house in 1955


Docs workshop in 1955

WAR OF THE WORLDS:

The aircraft crash site

PSYCHO:

The house on the hill

JAWS:

The welcome sign

BEVERLY HILLS COP 3:

The "alien attack" ride

KING KONG:

The model ship and island

DIE HARD:

Fox Plaza aka Nakatomi Tower

TOP GUN:

Charlie (Kelly McGillis) house


The Kansas City BBQ Bar in San Diego, where the bar scenes were filmed

[HardRockCamaro]

Now it's QUIZ time!!!

MIKE YOU CAN'T ENTER COS YOU ALREADY KNOW!!!





These 2 locations are from the opening few minutes of an 80s film, anyone know which one?

[Roadkill]

Nicely editted.  Fantastic pictures.

That's a F*cking good camera you're using, there !

[Roadkill]

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

These 2 locations are from the opening few minutes of an 80s film, anyone know which one?

Lost Boys ?

Dunno, I'm not good on 80's stuff . . .

[55starchief]

Big

[HardRockCamaro]

[HardRockCamaro]

Quoting: Roadkill

Quoting: HardRockCamaro
These 2 locations are from the opening few minutes of an 80s film, anyone know which one?


Lost Boys ?  

Dunno, I'm not good on 80's stuff . . .

Top Marks!

It is indeed from Santa Clara, the imaginary town used in Lost Boys.  Real name:  Santa Cruz.

Quite spooky wandering around it out of season and in the pitch dark...

[Roadkill]

Yay, me.

[Big Mouse]

Dude, seriously good images, great composition. Are they as taken or did you clean them up with software. Shame there were so many people about for the silouhettes; just a couple of people would have been perfect

[HardRockCamaro]

They have had minimal software work.

Basically they were shot with the camera set to vivid mode and max saturation.
In the case of the sunset and sillhouette stuff I set the white balance to the shade setting to warm them up artificially and get the sky a depper red/orange.

However my Nikon doesn't make colours as vivid as it could so I increase the contrast and saturation another 10% or so.

I'm not 100% happy with that Mustang one.  It was taken literally in almost pitch black, just starlight and a partial moon.  Even a 30 second exposure wasn't enough so that one has been brightened up a fair bit in software to try and save the image.  The car was blasted with a handheld flashgun but in hindsight it could have used a few more blasts during the exposure...


Actually, you might be the man to ask:

At Santa Pod and/or Shakespeare how do I go about getting a pass to take some good photos of the cars burning out and launching?  The wall gets in the way on the bank side and the seating on the other side is too high for a dramatic shot...

I'm toying with the idea of selling them online (and maybe even on site if I can power a professional printer somehow).  I know other people do it but that doesn't bother me...

[ianjpage]

wow some great photos & vid there mate - looks like you had a nice time....making me wanna go there now!!!

[Kenny]

Damn, those photo's are *amazing*.  
I wish I had an ounce of your talent, then my Florida pics wouldn't all look so s**t.  I'm sure a decent camera would help, but it's got a lot to do with artistic and technical knowledge - of which I have jack .

Do you spend long setting up for each shot trying different things, or do you just look at something and know what your going to do?

[55starchief]

I think its the difference between a DSLR and a compact. I have not done much with my EOS 400D but have taken a couple of cool pics and im sure once we get stateside i will hammer out a few more.

[Kenny]

Quoting: 55starchief

I think its the difference between a DSLR and a compact

Having a good camera definitely helps, but it doesn't matter how clear and colourful a picture is, its still a crap picture if its not composed correctly - which is where the artisticness comes in... some of us have it.. some of us don't.

Plus it helps to know exactly how all the different settings can be used to enhance the shot.

[Incursus]

Wow nice pics

[HardRockCamaro]

It's the biggest myth going that a better camera will suddenly give you amazing shots.  Especially an SLR.  You can give a £100 compact to a talented photographer and you'll get an amazing picture back.  You can give a £10,000 camera to the Average Joe and you'll get nothing but a snapshot back.

In fact, if you give the average person a compact and an SLR they'll take the same picture as they'll use full auto mode on both.  The shot from the SLR will be a bit sharper but basically they'll look about the same.

An SLR gives you the following benefits (aside from the obvious interchangeable lenses):
1) Instant power on <- helps make sure you don't miss shots
2) No shutter delay<- helps make sure you don't miss shots
5) Faster continuous shooting, typically 3-6 frames per second <- Again so you don't miss a shot
3) Better low light performance <- pictures are less noisy and you can generally get away with a faster shutter speed which avoids blurry shots.
4) Buttons to change important settings quickly (unless it's a low end model) <- Again so you don't miss a shot.
5) Faster, more intelligent autofocus <- for example it can track a fast moving object as it crosses the frame or comes towards you and it isn't fooled by a pane of glass between you and the subject.

An SLR is just "faster" in terms of handling, less delays and less frustrating to fiddle with.  This is why I bought an SLR.  My Casio compact, while very good (has all the important manual overrides) still suffered from startup delay, shutter lag, poor low light performance and certain important settings buried in menus.  All typical compact camera hallmarks.  An SLR makes experimenting easier and less frustrating and that helps when it comes to motivation too...

But you don't *need* that stuff unless you're a sports shooter or some other specialist.  Composition and colour are important and that's down to you not the camera.  But you can learn this stuff (although the best people have a natural talent, sadly I do not).

I've learnt through practice (I've had my current camera just over 5 months and I've taken over 5,000 photos with it according to the shutter actuations counter).  I read books and websites on the subject and go out and try the techniques and stuff I've read about.

[Big Mouse]

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

Actually, you might be the man to ask:

At Santa Pod and/or Shakespeare how do I go about getting a pass to take some good photos of the cars burning out and launching? The wall gets in the way on the bank side and the seating on the other side is too high for a dramatic shot...

I'm toying with the idea of selling them online (and maybe even on site if I can power a professional printer somehow). I know other people do it but that doesn't bother me...

Tough one, they have dozens of people wanting to take photos on the start line and getting a Press pass is akin to winning the lottery - basically it won't happen.

However, there are more ways to skin a cat. Signing on as crew will get you a startline pass for that class only The startline marshalls see you there before or after that particular class has been through and you'll be asked to leave the area; if you're asked twice you'll be asked to leave the track for the rest of the meet.

Its worth asking various racers if they would be interested in having some photos taken on the startline FOC; give them some bullshit about loving the car etc etc, all drag racers crave publicity like the Beckhams. Some of them may be willing to allow you to sign on for a crew startline pass which will mean you can stay there for the whole class going through which could be anything from 3-4 cars to 30; the more expensive the class, the fewer entrants!

Generally you're not going to be able to get much further than the 30ft beam before someone pulls you out so be prepared to put on the charm if req.

If I'm racing I can usually get you signed on as crew for a startline pass in Street Eliminator which will get you smoky burnouts, rolling burnouts and some pretty fierce launches.

Forget anything running nitro - if you get a pass for that you'll have really struck gold and I'll insist of being your assistant!!

Selling them online is a good idea; as you say there are loads of people doing it, just look at the Santa Pod websie gallery to see the list of photographers. Some are really good, like Sharkman, others couldn't take a picture of their own face if they held the camera the wrong way round. A4s usually fetch a between £5-10 depending on good a shot it is.

Most phototgraphers rely on people hitting their website; I'd get a whole load together and then visit the relevant racers in the pits to show them what you have of their rides when they're not busy.

[FUBAR]

Dude, you take some seriously nice photos i'm in awe, literally.

I wish I'd have got piccys from china that were as good as those.

I'm well impressed

[Rocky]

Awesome pictures, I took alot of the same pics on my camera and they look nothing like yours. We will have to take you with us next time to be our camera man.

You should think about doing it for a living

[HardRockCamaro]

San Francisco:

[55starchief]

Cool, i love san francisco, lived just out side for 3 months in the mid 90's

What no footage of lombard street? and did you not go up to haight ashby? thats the old hippy quaters and there is a record store there called amiba records thats about 10'000 sqft