Lexus GS300 - Night shot, ambient light. Help needed

[nikolaiski]

I'm very new to ambient light at night, night photography. Taken with a 30D, 17-40L with a C-PL and Graduated ND4.

PP - unsharp mask and a little reduction of highlights on the road surface.

Do tell me whats good/bad/wrong/right...appreciated!

(click on the thumbnail to enlarge pls)

 

[calebk]

What are you trying to achieve with this shot?

What is the reason for the GND and the CPL?

 

[nikolaiski]

I was basically seeking to even out the lighting spread of the car. The CPL was used to cut the glare from light reflecting off the rear window while the ND was used to reduce the exposure of the car's backside, which would otherwise be overly exposed due to harsh head on lighting.

 

[ServeChilled]

Too noisy imo, depending on the kind of car, for this example i would go for a clean sharp img. Composition seems not tight enough.
Cheers!

 

[nikolaiski]

ah sorry, the noise didn't appear till i compressed the image to upload..lemme see if i can paste the original sized/big picture..

 

[lumen]

i think the photo has good potential ... i did a very quick post-processing in 5 - 10min... a bit sloppy though but just to show what u can do. if u dun mind, here's what i did (p.s. i can remove it if u mind)

 

[PhantomGTR]

i think the photo has good potential ... i did a very quick post-processing in 5 - 10min... a bit sloppy though but just to show what u can do. if u dun mind, here's what i did (p.s. i can remove it if u mind)

I like the idea ;p

 

[sherchoo]

Hi Lumen,
I think you gave a rather good idea to improve the photo. Care to share this method of PP is done to a newbie like me?

 

[lumen]

just an idea phantom i saw nikolaiski's photo and straightaway thought abt the concept. in fact, to me it looks like the car is racing to the end of the road, and turning into a Transformer! ;p i think it is a great photo and what nikolaiski is probably a few more angles of the car to make into a great series.

sherchoo: it's a lot of layering, masking, blurring, curve, cropping... i think i made like 8 layers or something... i'm usually quite messy when i do PP...

 

[Petf69]

i think its too wide yet background is not interesting.....pic can be sharper, especially the Lexus model details at the back of car. need higher F-stop to get the whole car detail sharp....I will mask out the car plate too

is colour of the car Silver or Pearl white?

Given the prestige of GS300, should position the car closer to CDB or more sophisticated area....