Help on how I can produce car shots like these?

[levon_kezinch]

<p>Hey guys, Recently I have bought a nikon coolpix p510 and I really enjoy taking pictures of my car, but I was browsing online and saw a picture that I just cannot understand how to take for the life of me, Can anyone help me out get this effect? Any help is appreciated.</p>

<p>Pic I WANT to produce: If you notice, The front of the car is just MASSIVE and the sides just fade and the entire front end looks like its dominating the photo<br /> http://jonsibal.com/bpimages/passatCC_6.jpg<br><br /> Pics I HAVE shot and I think are fairly decent:</p>

<p><p><img src="http://i46.tinypic.com/117xl6e.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1200" /><img src="http://i46.tinypic.com/212s3sn.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1200" /></p></p>

<hr>

<i>Mod note: Links substituted for embedded copyrighted photos, per photo.net policy. Please upload or embed only photos that you own. Use links for photos owned by other photographers.</i>

[Mattman944]

<p>You can't post a picture that isn't yours, always post a link. The admins will remove it soon. </p>

<p>Your reference shot is taken from a close range with a wide-angle lens. Your camera has a fairly wide zoom. Zoom to the widest setting, then, get down low, as close to the car as you can keeping it in the frame. That should get close to the effect.</p>

[William Michael]

<p>The sample photo (not your one) was taken with a 10mm lens on a Nikon D300s.</p>

<p>Your Nikon Coolpix cannot zoom to anywhere near that wide an angle Focal Length. When your Coolpix camera is zoomed to the widest angle, your Coolpix Camera can only make an image about the same as a 16mm lens on a D300s. Therefore it will be impossible for you to make "the same" photograph.</p>

<p>As already mentioned – you can zoom out to the widest Focal Length you camera has and that is the closest you can get.</p>

<p>WW</p>

[levon_kezinch]

<p>In the sample photo the link is on the bottom right of the image.</p>

<p>Thank you for the advice. Do you guys think there is any photo effects that would help me get this effect on a picture? As techniques listed are not getting me even close to the result I wanted.</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>The look you're after is a function of perspective. The closer you are to the front of the car, the farther away (by comparison) the back of the car will be from you. Just like when you see railroad tracks converge in the distance.<br /><br />The key to the look is to moving your camera position closer to the front of the car. If you don't have the ability to shoot with an ultrawide lens (your Coolpix only goes kind of wide), you may simply not get in the whole front of the car. <br /><br />Here's a shot done with a lens just bit wider than yours can go. Of course I was shooting a vehicle with a hood almost as big as your whole car, which is why the perspective difference makes the windshield of a Freightliner truck only look a bit wider than the 12-inch logo above the grill. <br /><br /><em>Get closer.</em></p><div></div>

[Jeff Lear]

<p>According to the literature I can find on the P510, the (equivalent) focal lengths are 24mm-1000mm. 24mm isn't wide enough to accomplish the perspective you're hoping for so do as Matt has suggested and find other ways to creatively photograph cars.</p>

[dan_south]

<p>The right weather and a head-on composition.</p>

[scottelly]

<p>Get a Nikon D5100 (they are on sale right now) and this: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/468738-REG/Tokina_ATX107PRODXN_10_17mm_f_3_5_4_5_AT_X_107.html</p>

[ellery]

<p>others can correct me, but many such camera's "macro mode" will produce a very wide angle (wider?) - giving something close as possible to the effect....<br /><br />Ive used the "macro" feature on my point and shoot to take silly distorted pics of my kids and pets...its great fun...</p>

[jcuknz]

<p>If you want to shoot that close to achieve the 'wide angle' effect then try shooting overlapping images of the car, say two or three and stitching them together in editing .. you will get the same distortion that coming in close with a WA lens produces. The distortion comes from being close, not the particular lens being used.<br>

You may have got the Nikon's panoramic programme on the CD which came with the camera as I did with my old Coolpix5700 but for more control you need to do it in a good editing programme with the layer's feature such as Photoshop, Elements or Paint Shop Pro and maybe even Paint.Net might be able to do it for you ... it is a free download. GIMP is another freebee which I have never met but is very capable.</p>

[ellery]

<p>"The distortion comes from being close, not the particular lens being used."<br /><br />?????????? that statement confused me :)</p>

[Matt Laur]

It's simple. In fact you can see this with no camera at all. Kneel down right in front of the car's grill. How big does the grill

look, compared to the windshield? How small do the mirrors look, compared to the grill emblem? That's perspective.

Which is a function of your distance to the subject, not the lens. Which is why my advice above was: Get Closer!

[ellery]

<p>I see what you mean.<br /><br />"Kneel down right in front of the car's grill. How big does the grill look, compared to the windshield? How small do the mirrors look, compared to the grill emblem?"<br /><br />But as it relates to achieving such effects in a photo, it has alot to do with a lens...cause certain lenses when you kneel down right in front of the car's grill, you cannot even see the mirrors or the windshield....you do need to some degree something with a "wide enough" angle to create the perspective....in this respect lens and focal length choice are factors.<br /><br />This all seems a bit like semantics, but for newb's, sometimes it is easy to get caught up in that.<br /><br />It seems to me though that most any point and shoot is wide enough to get quite close to a vehicle and create this effect...</p>

[Matt Laur]

<blockquote>

<p>you do need to some degree something with a "wide enough" angle to create the perspective</p>

</blockquote>

<p>No, perspective is only created by distance (or lack of it). The only thing a wide® angle lens does for you is let you catch a wider look <em>at the perspective you have because of where you are in relation to the subject</em>. In an earlier comment, above, I mentioned the concept of stitching together multiple shots to make up for having to shoot with a lens that doesn't go as wide as you'd like. And don't forget that you can still create the <em>feel</em> of the shot you like by shooting down the side of the car, only catching some of the front. </p>

[William Michael]

<p>Hi Ellery,</p>

<p>It is good to clear up the talk about Focal Lengths and the talk about Perspective (Shooting Distance) - and in this regard I'll add to my previous . . .</p>

<p>I wrote:</p>

<p><em>“</em><em>The sample photo . . .was taken with a 10mm lens . . .Your Nikon Coolpix cannot zoom to anywhere near that wide an angle Focal Length. . .Therefore it will be impossible for you to make "the same" photograph. </em><em>As already mentioned – you can zoom out to the widest Focal Length you camera has and that is the closest you can get.”</em></p>

<p>When making this comment, I was discussing the width of the Field of View, the OP could achieve, in ONE SHOT with his camera. (I didn’t consider stitching as a possible solution – that’s a good idea.)</p>

<p>I did not mention Perspective directly, though I was, in fact, alluding to it (at least it was in my mind), but I assumed that the main “difficulty” the OP was having, was getting the ALL the front of the car in the frame – and that was the main ‘requirement’. Therefore, I wanted to point out he couldn’t do that and make his image look the same as the sample, because, his lens simply was not wide enough.<br>

<br /><br /></p>

<p>***</p>

<p>Moving closer does indeed change the Perspective, as Matt points out.</p>

<p>The word “Perspective” is often used when discussing Photography - and often the word is MIS-used when it is needed to be used in its precise technical sense. This is one such case where the word “perspective” needs to be used in its precise technical meaning.</p>

<p>It is necessary to understand that “Perspective” is determined by the Camera Viewpoint relative to the Subject. “Camera viewpoint” comprises: Distance to the Subject and Camera Elevation relative to the Subject.</p>

<p>The Focal Length of the Lens contributes zero to “Perspective”. For example in Cinematography, the Director of Photography / Director, will choose the Camera’s Viewpoint to determine Perspective and then will choose the Focal Length to determine “The Shot” (the Field of View), be it a “Wide Shot” or a “Tight Shot”, etc.</p>

<p>You can test this out with your own camera - any DSLR / or PS and kit Zoom Lens: </p>

<ol>

<li>Rack out the lens to a moderate telephoto length and stand far enough away from a Subject to make a Full Length Shot of them standing.</li>

<li>Then zoom back to the widest FL and make another shot with the Subject and the Camera in exactly the same position.</li>

<li>Then with the camera still at the WIDE FL move in close until you FRAME the subject the same as the first, telephoto shot.</li>

<li>In post production then CROP the second image (the far away shot with the WA lens) to be the same framing as the other two.</li>

</ol>

<p>What you will see is the Perspective of Shots 1 and 2 are exactly the same and shot 3 is very different.</p>

<p>WW <br>

</p>

[jcuknz]

<p>As I read the question the OP is asking how he can do it with his existing equipment. Sorry Matt I didn't take in that you mentioned stitching.<br>

There is one aspect that hasn't been mentioned and that is the need when working this close to rotate the camera around the 'nodel' point of the lens. I believe this will be towards the back of the lens with your lens at the widest angle and a tripod or some support, a kitchen chair perhaps with a nice flat surface, I have a three legged stool with a flat top which would work, which enables you to do this might work. The overlap needs to be 30% or more and you could find it easier in doing the stitch to use not the wide angle end of the zoom but somewhere which gives you a 35-50mm effective angle of view .... often camera lens are marked with the equivalent angle of view as if we were using a 35mm camera. You will need to take more shots to cover the front of the car but this should be no problem to your computer.</p>

[scottelly]

<p>I still say get a super wide lens, like this: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/689635-REG/Sigma_203101_8_16mm_F4_5_5_6_DC_HSM.html</p>

<p> . . . or the other one I recommended above. They are WONDERFUL!</p>

<p>:)</p>

[Spearhead]

<blockquote>

<p>perspective is only created by distance</p>

</blockquote>

<p> <br>

This is partially correct. Perspective also changes with height.</p>

[levon_kezinch]

<p>Well, after reading all the responses, I went back out there and well, These are the "best" of the shots I took trying to resemble the OP.</p>

<p><img src="http://i46.tinypic.com/2im135j.jpg" alt="" /><img src="http://i48.tinypic.com/11h3pn4.jpg" alt="" /><img src="http://i49.tinypic.com/2meo8ef.jpg" alt="" /></p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>See? You've got it!</p>

[William Michael]

<p>Very good.</p>