Friday, June 5, 2009

Old post never posted and now.....posted.

The following is a draft I found when doing the last posting. I was going to scrap it but after reading it again I have decided to finish it out. I did say in the last post that I hadn't sold the Miata. In this post I am talking about how I need to take the pictures to put it on the net and somewhat about the proper way in taking pictures. Read on.


Not that anyone really reads this but it is a way to transfer my thoughts. The last posting was a fluke. I have not sold or even really tried to sell the car it yet. I like the car but I don't drive it that much. Being an '02 model and having less than 19,000 miles on it shows how much it is driven. Washed and waxed or the use of McGuires Quick Detailer more than needed shows that I respect the car. What I need is some motivation and probably some of my son-in-laws help. I don't feel comfortable with the picture taking thing but he has taken some pics of cars, his '66 Bonneville, and art work in his house that I appreciate. I guess I need to at least make the attempt. Maybe between today and next Monday I can get the car washed again and then take the pictures. It is suppose to be cloudy on Monday and the best time to take car pictures is actually on a cloudy day. I didn't realize that until I went on the web and checked out how to take car pictures from some experts giving free advice. I took pictures of my buddies Vette, pictures seen in this blog, and now I know why I had such a hard time getting the color right and dodging the bright shiny reflective chrome spots that look like someone is shining a light back at you. Also, one of the selling points to my car, in my humble opinion, is the interior. It is not the normal Miata color, black or light tan, being the SE model, it has a saddle brown color. I have a semi sloped driveway that I can put a ladder on the sidewalk part and park the car just up on the slope and then get up on the 7' step ladder and take overhead inside shots. If the sun is out bright no amount of flash will help to get rid of the shadows. On a gray day a flash will be helpful to pull out the shadows and not be too reflective.


Okay, that was the posting on 6/5/09 that set in my drafts for some reason. Since then on Fathers Day, Greg and Steph came here and I got a lesson about my camera and how to shoot some pictures. Where I was trying to compensate for the lighting etc, all I needed to do was to let the camera do the work and then even the simple program that comes with the computer and or the camera will let you make the necessary minor adjustments. I really learned about the black and white drivers in the tones and level controls. I found that if you take the picture as large as you can and only play with the black and white controls you will have a very good picture as long as you are in focus and the camera can do that too. Now the trick is to play with it more and master it better. We have a pond next to our house and I have been using the wild life as my challenge. They move and they vary in color. Ducks, male and female, geese (hate those) Blue Herrons, all types of Finches and an occasional from or toad will make itself noticed. Lighting around the pond changes and of course the wild life moves when it wants to. No "smile - say cheese" here. Hopefully, now that I have found this old posting I will take the pictures of the car and post them here. Might not find them in the for sale sites yet. I'm going to a car show tomorrow on the 4th and then a British car show on 8/1 where there is about 300 cars and then a race in August so I will have the pits and track action to work with. Wish me luck.