I'd love to get your critical comments on how I could have improved this picture - especially my editing in Lightroom.
As a beginner photographer, I have a lot to learn! The original photo was probably under-exposed, so I attempted to give it a little more pop by going monochromatic and using the adjustment brush and graduated filter, and other Lightroom tools, to try and improve it.
Canon EOS T7i
ISO 500
f/2.8
1/200
53mm (Tamron 24-70 lens)
I did crop it about 20% to eliminate people standing next to the car.
Getting a chance to photograph at Jay Leno's Garage earlier this year was awesome and a once-in-a-lifetime experience - even if I was totally out-of-my-league among the pro automotive photographers who were there!
Oh man, Killer car, I've always been a massive fan of the F1, I'm incredibly jealous.
For me I think using a polarizer and taking a couple different shots to blend together in photoshop would have been ideal. I like being able to see through the windows/headlights, the glare kills it a little bit for me.
I do like how you were able to capture the majority of the body lines, the detail on that car is always something I've admired about it.
Can you post the original unedited version?
Travis, thanks for the feedback. I agree about the glare - dealing with reflections in paint (people, etc) always seems to be an issue for me. I added the original unedited photo to this post to compare before/after...
I really appreciate the input/suggestions!
What happened to all the character lines on the side?
Mike, the bottom (darker/under-exposed) photo is the original before-editing version; the top photo is my "after editing" version.
Oh sorry... Have you tried to darken the background like in the before shot, combined with the after shot?
Mike, Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it. It's a good argument to leave the background dark.
I was trying to drop an instant visual "hint" to car nuts like me that we're in Jay's famous - but very private - garage, photographing his incredible McLaren F1.
Do you think the background adds to the story - or is showing the background a distraction?
I think somewhere in the middle :) show enough of the BG so it doesn't look like a mistake but not so much that it takes away form the car as the viewer tries to see what interesting things are in the BG.
It's an interesting photo... I agree that the back should be a little darker to bring more attention to the car, but you want some background to give a hint, an easter-egg, to where it was shot. Perhaps something like this? I worked off your edited image, did a slight background noise reduction, added blur and added a custom vignette. Just my thoughts nothing more, just a quick little edit.
I guess my suggestions would be, noise reduction, lens blur the background just a little, and add a custom vignette.
So lucky... :)
Joe, thanks for the suggestions. I like the blur and noise reduction - and the idea of an easter-egg!
just curious, how does it look in color?
Mike, the second photo I posted below my edited version is the original, unretouched version - you'll need to look closely to see it's in color, albeit it's under-exposed.