Max v. lighted parking garage

[asiancivicmaniac]

I got bored and wanted to take some night pictures of my car since the color doesn't show well in daylight pictures. At night though it looks pretty good. And I liked what Tbird did with his car. Sorry if this is a little excessive. I got trigger happy

I haven't washed it in a few weeks so excuse any dirt you see

 

[synthetic_crazy]

Nice looking car; I really like the shadowing effects! Looks like you have the very blue-white HID headlights.

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

Originally Posted By: synthetic_crazy
Nice looking car; I really like the shadowing effects! Looks like you have the very blue-white HID headlights.


Thanks!

They're stock projector HIDs with 4300k bulbs. The picture was a long exposure so the intensity of the light might have been overemphasized.

 

[JHZR2]

Very nice!

I especially like this one:

What gear/settings?

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

Thanks!

Camera: Pentax K-x
Lens: 18-55mm DAL kit lens
Aperture Priority
ISO 200
Exposure: 4"
Aperture: f/5.0

 

[JHZR2]

4 second exposure? On a tripod with remote/timer?

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

Yup. 4 sec exposure with timer. I forgot the base that attaches the camera to the tripod so it was just sitting on it haphazardly.

 

[Falcon_LS]

Looking great, love the color.

 

[2002 Maxima SE]

Looks good! How many miles on your Maxima?

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

Somewhere around 101k

 

[tom slick]

Nice and sharp, thanks for sharing.

 

[97tbird]

My fav. style Maxima. Nice pics.
Try getting a few with just parking lights and fogs on next time. IMO It adds a unique look to cars, better than headlights on.

another tip from an absolute amateur:
Avoid anything behind the car over the roof line (that bldg. for example). This is an advice an expert gave me once: "nothing should grow out of the roof of your car"

I do think that the roof line of a car defines a lot, esp. in a pic.

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

The one up top was the parking lights. I can't get the fogs to come on themselves without rewiring which I've wanted to do for a while but haven't gotten around to it. Not many places where I can get something to not be higher than the car's roofline. I was trying to use a lower aperture to blur out the background but the building still showed up pretty sharp. But I kind of like the building. It contrasted with the lighter color of the car.

Here's the headlights and fogs. Is there anyway to get the rest of the car to show up better without overexposing with the lights on? I wanted this to have the car show up like the other pic and then have the lights sparkle.

 

[97tbird]

You can turn down image compensation a few clicks and then use a BIT more longer exposure to get more light?

or turn down exp compensation and use the flash with compensation turned low (if you have flash compensation settings?)

IDK for sure if that makes sense.

So there's no way to have just parking and fogs on?

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

It's possible, I just have to hack into the fuse box to wire the fogs independent of the headlights.

I might try what you just said if I get bored tonight.

 

[tom slick]

Originally Posted By: asiancivicmaniac

Here's the headlights and fogs. Is there anyway to get the rest of the car to show up better without overexposing with the lights on? I wanted this to have the car show up like the other pic and then have the lights sparkle.


The HDR process will help you do that.

 

[Virtuoso]

I always thought that style of Maxima looked real nice.

 

[kkreit01]

Very nice pictures.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Very nice! I love night time empty parking lot shots.

Here's mine:

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

What were your settings for that one? You have a much nicer background to use and black is good photogenic color.

Are the actual headlights on or are those angel eyes?