# Honest feedback required please...



## Rich @ PB (Oct 26, 2005)

Folks, as part of our current rebranding and web development project I have been tasked with producing a selection of high quality master images for the new website. To say this is a daunting task is an understatement, but I've been working hard on my photography over the last twelve months, and I'm hoping I've come on enough to do the rest of the new design justice. This is where I need your help! Over the coming weeks and months I'd like to share some of the ongoing work and ask for your thoughts and feedback. Below is my first proper attempt, which took 14 hours in total to produce (9 hours on the detail and 1 hour photographing it on Saturday, and 3 hours processing the selected image today) - all comments welcome!










Method - two identical images were taken, one correctly exposed (trusting the D300 meter in manual mode) and one underexposed by 1 stop. In photoshop, I then merged the two images by cutting out a gently feathered selection, and then tweaked some of the colour channels to wash out the background a bit, before blanking the plate, adding the border and applying an unsharp mask. All changes have been saved as individual layers in a master psd file, so I should be able to make changes easily enough.

:thumb:


----------



## Detail My Ride (Apr 19, 2006)

Where will the image be used, and what as, Rich?


----------



## david g (Dec 14, 2005)

Very nice indeed Rich :thumb:


----------



## ryanuk (Jun 22, 2007)

i love the picture!


----------



## Cliff (Mar 4, 2007)

Really like it, just would have a bit more car if that makes sense.


----------



## Rich @ PB (Oct 26, 2005)

Gaz W said:


> Where will the image be used, and what as, Rich?


These images are needed as high impact pieces for key locations, such as the homepage, top sections, etc. The designer will probably opt to crop to a panoramic format in many cases, which is why a lot of the images will have a lot of sky in them, to allow easy cropping.


----------



## Detail My Ride (Apr 19, 2006)

Cool, although I think something you need to ensure is that the cars look good, if i'm completely honest, the car doesn't stand out as having just been detailed due to the alterations made to the image, it has more of the impression that a stock image from a manufacturer would, rather than showing the fact that it has been detailed.

If thats what your looking for, the images are great, but I think that if the cars stood out as having 'just been detailed', as many of your images that are in The Studio for example do, it would look better :thumb:


----------



## Brazo (Oct 27, 2005)

Very nice Rich, my only issue is the way the car is pointing, its on the left hand side of the pic and pointing out of the frame. IMO it needs to point into the frame i.e. towards the crates:thumb:


----------



## stink (Nov 19, 2008)

really like this shot, im a fan of the washed out bg and moody skies


----------



## ryand (Jul 18, 2008)

Awesome!


----------



## -ROM- (Feb 23, 2007)

It's a good photo. My criticisms would be the crates just don't do anything for the photo or your business image IMO.

Also the apex of the building, the crates and the fence intersecting the profile/outline of the car looks a little crap TBH if you could just have the car against the cloudy background it would be really good.


----------



## Neil_S (Oct 26, 2005)

Rich I would agree with Gaz, I don't think the car stands out as much, I'd prefer to see a freshly detailed RS4 in sprint blue for example as a car and colour that would really show off your talent.


----------



## Doc (Feb 2, 2008)

I think the fact the car is black is why it doesn't stand out, stick a red car there and see the picture come alive.
Maybe an angry red sky would be a subtle backdrop although this may overshadow the reason for the photo.


----------



## smalltrees (May 7, 2009)

*composition...*

I would prefer more room in front of the car, instead of behind, to keep your eyes on the car... behind the car is very busy, so it attracts the viewers eyes... you want to looking into the future, looking forward...

as far as the car, the adjustments have removed the "just detailed" shine and reflections... just add them back in in photoshop, or create your own... it is for advertising... yes... then advertise...

rather than leaving the plate blacked out, with an unreal affect, give it an Audi plate, or add your logo..., or back-off/fade the effect to make the plate unreadable, but still have depth/detail... as it is, you have lost all dimensional feel...


----------



## Buck (Jan 16, 2008)

Rich

I like the photo in general - the moody sky is one element that could work well as a consistent theme for all photos on the new website but the "even better ifs" are: -

Low angle gives the car a good stance and does give it some presence but the car is too small in the photo to make it 'shout out'

The buildings 'hitting' the car don't allow it to jump off the page - they take your eye off the car as an entity/item

As you are in such a beautiful part of the country is there not an area of natural beauty that could be used as the back drop or if not, a realtively neutral industrial setting as below?


----------



## badly_dubbed (Dec 11, 2008)

is that an HDR shot?

i like it


----------



## Rich @ PB (Oct 26, 2005)

No, it's not a true HDR shot, but I have used two images with different levels of exposure to get the wider tonal range shown above - see the method text below the image for details. :thumb:


----------



## spitfire (Feb 10, 2007)

Like others have said, when you view the photograph the eye is almost immediately drawn away from the car to other aspects of the image. A different coloured car and removing more colour from the background may help but the pallets are always going to draw the eye away from the main subject. HTH


----------



## Rich @ PB (Oct 26, 2005)

Thanks for the feedback folks, it's really very helpful, and has confirmed some of my fears about the style of photography currently being considered for use on the new site. I've had a little play with the image again, cropping it down more tightly and burning back in some of the lost highlights on the car. Any better? I'm not skilled enough to start removing buildings or the pallets, so this is about as far as I can go with it...


----------



## Ultimate Shine (Jun 3, 2008)

Nice picture Rich but i think a wee shot in black and white would be nice there with a bit more contrast in the sky so it looks more dramatic. Nice though i end up taking hundreds of pictures before i am happy with 1:thumb:


----------



## NeilG40 (Jan 1, 2009)

Sorry but I find my eye being drawn to the reflection of the transit.


----------



## TeZ (Oct 28, 2007)

To me I would crop it off to the left, cropped the way you have I am naturally drawn to the right of the picture. 

Being a picture about the car its all a bit dull and lost with the moody effects.

Also there is a poor reflection of a van?


----------



## Silver R26 (Jul 19, 2008)

In my humble opinion from a potential customer perspective rather than a photographer, I think it looks to edited almost like you have created the shine on the car through photoshop rather than what you have actually done which is put 9 hours of work in to create near perfect paint finish.

Also as someone else as said the reflection of the transit is catching my attention as well. Very good start though, the style of the picture with lotus in it appeals more to me more and shows the car of well.

Good luck with it all, rather you than me :thumb:


----------



## mneame (May 16, 2007)

Rich play around with the curves a bit and maybe add a touch of unsharp mask. For me the setting isn't quite industrial enough for the lines of the audi. A steel works or concrete works would be a superb setting. maybe a quary. Hope you don't mind but i tweaked the curves a touch on the car and put the sky back to as you had it.


----------



## clcollins (Jul 30, 2007)

I like it very much as a picture, but does it say enough about the work carried out on the car and what Polished Bliss can achieve, I don't think it does. It's not a criticism, just a description of how the pic makes me feel when compaired to what results I / we know you consistantly produce.


----------



## mneame (May 16, 2007)

clcollins said:


> I like it very much as a picture, but does it say enough about the work carried out on the car and what Polished Bliss can achieve, I don't think it does. It's not a criticism, just a description of how the pic makes me feel when compaired to what results I / we know you consistantly produce.


Trouble is the camera doesn't caputre the image as we see it live. Nothing that a little post processing can't sort out though. :thumb:


----------



## n_d_fox (Apr 18, 2007)

Cliff said:


> Really like it, just would have a bit more car if that makes sense.


makes complete sense to me as i was thinking the same thing. :thumb:

could do with the car being a little closer so it fills the shot a bit more and as someone else said, have it pointing towards the centre rather than away.

cracking work though. i noticed the Scooby detail Clark posted had a few of your shots on and you can really tell the difference from those and the stuff you were taking 18 months ago :thumb:


----------



## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

some good points above but the LOCATION 

looks like you're based in a grotty old yard somewhere I wouldnt want to leave my car! Find somewhere without piles of rubbish (those crates jumped right out at me) etc. It contrasts with the car etc but looks like your yard is somewhere I'm just as likely to get my car stolen from.... In the car itself are the reflections of a couple of old Transits by the looks of things, with highway contractor style markings etc, and this all masks the positive aspects of the fully detailed gorgeous car.

The shot also has a very dark, gloomy feel to it. I want to pick up my car and feel uplifted, vibrant and ready to put the windows down and blast off for an uplifting drive. The 'feel' of that image makes me think the worlds about to end after I paid £500 for my car to be detailed. Go for uplifting!


----------



## spitfire (Feb 10, 2007)

WX51 TXR said:


> Thanks for the feedback folks, it's really very helpful, and has confirmed some of my fears about the style of photography currently being considered for use on the new site. I've had a little play with the image again, cropping it down more tightly and burning back in some of the lost highlights on the car. Any better? I'm not skilled enough to start removing buildings or the pallets, so this is about as far as I can go with it...


That's much better IMO except the front N/S of the car looks a bit overdone. Can you tone down the front slightly?


----------



## noop (Jan 5, 2007)

Not read all the posts, but my opinion is that the Audi does not suit the location.

Sorry for sounding negative, but it's not the place where I would see this car. The shot itself looks good, but I think it would look better with a different back ground

I would have imagined something like this


----------



## SiGainey (Jan 29, 2006)

I think it looks good but not great. To make it great in my opinion, you need to emphasise the reflections etc. They get lost by the "busyness" in the image to me, ie are you looking at a) the car as a model b) the sky c) the pallets d) the overall image or e) the reflections / cleanliness of the car. I dont think many would pick e) from that list. 

Hope this isn't coming across as negative but I think there's potential there


----------



## Rich @ PB (Oct 26, 2005)

Cheers folks, all very valuable comments, so thank you! One of our biggest constraints is that we cannot easily pick and choose locations - driving our customers cars to locations is not something we would ask to do, and not something we have time to do either; we work long enough hours as it is! Always interesting to hear people's views on backdrops - grimey run down industrial settings form an ideal backdrop to pristine beauty in some cases, but I fully acknowledge the potential benefit of clinical backdrops, like the one shown above. The pallets are due for uplift soon (yes, we have sold that much stock this year already lol!), and with a little tidying up we should be able to end up with a much cleaner backdrop. Sadly, the rest of the estate is no better, so finding a perfect backdrop may be difficult. We will be going out on location a few times over the rest of the summer, but opprtunities may be few and far between, so I'll keep plugging away with ideas in the current setting. Are any of these better...


----------



## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

those look much better - but if you're going to Photoshop the hell out of the images, why not completely change the background - either do something to disguise them (blurs, filters etc if you can find a tasteful way) or cut it out and put it somewhere else?


----------



## Rich @ PB (Oct 26, 2005)

I wouldn't say they have been photoshopped to hell! The first two new ones above have had fairly mild tweaks, the latter two somewhat more, but all are still using the original scene/setting... if you start cutting out and replacing I think you quickly lose any handle on reality, as the reflections in the car will not reflect the tone of the scene, let alone the new setting. The point is to keep it (relatively!) real while taking the usual imagery to another level...


----------



## Silver R26 (Jul 19, 2008)

Those ones show off the car better than the first one. A good effort, maybe a bit of sun light will help some more, but you cant choose the weather.


----------



## Hair Bear (Nov 4, 2007)

Third one down all day long - shows off the finish superbly, the sky, and of course the 'in yer face' attitude that RS4's ooze :thumb:


----------



## mouthyman (May 1, 2006)

i think the pics are all fantastic, great work


----------



## ArcticVXR (Apr 10, 2007)

2 words............. SEX WEE

Love the pics :thumb:


----------



## Brazo (Oct 27, 2005)

3rd pic down - a bit of blue exists in the cars reflection that looks odd against the monochrome effect.


----------



## Rich @ PB (Oct 26, 2005)

Aye, it's a reflection of a wee cloud break - should have desaturated it along with the other areas treated in this way.


----------



## Epoch (Jul 30, 2006)

A good friend of mine did a background blur on a PB pic Clark got badgered for a while ago.

Really helped lift the car shot


----------



## Brazo (Oct 27, 2005)

WX51 TXR said:


> Aye, it's a reflection of a wee cloud break - should have desaturated it along with the other areas treated in this way.


Cool, and i'm sure you've seen the green tent reflection in the building window too:thumb:


----------



## Rich @ PB (Oct 26, 2005)

It's actually the roof of the unit opposite, i.e. one next to ours, but it has been affected by the colour tint used. Did you also spot the bird poo on the same window lol?!


----------



## pogo6636 (Jan 18, 2009)

Pic 3 for me definately. I agree that your first posted pic didnt make the car stand out as it deserved. 

Angry sky is not to dark and the car is nice and crisp. 

good luck reaching your final descision, I dont envy that task..


----------



## mneame (May 16, 2007)

3 and 4th for me. The horizontal line of the building roof in the background needs to be straight though


----------



## gt5500 (Aug 6, 2008)

In my honest opinion whilst the images are really very good and I would be very proud of them I still don't think they get the detailing aspect across very well. Me personally when I look at them I just see a very good processed image but I don't look at the car and think "wow look at the clarity of the finish". I think if you want to show what you can do with a car you need a more natural looking photo to emphazise the finish of the paint. In you pics I am just admiring the car as a whole not focusing on how good the paint is.


----------



## gt5500 (Aug 6, 2008)

Epoch said:


> A good friend of mine did a background blur on a PB pic Clark got badgered for a while ago.
> 
> Really helped lift the car shot


Not massively keen on that TBH, the blur is not very good and the car has not been cut from the background properly giving it that halo effect, but if it got the job done then thats all that matters.


----------

