Here's the deal guys, I've been trying to improve my photography skills for a long time now and I feel that I haven' timproved sh*t.

All my pictures turn out so amatuer-like and looks bland. Nothing exciting 'bout them whatsoever. Therefore I'm now looking for some online tutorials/books to help me improve somewhat, any ideas where to look?
My main thing is I want more exciting/dramatic photos!!

And I usually tend to blame my camera for the shitty results, it's a Kodak Z812. Do I need to upgrade to a SLR or can I make due with the Kodak for now until I improve?

TIA

 

Your camera doesn't look too bad. You just suck.
Actually your cam isn't fantastic, but you should be able to get decent stuff out of it. Of course it doesn't hurt ot upgrade to an entry level SLR, especially if you enjoy photography.

Post up some pictures, it will be much easier to see what you should improve on ...

This being said ...

How high are you when you shoot? You must be at eye-level, for a car, headlight height is great. Yes you'll have to get on the ground. Experiment with angles, very high, very low ... it's all good.

Do you watch for the background? It has to be nice

Lighting? If you ever took a picture at noon ... fuggedaboutit

Shadows ... watch out. More than once have I had a car in a splendid setting under a tree ... shadows all over the place. Did not a single picture.

Rule of thirds ...

Post-processing ... you have Photoshop, right?

A very simple trick to make car-photography stand out ... a polarizer is all you need. Night and day.

Understand the change in perspective of your zoom. When you're zoomed in (432mm is your cam's max ... but careful with digital zoom, it's crap, disable it right away), a line-up of cars will look "squished" as if all the cars were inches from one another. The opposite is true, if you are at the widest, the same lineup will make the further car look much smaller as if it were much further. Use this to your advantage to reduce or increase distances between subjects. I had found a picture illustrating this perfectly, the guy shot the same lineup of cars on the side of the road (I think it was during an M5 meet), one at wide angle, the other zoomed in ... very enlightening. I think it was in an old post on the 6 ... I'll see if I can find it.

For instance, when shooting a single car straight on, being zoomed in completely allows the car to look much more dynamic and "in your face". And if you're at ground level, it's even more dramatic.

Check this thread on the 6 ... lots of stuff!
http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/p...rce-guide.html

All I can think of right now ...

 

Hey Wisam!
How's the search going? I'd been waiting on your reply.

Btw, if you want help on photography, several of my friends are amateur photographers, so I'll see what I can do...