I searched, but did not find an existing thread where owners could share nice photos of their LS460s or tips on how to do car photography. I'm a pro photographer in the Portland Oregon area, one of my specialties is doing portraits of vehicles that people love. So when I got my LS460 earlier this year, I had to do some portraits in scenic locations. If there is a designated place to post photos like this, please point me in the right direction. If not, I offer this thread as a place for folks to post photos they think are a cut above the average cell phone snaps we usually see. Also feel free to ask questions about photography.

This shot was taken recently at McKenzie Pass in the Oregon Cascades.

 

The silver colour reflecting the surroundings and the blue sky plays well with that scene The reflections are pleasantly dull on the side, though not on the rear window and the trunk lid; polarizing filter?

Having gone from a silver car to a black car, I've noticed it reflects the surroundings a bit too much for my liking, so I tried out "polarizer stacking"; rotate the polarizer between exposures, then stack in Photoshop, picking the darkest parts of each exposure:


While I like the blackness of it, some areas may have ended up a bit too dark...

One thing that has always annoyed me with phone cameras is the focal length, which is really only suitable for landscapes and such. Shooting a car is normally a choice between awful distortion up close and getting a small 100% crop from a greater distance. However, my new phone has a dedicated telephoto (approx. 80mm) camera, and it's very nice to have that as an option on a device you keep with you all time:

 

Very interesting Spruce! I've never heard of polarizer stacking, but it makes sense. The photo I posted was done without a polarizer, but for a funny reason. I held my polarizing filter in front of one eye to see how much effect it had on the sky. Surprisingly, it had none, so I didn't use it. Later I realized that I had held it backwards which negates the effect of the circular polarizer. I guess I spent too many years using linear polarizing filters.

My photo was a three shot hand held HDR merged in Lightroom. Usually when I do that, the sky is dark enough without a polarizer, so I didn't miss it in this case.

Take Care,

Mike

 

I think this thread handles most what you are expecting. Have you seen it already?
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...t-here-30.html

 

Hi Johnnyg66, Thanks for the suggestion. I did check out that thread. In fact I think I posted in it when I first joined the group. I don't think it would be an appropriate place for existing forum members who are photography enthusiasts to post their photos. Thanks anyway!

Take Care,

Mike

 

I've never had a linear polarizer myself, always circulars. I generally use them to either get a bluer sky and greener foliage when the weather is right, or with cars. Often, the effect from removing reflections is much less profound with a silver car, though.

Since the circular polarizer necessitates slightly longer exposures at some angles, for that "darkened" photo I actually took 8 sets of bracketed exposures (8x3 in total), picking the most suitable ones, and then got them stacked.

That's an excellent HDR merge; it looks natural! Probably took quite a lot of manual masking?