PMC - Week 130 - Poll

[Nicknamealguem]

GT4 Photo Mode Competition

Week 130 Poll

Theme: V8

• Do NOT vote for your own entry.
• Have confidence in your own photo and don't try to sway the poll.

​

 

[[empty space]]

my vote goes to the spyker.

the one above it, the saleen, and the SLR are also very nice. the buick specially would be better if it wasnt a still frame shot. the SLR does the front view as best as possible with whats available in-game 👍

 

[GrumpEone]

my vote goes to the spyker.

the one above it, the saleen, and the SLR are also very nice. the buick specially would be better if it wasnt a still frame shot. the SLR does the front view as best as possible with whats available in-game 👍

Why do so many people complain about the still frame style?? It usually puts the focus on the car, not the background. Personally I think the the Buick is the best shot there, beautiful background and the car just fits it perfectly. Not every shot needs the motion blur, in fact most shots I've seen in these competitions, have far too much blur on the car (like my entry too). Personally I think Photo Travel should never be allowed, because the game is about racing not photography. Just my opinion

 

[[empty space]]

because still frame is lifeless and too easy to achieve imo.

Personally I think Photo Travel should never be allowed, because the game is about racing not photography. Just my opinion

then why do you support pictures with no life/movement? :?

 

[jinjinweiwei]

because still frame is lifeless and too easy to achieve imo.



then why do you support pictures with no life/movement? :?

cars do not have life, and i dont think its the life/movement we are looking for here. It is the personality we are looking for through the pictures we took.

 

[Swiss Legend]

I believe that every shot should be it's own. Sometimes motion will ruin a shot, I think mine would've been ruined if it was in motion. Phototravel is a cool idea that could've been done a lot better, but like jinjin said, it is about personality in the shots. Also look at any spread in a car magazine, theres a healthy balance of motion/still pics.

 

[[empty space]]

cars do not have life, and i dont think its the life/movement we are looking for here. It is the personality we are looking for through the pictures we took.

life/movement = personality.

without it its just ... flat.

 

[jinjinweiwei]

life/movement = personality.

without it its just ... flat.

flat is bad only when it comes to women...

 

[dylansan]

Last I checked lack of motion did not mean flat.
A Ferrari at a stoplight is not any less 3 dimensional, although maybe you would prefer to see it in motion (that's irrelevant however because these are all pictures, and will not move no matter how much blur you add).

You shouldn't really analyze the pictures that much. You should vote for what you personally think looks best, and if you want to analyze the reason why after go ahead. If the picture is using the right techniques it will look good. You don't need to look for them specifically when you vote.

 

[GrumpEone]

because still frame is lifeless and too easy to achieve imo.
then why do you support pictures with no life/movement? :?

Motion blur does not create movement, and is not all that difficult to achieve. A photo is lifeless, and the real key to a good photo (or any art) is a clear focal point, a contrasting background, with excellent eye movement. The blur effect on the focal point usually (not always) deminishes the focal point. Any blur should be just in the background, as not to take away from the focal point, which should be on the car (or a specific spot of the car). Personal style too is key, I've had a few shots I really liked with and without blur.

Photo Travel is pointless, and takes away from the point of the game, which is racing, on a track.

And again like I eluded to earlier, I think the motion blur is used too much, or over done, on some of the entries in these competitions. But I see some who use the blur perfectly, and actually improve the general shot. Also don't discount the still shot just because it is that, a still. Remember all these shots are a single frame, and we all know that the car is probably moving (as long as it's on a track and not photo travel).

Ever notice how many votes that photos taken at either Hong Kong or Las Vegas get. The reason is they are technically better images, big contrasts between background and multiple focal points, that lead to better eye movement throughout the shot.

All and all, it is still up to personal preference/ opinion, on which is a better shot. A few of the winners I have seen, I had to scratch my head wondering how they got so many votes with inferior images, but opinions are like a$$holes, everyone has one. lol

 

[[empty space]]

i agree that a picture doesnt always need motion, but, phototravel does that lot better. specially when you dont have a driver applying counter steer in a drift. :|

let me explain better when i say flat. ill use the image i entered as an example.

look at the building in the far back round in the left. to me, the building doesnt look as far behind the fore ground as it should be giving it a 2d/flat effect. if this was 2.0 rule, i would have applied a very soft gausion blur to the edge of the front building and then a slightly heavier blur on the back building. then slightly desaturate to enhance the difference in depth.

then compare the slr shot. anything showing through the mouth of the tunnel has a bit of a blur applied and then the spectators have a soft blur. imo, those three levels of blur/sharpness gives it a better feeling of depth.

but, this is just my opinion. so, take it as you will.

one last word (as gently as i can put it) i hope people experiment more with what gt4s settings are capable. for example, changing where you focus on can make a world of difference.

 

[dylansan]

None of that has to do with still or motion...

 

[[empty space]]

i agree that a picture doesnt always need motion, but, phototravel does that lot better. specially when you dont have a driver applying counter steer in a drift. :|

None of that has to do with still or motion...

💡

 

[GrumpEone]

very soft gausion blur to the edge of the front building and then a slightly heavier blur on the back building. then slightly desaturate to enhance the difference in depth.

Not discounting, creating the illusion of depth with blur, but there are far better ways to achive depth, for example shadow/ shading and reflection/ refraction (Even though reflection/ refraction doesn't really apply in GT4 PM, except maybe on a wet track).

 

[atlop]

Photo Travel is pointless, and takes away from the point of the game, which is racing, on a track.

Photo travel would perhaps be pointless if it would not give much better image quality. The bg textures in photo travel are at least tolerable, on the tracks they are mostly just too ugly for still shots IMO.

But I do agree that there used to be a time when there was just way too much blur in the 2.0 shots posted here. Especially blurring the wheels. If you look at real life photos of race cars by professional photographers they mostly use such a fast shutter speed that the wheels are not blurred at all. If you see nicely blurred rims in a car magazine it's in an ad and it's added there by photoshopping, much like we used to do here. Btw, some of the guys here achieved better looking blurring that what you see in some car ads. Not me though. But even if all that blurring was not really needed for realism, again to me it was a way to hide away the most ugly textures.

And about the point of GT being racing on the track, that's just your opinion. I have completed everything in the game, finally even got gold in all licence tests, and racing was never the point for me. Driving perhaps, but mostly just the cars.

 

[dylansan]

💡

Perhaps, but neither of the photos in your example used phototravel, so it doesn't really relate.

Honestly I'm having a little trouble understanding what you're trying to say. My main point is that you shouldn;t have to think about why a shot looks good while you vote. Simply vote for the one that looks the best, because it must be the one that used the right techniques. No need to think about it.

 

[burti35]

2nd. Saleen S7

 

[ceiling_fan]

5 way tie!

 

[Nicknamealguem]

WOW, . A person goes away for like…24 hours and this happens! A great discussion about GT4 photography.

My main point is that you shouldn;t have to think about why a shot looks good while you vote. Simply vote for the one that looks the best, because it must be the one that used the right techniques. No need to think about it.

Why? Are you a dictator? Is there a rule in the first post that says that you cannot give your opinion about the entries?
I don’t do it because I would have to write about every single entry to justify why I choose the one I choose and that takes away from me the a lot of time I don’t have. But I really prefer and like that people justify why they choose that or another entry. The votes are public, so there is no need to hide or vote and go silently.


@GrumpEone

Well, it is a little difficult to argue when the users that are or were active in the Photomode develop certain parameters about the photographs like the still frame shots that are normally are only used in Photo Travel , the focus and the background blur (blurred backgrounds are more pleasant to the eye, making the car to grab more attention, in opposite to unblurred flat backgrounds.

In the case on the still frame shots, I subscribe what atlop said, because that’s what I think about them. Phototravel renders much better than the photomode, making it perfect for still frame shots. The same doesn’t happen in photomode. Just grab a car, photograph it in Photomode and Photograph it in Phototravel. You will see the differences. Still, I respect your opinion, and I also seen some good still frame shots (mainly in the 2.0 area), but we are in PMC, and it is a little complicated to make a good still frame shot with this rules.

Photo Travel is pointless, and takes away from the point of the game, which is racing, on a track.

It takes away from the point of the game, not the point of GT4 Photography.

the game is about racing not photography.

So, why are you and we all here in the galleries sub-forum? If the game is about racing, why are we showing pictures and entering photomode competitions?

 

[dylansan]

Why? Are you a dictator? Is there a rule in the first post that says that you cannot give your opinion about the entries?
I don’t do it because I would have to write about every single entry to justify why I choose the one I choose and that takes away from me the a lot of time I don’t have. But I really prefer and like that people justify why they choose that or another entry. The votes are public, so there is no need to hide or vote and go silently.

You misunderstood. Talking about why entries are good is fine IMO, but you shouldn't have to think about it when making the decision. If a shot is doing things right it will look good, and you should vote for it. If you want to think about why it was so great afterwards so you can help others or apply it to your own shots, by all means go ahead. I just think that it is unnecessary to think about the techniques that were used while you vote, because if you don't have a good understanding of said techniques, you may vote for a shot for the wrong reason.

The big question is, what do you vote for?
The best looking entry, or the entry with the most work put into it (for the better or for the worse)? I personally think that if a lot techniques are present in a shot that make it look bad (entirely possible), that it shows a slight carelessness and therefore is really less of an effort than a seemingly simple shot.

Just because someone can use the blur tool doesn't mean they are better photographers. It appears lately that if a shot doesn't have motion blur it's instantly not as good as it could be. I'm not to good with the blur tool in photoshop, so I try to get photos that look good without it, but this becomes very hard when it has become such a necessary technique.

All I'm getting at is that I think the best photo is the one that looks the best. Yes it can have a reason for looking good, but you shouldn't be voting based on those reasons, as it can lead to voting for the wrong shots if you don't know what you're talking about. I have no problems with opinions however, and obviouly people will think different shots are best. That's what the competition is about. 👍

 

[Swiss Legend]

It's very interesting to see all the differing views on this subject. I think what makes a good PMC photo is one that simply pops out at you, personally, and you can apply whatever judgement you want or need to in order to make the decision! You do subconsciously while voting anyway...

 

[redhawk]

Nice to see some actual discussion here. I've been a GTPL member for a couple of years and played the GT series since GT1! I lived in Japan for 17 years and had privy to the GT3 & GT4 (JP v's) prior to market cuz I did work for Sony . In fact I lived in Tsukuba Science City - tho I never got to see the track !

Anyway - as a professional commercial photographer from the days of 4x5 inch film, ( still use film only ), I kinda ignored photomode altogether.

Thanks to GTplanet I recently got interested in shooting pics on GT4. This is my first voting experience and I'm goin for the BUICK - tho the others are all quite good. It's just the best composition, nostalgic, serene and well balanced. I like the GT40 but the angles are a bit much. Is the flame for real???

 

[Nicknamealguem]

@MINICOOPER120 – ups, sorry for the misunderstanding. The way I read your other comments made me understand another thing. Sorry about that.

Actually I agree with you on that question of what to or what do I (or another person) vote for (that in my case it is for the best looking picture).
But, we are in a PMC competition, not a 2.0, so there isn’t much work done into pictures (at least that I know). The shot is taken in game and the only thing permitted to do in Photoshop is to apply Brightness/Contrast and gamma. So, I am not seeing the amount of work applied in it.
👍

 

[dylansan]

@MINICOOPER120 – ups, sorry for the misunderstanding. The way I read your other comments made me understand another thing. Sorry about that.

Actually I agree with you on that question of what to or what do I (or another person) vote for (that in my case it is for the best looking picture).
But, we are in a PMC competition, not a 2.0, so there isn’t much work done into pictures (at least that I know). The shot is taken in game and the only thing permitted to do in Photoshop is to apply Brightness/Contrast and gamma. So, I am not seeing the amount of work applied in it.
👍

Yep! I suppose you could also apply it to the in-game adjustments though, although it's not a whole lot to work with and it usually either is at the right setting or the wrong one...

I prefer the PMC over the 2.0 now because my editing skills have gone down the drain. No matter how much time I put into it, it often ends up looking far too similar to the original. I should probably learn these techniques better, but for now I'm just fine with PMC. I believe I won the Sound and Speed Comp when it was PMC rules, and I rarely win competitions.

 

[Max911]

The Spyker C8 shot looks awesome. I like the blur and the fact that it isn't directly in the middle of the picture. It gets my vote.

 

[GrumpEone]

Anyway - as a professional commercial photographer from the days of 4x5 inch film,

So as a professional, what are you opinions on the 'Still' vs. 'Motion Blur' debate?? It helps to know what the target audience likes, so we can incorporate thoses into our shots.

Thanks to GTplanet I recently got interested in shooting pics on GT4. This is my first voting experience and I'm goin for the BUICK - tho the others are all quite good. It's just the best composition, nostalgic, serene and well balanced. I like the GT40 but the angles are a bit much. Is the flame for real???

Yes, the flame is real but very elusive!! It's very hard to hit the button just in time to catch a good flame (i think it lasts only like 3-5 frames), but if you anticipate, and are persistant enough, you'll eventually get it.

 

[jwane]

I like the GT40 but the angles are a bit much. Is the flame for real???

It helps to know the car so you can anticipate the flame as GrumpEone said. I've raced the Shelby/AC Cobras so much that I know when the downshift is coming just by listening to the engine. Other cars are not so easy.

 

[Nicknamealguem]

An easy step to get flames and is the one I use is to:

1st. It has to be yourself driving the car (not B-spec Bob)

2nd.You must drive in a 3rd person view (or in other words, you must view the back of the car)

3rd. When you see a flame look at the lap time and if possible point out

4th. When you use the replay to shot the pictures you already know at what time/s you have to push the select button.
Hope this helps, it is what I do, though I could share.

 

[GrumpEone]

Hmm... I notice my shot (Ford GT) and the Spyker will not load. Anyone else notice this before, with imageshack??

 

[ceiling_fan]

Hmm... I notice my shot (Ford GT) and the Spyker will not load. Anyone else notice this before, with imageshack??

I can't see them either.

By any chance did you save the preview in PNG format? Because the increased filesize may have exceeded ImageShack's bandwidth. Just an idea.