Check your ISO Speed, you may be set on Automatic, or 400,800 or 1600! You need to be set at 100(or the lowest number 64,80, I don't know what the lowest number is on your camera)this will take out the grain!

Keep ur ISO low, especially when shooting still cars. Use adequate lighting and keep the sun behind you as much as possible. When in doubt, use a tripod and make sure you focus right where you need to. When shooting with my XT, I feel that I have to shoot a little under the middle of the exposure bar, otherwise they look too washed out and bright. And shoot, shoot, shoot! Getting used to your camera will take time, do not let your DSLR discourage you in any way.

I'm by no means a great photographer, but I just keep it as a hobby so I'm not always bored. My first few photoshoots were not good at all - its a whole different ballgame. Dont RELY on post editing software, but use it to compliment your photos. You still need a good shot to make a great picture. This is with no flash lighting, and very very few touchups with Photoshop:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3345/...2d6f29fc2e.jpg

And I highly recommend you join =http://www.photography-on-the.net
They have many pointers on there, and the professionals provide great advise.

Best of luck with your new camera!

I'm certainly glad I started this thread. There is a lot of helpful advice here.

I set my camera to automatic because quite frankly, I suck.

I think I really need a tripod to be honest. That will allow me to set my ISO speed lower correct?

Boost_Lee, that picture is phenomenal. That is essentially the quality I want to be able to shoot. What version of Photoshop are you using?

Yup. Or at least, it wont be so blurry...

Automatic ISO is a good way to ruin photos unknowingly heh.

Dad, and Boost_Lee

Rep. added.

Thank you. Don't forget too look into/for a polarizer filter(I think the thread size is 58 for the lens you have). I'm sure you'll like the results in your photos with one.

I have made a note :tup:

Photoshop CS3 and a bit of practice editing photos.

Thanks! and thank you for the compliment. I used photoshop CS3, but just a tad to richen up and adjust levels.

Honestly, that is the best photoshoot that I have done of my Accord to date. Picture was taken this Feb. and I got my rebel XT in December of 07!

Just get familiarized with your camera; get good shot composure using the no flash mode. Then test your ur aperature and shutter speed modes and play around to see what they do respectively. Once ur comfortable, test your full manual, and it will take a while to get it to your liking.

The polarizer is great if you shoot a lot during the daytime. To get used to your camera, try shooting in the dusk hours. I would also test it out on different cars, some colors are harder to shoot than others. I find that black is hard for me...

Keep us updated, please!

Here... someone made an attempt at it and it's fine for "pop" but lost all the grill etc., in the process. Learning CS3 and what it can do is the real secret behind most any (remarkable) finished pic.

Here's 5 minutes of CS3 on this image...



http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3397/...f8c23a01_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3376/...7f1349d8_o.jpg


As a professional photographer I can tell you that you can learn techniques in many different places. Youtube has useful stuff, you just gotta be selective. If I were you and I wanted to progress with a BASIC understanding of just what Photoshop can do, I would start by signing up at Lynda.com and going from there.

Good luck!

Michael

^--- Hey look at that - his front grill exists again :)

http://www.teamworkphoto.com/images/...ightroom-2.jpg

http://i41.tinypic.com/2e57ic0.jpg

if you want to dig into photography while keeping the interface simple, get ahold of Photoshop Lightroom 2. Its only about 100$ and is an amazing tool for photography. I used only Lightroom to edit all the below images; which were taken with a Rebel XTi (the model previous to the XSi), but used a nice zoom lens (70-300mm IS USM).

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/6550/mg8982.jpg

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/3845/mg9236.jpg

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/1098/mg9350.jpg

more:
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/6696/mg8936.jpg
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/9468/mg8972.jpg
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/9950/mg8946.jpg
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/446/mg9122.jpg
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/4325/mg9150.jpg
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/3853/mg9275.jpg
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/3787/mg9301.jpg
(shot at D1GP in Anahiem)

Pretty much all of the editing done here was with the contrast, saturation, recovery, blacks, and fill light tools.

Good post processing is made much easier with good pictures though. Learn your basics for f/stops and exposure settings. I generally shoot in apreture-priority, shutter-priority, or full manual, but you can always use the auto settings as kind of a guide for roundabout numbers on what the camera thinks is best for a given situation. A really low number f/stop will give you a smaller depth of field and make backgrounds much more blurry and the subject pop out more. A slower shutter speed can introduce implied motion if the subject is stationary and the background has motion blur. There are tons of tricks and tips available. If you don't want to look online, Scott Kelby has a fantastic book series which is well worth looking into.

beautiful pics above, I will be looking into lightroom as well