Winter Prep + New DSLR
 

Wanted to share some photos with you guys. I bought my first DSLR recently, the Pentax K-X (comes in white, color match ;)) and I took a few photos of my Z after prepping it for winter.

I sold my rays to wasaabi and he helped me out on Thanksgiving with mounting my new winter wheels. I picked up a set of OEM Base 18'' Einkei wheels, and wrapped them in Dunlop M3 WInter Sport 245/45/18 all around, thanks to JeffBlue for the suggestion on that.

Some of the pictures didn't come out as good due to bad lighting and eventhough the camera comes with a native HDR photo mode, it's very hard to use without a tripod, which I definetely have to pick up now.

Here are the pics:

You might want to adjust the white balance a bit and focus on getting sharp pictures for now. Leave the HDR stuff for later.Good start though and the wheels look good.

I'm gonna use the stock 18's as a winter set once I get enough saved for new wheels. Keep us up to date on how they handle.

People miss the point of HDR. It's not a feature you want to use for every single photo. Nor is it intended to make artistic, weird photos (though people use it for that).

HDR is high dynamic range photography. The utility is that the camera's sensor has a limited range of EV or light exposure values that it can capture in a single frame. In contrast, the human eye can see about 7-9x the EV range of a DSLR. So HDR became popularized to maintain detail in the blackest and whitest areas of a photo (areas where a single exposure would have elements that are grossly underexposed and/or overexposed). By combining multiple varying exposures of a scene (an HDR image is made up of at least two and usually 5+ photos), one can maintain detail in both underexposed black and overexposed white areas. Although HDR has been used for an element of artistic rendition, some of the best HDR images are those where you can't tell it's in use.

Attached is an HDR I took using 4 exposures from Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone. And yes, to do this properly you need a tripod. Subjects with motion will also ruin an HDR. You can sometimes get away with using fast shutter bursts while shooting in auto-bracket mode on a high-end DSLR in well lit situations, but that's not the norm for most HDR shots (ie, you need a tripod).

:iagree: and that is a great shot. :tup:

^thanks brotha. Photography was my other expensive hobby before I discovered track days :).

toxik, looks like it came out nice. i met wasaabi at a meet the other day, he's a nice guy.

with the 245/45/18's all around, theres a tiny bit of a bulge on the front, but i don't think its that bad, how about you? i'm still running around on summer tires! i think i'm gonna pick up my winters this week and then put them on next weekend.

ye me and wasaabi have been going to meets since begining of summer and hes a good dude... plus the only other brooklyn Z person I know.

The 245 on the front is a little bit bulgy on the front but nothing bad, it looks fine in real life, I guess in a picture you tend to over-analyze it but definetely not anything noticeable.

And guys don't be too harsh on the whole HDR lesson, this is my first HDR and I simply wanted to try out the feature... I only took 3 HDR pics there, you're all making it sound like every pic is in HDR.

Haha, don't worry about the HDR comments, this is the internet dude, people will always nitpick and find something to complain about. (Though seriously, HDR is played out man. :stirthepot:)

I used the K-x (my friend's) for all of my shoots, so it's definitely a great camera that I can attest to; but the camera is only part of the equation. Besides the human component (the operator, duh), you also need to have the right lenses and supporting equipment (i.e. tripod, girls in bikinis). If you need any help with that stuff, I can ask my friend for you - he might be offing some of his lenses soon for rent money. And I have a limitless supply of Asian chicks at my disposal.

Also +1 to you and Jeff for the sabi love.

On another note, have you guys thought about useing 18's off a 350, might be a cheaper way to go for winter wheels...