Because you might have missed his great posts the first time around, we’re republishing some of Jim’s greatest hits here on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Originally posted December 12, 2007.

Well here we are, back from a good time exploring more of Australia. Time now to send out Christmas cards and start holiday shopping.  I know, I know, it’s only the 21st of December, but I like to start early! I hope everyone out there is not stressing too much and taking a minute or two off from running around to take a photo or two, even if it’s just of your toes. Good stress reliever. While we were away we got a question from Paul (via Chris…thanks!) it reads:

“I just had a question that I was hoping you could answer. I going to the Detroit Auto show this coming Jan. and was wondering what kind of techniques work best when shooting cars.I have a Canon Power Shot S3 IS.Not a great camera but it gets the job done. Let me know what you think.”

Thanks for asking, Paul, good question!…

Making The Most of What You’ve Got

Actually the Canon S3 is a very capable camera and takes good photos. The biggest problem with a camera like this EVF (Electronic View Finder) camera is the lag-time when using the viewfinder for critical focusing, though this issue isn’t exclusive to the Canons and shouldn’t be a major issue at the car show. I’ve never been to the Detroit Auto Show, but I’ll assume it’s very similar to our LA or Orange County Auto Shows. Being held in very large, poorly lit (for photography) arenas brings its own set of problems, these mainly being related to light (or the lack there-of) and color-temperature (which can make your colors different from what you see). The “quick-list” of things that could help are:

• Higher ISO speed
• Proper white
• balance setting
• Using the self-timer
• A Tripod or Monopod
• Wide aperture
• Image Stabilization

Now for some explanation…

Higher ISO speed

The first thing I would do is to manually set your S3 to the highest ISO-speed that gives you good results. The reports on the S3 says that ISO 100 will give you excellent picture quality, ISO 200 also is low in noise but might soften the details because of Canon’s over-aggressive noise-reduction processing. ISO 400 and 800 are the fastest available on the S3 but can be very noisy according to published reports. Now if you use an application like Photoshop and can get hold of some noise-reduction software, this can go a long way to make your IS0 400 shots look good. So, before you go to the Auto Show, try out the different ISO settings in areas (car dealerships perhaps?) that are similarly lit and see what the highest ISO setting is (800 being the highest) that gives you good results. I’d be inclined to stay away from the “Auto ISO” setting as it makes it hard to predict the results.

Proper white-balance setting

The large auditoriums (like COBO Center) that hold AutoShows usually have lighting that includes flourescent, metal halide and high-pressure sodium giving you a color-temperature problem. Your best bet with the S3 is to use the manual (custom) white balance option, which is created by aiming the camera at a white (or gray) subject (index card or medium gray cardboard) and pressing the SET button.You do this once when you enter the main exhibit hall then it should give you the proper color-temperature for all your indoor auto-show photos.

Using the self-timer

If most of what you’re shooting is fairly static ( the models near the cars not-withstanding), your best bet is to set your camera’s self-timer to the 2-second delay mode and use the self timer for each shot. This prevents a lot of camera shake by delaying the shutter for 2-seconds after you’ve pressed the shutter button (which is what makes the camera shake).

A Tripod or Monopod

Usually in public areas you can’t use a tripod (because of the space it takes and the danger of tripping people), but if you contact the hall ahead of time they could tell you if you can use one or not. If you can go on “press-day” they may make exceptions for working photographers.If not, many places have no problem with a monopod. A monopod is “one leg” of a tripod and goes a long way to help keep your camera steady. I was at the Petersen Museum here in LA not too long ago and the security staff had no problem with me using a monopod.

Wide aperture

Luckily your Canon comes with a pretty fast lens (f 2.7-3.5 ) so it’ll let in a lot of light, helping to keep your exposures short (reducing blur). Your widest aperture ( f2.7) is at the widest zoom setting (36mm on your S3), so try and keep your lens at it’s widest setting if possible, and not zoom in. Also the shorter zoom setting will go a long way to keep your exposures sharp as any movement will be exaggerated if you extend the zoom. I’d be inclined to primarily keep the camera on Program mode instead of Aperture or Shutter priority. It’d just be one more thing to worry about and in the low light I can imagine your camera would pretty much stay at the wider settings.Speaking of 36mm, while this is a nice wide focal-length, in the confines of an auto-show, a wider accessory lens might help you get more shots by not making you get so far back to capture more of the scene. Just a thought. Check out B&H or Adorama and see what they have for the S3.

Image Stabilization

Luckily your camera has Image Stabilization which is an advantage in low-light, so keep it on ( continuous or shutter-activated whichever works for you).

“Other things…”

To look out for are high-contrast (watch your histogram and adjust your exposure compensation to avoid blowing out the highlights or under-exposing.

• Use the higher-quality picture settings (low compression) as this can help give you more “recovery-room” to save photos if they come out poorer than expected.
• Use the built-in flash cautiously or not at all. The flash can blow-out the front half of a car and under-expose the back half . The flash range on the S3 is limited (about 20 feet on a good day) and the large volume of an exhibit-hall eats light for breakfast. This plus all the reflective surfaces and chrome can make using flash a poor choice. Diffusing the flash (with vellum or a Tupperware container can help, but might be more trouble than it’s worth.
• Use your Macro setting! Close ups of car-badges, grilles, engine parts etc, can give you some great shots and add a little variety to your photos. This (also the wide aperture) can help blur, and thus clean-up the backgrounds of your subjects.
• Look at magazines like Road & Track or Automobile for photo ideas.

Well, that’s all I can think of. If you guys have any suggestions to help out Paul feel free to let us know. Now I have 35 gb of photos to go through from my trip, so I’ll catch you later!