For those of you that don’t know, I like cars. I haven’t always, only really when I started shopping for my first one is when my interest initially started. So when people combine two things I love, cars and photography, it makes me happy. People put some crazy amounts of blood, sweat and tears into their cars. I thought cameras was an expensive hobby, but cars even more so. So when us photographer take shots of their pride and joy, you need to realise what that car means to them. And luckily, my boy, Cal, has got this spot on.

Cal Mullen

I originally discovered Cal on Twitter. The first picture I saw of his was of a car, obviously. However he’s only just gotten back into shooting them. So it’s good to see, him being out of practice hasn’t affected his skills. Cal is based in Ilfracombe, England so if you like his work, I’m sure he’d be happy to book you in. Anyway, he’s the shot I’ve decided to have a look at:

This is an Honda Integra Type R, not a car to be scoffed at. I won’t bore you with the fun car stats but Honda is a brand I have a real soft spot for. So had to pick this one over shots of a fiesta, evo or nissans. Never really understood the hate for Hondas, especially in America. Maybe there’s a different lot of car people over there, or maybe it’s just because of the classic line from Tokyo drift?

But anyway, let’s start with what I like.

The blur is beautiful. I think this shows how skilled of a photographer Cal is. For those of you that haven’t tried this before, just staying in one spot and planning to get that blur, while still getting the car in focus is extremely difficult. So the fact he’s managed to do this, while driving, on a dual carriageway, with traffic around, and still get this car in focus, whiteout having the wrong type on blur is really, really skilful.

If you look at he foreground, you can see how the floor and ground is blurred, but all in a straight line, smoothed out. If the road was bumpy, it could of resulted in less of a smooth line, and more jagged blur. I would of liked to seen the trees more blurry, just because it emphasises the speed a little bit more, and that’s what you want in a performance car.

The angle and composition of the car as well is fantastic. Obviously with the smaller photographers, content is created for Twitter and Instagram, which means we’re mostly going to be shooting in portrait rather than landscape. But I do like how this looks, there’s a lot of empty space at the top on the image, but that pulls ever more focus into the car. Shooting the image so low, again emphasises the sports, performance type car that the integra typeR is. Sports cars are usually built low to the ground, as it lowers the cars centre of gravity, helping to improve on the grip and handling on the car, helping it remain stable while driving at high speeds or cornering. So shooting low to the floor, helps to make the car stance look lower. In the uk most faster main roads have the crash barriers to the sides of the lanes. But in this case it helps with leading lines to again, draw attention to the car. The tree line also comes down to draw attention onto the integra once again.

So as always there’s a few things I’d like to of seen down with the shot. And actually most of image is more just about the clean up, in the edit. There’s a few marks I see which if you clean up with clear the clatter to make it look better. I’ve circled just a little bit of of marks here above. I don’t think this has anything to do with the way it was shot, just the camera itself. Sometimes we get small amounts of dust on camera sensors. You can spot a few marks on the image like that if you look closers more around the shot.

Again, he’s another mark that could be done with cleaning up a bit. This might of been a mark in the road, a stone or something maybe. But clone stamping that out could fix it up super quickly and just clean up just a little.

Another unnecessary mark I can see is the cats eye in between the the road markings. Just getting rid of that would be nice. Again just a small detail, but getting rid of it just to tidy up the image.

Speaking of road markings, where’s the closest ones gone? You can see the markings going all the way down the road, but seem to stop by the car. Cal might of done this on purpose, but I’d be interested to see what it looked like with the road markings added back in.

I had to zoom in a bit more to see to show this, but notice the car brake lights in the lane across the road, creating this reflection in the car. I really think getting rid of that is important. It’s not part of the car, so it should be removed.

If you take a look at any car shot by a car company, created to promote the car, you would never see other cars in the background. It’s worth having a look, try googling Mercedes or Range Rover, and you won’t be able to spot any other car in the shot. So for that reason I think getting rid of the cars in the background would make the shot look more professional. And make it look like you had a much bigger budget than in reality. Being able to shut down the entire road for the shoot make it looks like you mean business.

I like Cal shots. I do. And I love the cars he’s featuring. And actually, I’m quite jealous he’s had the opportunity to do that. Because I wouldn’t know where to start even meeting people with cars like that where I live. The shot itself is pretty flawless. In fact I’d really like to be able to go along with Cal on a shoot just to see how he deal with it. I think the clean up afterwards needs a little bit of work. The smaller details is what can make a picture go from an 8 to a 10.

I’d love to hear what you guys all think. You can drop me a comment below or tweet me @ItsRooo or just search for Rootlessness.

To see more of Cal work you can find him on his socials.

• Twitter @calwithacamers
• Instagram @eqxality
• Www.bakehousemedia.com

The owner of the Integra TypeR can be found

• Instagram @mikeyitr

A year ago today, I had to walk to work in snow. You see, the UK just doesn’t have the infrastructure to cope with large amounts of snow. And for us, large amounts of snow translates into about 2 inches. 2 inches to close down the entire country. But it happens to rarely, we can cope without needing to change to winter tires. However if you work in retail, you’ll still be expected to come in, only to serve smug customers who have just parked up outside in their 18 plate Range Rover Sport, or their 02 BMW 4×4. Usually asking to return a £30 jumper, while making polite chitchat, they’ll probably get a little remark about how cold it is outside into the conversation, even though we all know their bottoms have just been warmed up thanks to heated seats, and they haven’t even had to scrap ice off the car, not that it would of been possible to reach the middle of the window anyway, but it doesn’t matter because they have a heated windscreen anyway.

Nick Eliz

I recently discovered this talented photographer on twitter (gimme a follow if your not already) but what attracted me to this photo is how beautifully balanced it is. If you look at the colours, you can notice the pattern of white, black, white. And even within the black, or darker parts of the image, the small specks of snow lighten the image up just enough.

Now I assume that Nick shot this while it was still snowing, there’s a few give aways. The main one being the fresh snow on the floor, but also the snow falling in the image too. Clever I know. The specks are far too random to and clustered up and separated for it to of been photoshopped. I know it is possible to edit that in afterwards, but I’ve never liked the results it’s given, it always looks far too fake for my own liking. However if Nick gets back to me, I will feel like a utter moron. But well done for actually getting out while it was actually snowing. Whereas I’d be sat at home watching my hands turn blue just from the thought of going out in it.

As I mentioned before, the balancing in this image is near perfect. The white of the snow on the floor, as well as the white from the top building work so nicely and sandwiches the darker middle part of the image. Nick has done well not to get those whites overexposed, without turning it too grey. To add to the balanced, you have such a great contrast of the cold of the snow, while also getting the warmth of that central building. The lights give of a great orange colour, really contracting to the blue of the outside snow.

Personally, I’m a huge fan of big bokeh balls. I just wished those lights could of been emphasised more. However that’s just my personal taste. I don’t feel like it would of actually enhanced this photo anymore with them. Actually I think it would of distracted from the picture and become the main focus point.

Because there’s not actually a face in sight it gives the audience a chance to actually look at the whole image rather than just the model in the middle. Eye contact is so important in portrait photography, so I would of loved to of seen another picture with one of the two facing the camera. However it does them not to be the main focus of the picture. You noticed the couple, but then also the snow, and then warmth of the light. The. The the falling snow. You notice how the woman hair is the same colour of the lights. I think it’s all the smaller details is is what changes an okay image into a great image. And obviously the composition of this shot is what really makes it.

Another thing I love is the tracks in the snow. It shows how fresh it is. I’d like to of seen an ever so slightly wider shot of the image, just to get more of the bike tracks in. Maybe moved them across in post, to create some leading lines. But going wider may of ruined the look of the image.

So I don’t really know what I’d do differently. I’d be over the moon with this shot. And I hope that nick is as well. What I will be taking away from this shot though, is to try and take more time thinking about composition and looking to get that same balance that nick got. Wether it’s the background, or if it’s the contrast in what a model is wearing.

• I started this blog as a way to help learn, and help other learn. And two posts in I’ve learned a lot myself, and I hope people reading this too. Nick your shots have been great. This is only one of many, if you’d like to see more you can find him here:
• @nick_eliz on Twitter and Instagram