Oldies – Eyes on Design Car Show
by James Howe on Aug.09, 2010, under Automobiles
(Nikon D700, 70-300mm at 155mm, ISO 200, Exposure 1/500 sec @f/5.6)
One of the nicest classic car shows in Michigan is the annual Eyes on Design show held at the estate of Edsel and Eleanor Ford. They always have an interesting theme and a great collection of cars spanning old to new. This particular shot was taken at this years show and shows a collection of 50’s era automobiles. I believe the car in the foreground is a 1950 Oldsmobile 88 Holiday Coupe. Very little processing was done on this image with the exception of the square crop.
Copyright © 2010 James W. Howe – All rights reserved.
Feedback Please
by James Howe on Aug.05, 2010, under Miscellaneous
I’ve been doing some work on the layout of this blog and I would really appreciate your feedback. Mostly I’ve been playing around with the look of the sidebar. There are aspects of the current sidebar that I like, and aspects that I’m not happy with. I’ve created a couple of different styles and I would really like to know what you think of the alternatives. Below are four links. Clicking the link will change to a different style. View the different styles and leave me a comment with your thoughts. There will be some more changes in the future, but this is what I have for now. Thanks!
Dark Left (what the blog is using right now)
Light Left
Dark Right
Light Right
Oh, the image at top shows the newer portion of Randall Labs on the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Stover Windmill – Greenfield Village
by James Howe on Aug.04, 2010, under Michigan
(Nikon D700, 70-300mm at 270mm, ISO 250, Exposure 1/2000 sec @f/5.6)
The image above shows a Stover Windmill which is on permanent display at Michigan’s Greenfield Village. The Village was created by Henry Ford as a place to showcase American industrial achievements. I was visiting the Village to attend their annual ‘Motor Muster’. I’ve been to the Village several times and I have always liked the look of this windmill. It is quite large and I think it looks nice against a blue sky.
The windmill itself was manufactured by the Stover Manufacturing & Engine Company. The company was started in the 1860’s by Daniel C. Stover who invented and manufactured machinery of various kinds. At one point the company was a supplier to Sears Roebuck & Company. The company shut down in 1942
Processing of the image was minimal. As you can see from the original image below, the main change was to create a square crop focusing on the blades of the windmill.
I’m always interested in hearing your feedback.
Copyright © 2010 James W. Howe – All rights reserved.
Car Show
by James Howe on Jul.29, 2010, under Automotive
(Nikon D700, 70-300mm at 85mm, ISO 200, Exposure 1/2000 sec @f/4.5)
Another shot taken at the 2010 Concours d’Elegance of America at Meadowbrook showing a Talbot Lago T-150-C, also known as the ‘teardrop’ design. While not a perfect shot of the car itself, I picked this image because I liked the context. Normally I try to keep people out of the shot, but I liked the position of the gentleman in the back and the way he seems to be looking at the car. I also liked the people in the far background, not to mention the Bugatti off to the side. In processing, I made one change to the image. I used the Painting – Oil preset in Topaz Simplify to make the image look like a painting. I then reduced or eliminated the effect on the main car. I think the effect is subtle and helps separate the car from the background. Compare the finished image to the raw image below.
Comments and suggestions welcome.
Copyright © 2010 James W. Howe – All rights reserved.
‘Chrysis’ – 1936 Packard Phaeton Mascot (Hood Ornament)
by James Howe on Jul.26, 2010, under Automotive
(Nikon D700, 70-300mm at 170mm, ISO 200, Exposure 1/2000 sec @f/5.0)
This past weekend I attended the 2010 Meadowbrook Concours d’Elegance held at Meadowbrook Hall on the campus of Oakland University in Rochester Hills, Michigan. The show is never a disappointment, with a large collection of classic automobiles. I really enjoying photographing the details of classic cars. The cars, particularly of the 30’s and 40’s were a wonderful combination of art and engineering. A perfect example is shown above.
This image shows the mascot, or hood ornament of a 1935 Packard Model 1405 Phaeton by Dietrich. The ornament is by Lalique, called ‘Chrysis’. I don’t know if it is original to the car or a replacement. The car itself has an interesting history. It is one of only three of this model ever made, and only two remain. The car was part of the inaugural parade for FDR’s second term. It was owned for a time by Domino’s Pizza founder, Tom Monahan. In 1986, it competed in the Great American Car Race. It is a wonderful example of 1930’s automobile coachwork.
Processing of the mascot image primarily involved cropping from the 35mm format and converting to black & white. When I took the shot, I tried to get a background which wouldn’t distract from the hood ornament. In a car show, it is sometimes difficult because they have the cars packed so closely together. I was lucky with this one. I was able to get an angle on the shot which put a patch of grass behind the mascot. When I converted the image to black & white, I toned down the green until it become a soft back light. The raw, out of camera image is shown below.
I’m not sure this is going to be the final version of this image. I think I might crop just a bit more to create a square image. I might also eliminate the bit of the car hood that you see on the left, leaving just the mascot on the pedestal. I played around with that a bit and I haven’t decided whether I like it better or not. I took a few other angles of the same subject. I like the one below because of the bright spot in the upper left but would also look nice cropped down from the top as well.
As always, please feel free to leave your comments, suggestions and opinions.
I’d like to thank Steve Brown for information on the name of the hood ornament. If you like cars, check out his Flickr gallery. Wonderful stuff.
Copyright © 2010 James W. Howe – All rights reserved.