Krazy Jim’s – Ann Arbor
by James Howe on Jul.10, 2009, under Michigan
(Olympus E-3, 70-300mm at 81mm (2x crop factor), ISO 100, 5 exposures @ f/7.1)
My company recently moved to a new building and as part of the move we needed to come up with names for our conference rooms. We batted around several ideas, but finally settled on using names of some of our favorite local restaurants in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I was then tasked with the job of getting pictures of the various establishments so we could have pictures made and hung in each of the conference rooms. The image above shows Krazy Jim’s Blimpy Burger a great place to get a burger and fries (and other fried veggies as well) and highly recommended if you are ever in Ann Arbor. Krazy Jim’s was featured on an episode of the Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives with Guy Fieri
I took this shot in late evening. I wanted to make sure that the lights of the sign and the interior were visible. Given the time of day and the amount of contrast between light and dark, I shot 5 exposures from a tripod and created an HDR image using Photomatix. I then took the image into Photoshop and used the Topaz Labs Simplify filter to ‘simplify’ the image and create something that looks more like a painting. I then went over key elements in the shot (the signage and some other areas) and masked out the filter to let the original photograph show through.
Comments and feedback welcome.
Image and text Copyright © 2009 James W. Howe – All rights reserved
This image can be purchased.
’63 Thunderbird
by James Howe on Jul.06, 2009, under Automobiles, Michigan
(Olympus E-3, 14-54mm at 27mm (2x crop factor), ISO 100, exposure 1/500 sec @ f/8.0)
The shot you see above is from a 1963 Thunderbird convertible which was on display as part of the Motor Muster held at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. Not much more to say really, I just liked the simple pattern created by the fake vents. Minimal processing to produce the final image.
Comments and feedback welcome.
Image and text Copyright © 2009 James W. Howe – All rights reserved
For more automobile detail images, please visit my ImageKind galleries.
Hudson Italia
by James Howe on Jul.02, 2009, under Automobiles, Michigan
(Olympus E-3, 70-300mm at 70mm (2x crop factor), ISO 100, exposure 1/500 sec @ f/13)
The Motor Muster at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan manages to get a great collection of automobiles. Many cars on display are ones that you would see (or would have seen) driving around your neighborhood. However, the show also gets a few cars which are more unique. One example is the Hudson Italia. This car grew out of a need for Hudson to offer a sporty car to compete with other manufacturers. I personally don’t find this particular car attractive when viewed whole, but I love some of the details. This particular shot shows an area just over the passenger side headlight. Looks vaguely like the Star Trek emblem to me! A couple of years ago I saw this car at a different car show and took this shot.
Comments and feedback welcome.
Image and text Copyright © 2009 James W. Howe – All rights reserved
Boilerplate
by James Howe on Jul.01, 2009, under Michigan
(Olympus E-3, 14-54mm at 14mm (2x crop factor), ISO 100, exposure 1/500 sec @ f/4.0)
As I’ve mentioned before in this blog, I recently attended the Motor Muster car show held at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. Besides all the cool cars, there were all the interesting historical exhibits. This shot was taken in front of an old mill shop in the same place as my previous post, Discarded #1. I guess I should call this image Discarded #2. This particular piece of rusty metal is part of an old boiler that they have sitting out in front. The sun was rather bright and I liked the hard shadows created by the strong light. I’m also rather fond of old, rusty things.
Comments and feedback welcome.
Image and text Copyright © 2009 James W. Howe – All rights reserved
1930 Packard 740 Roadster Mascot
by James Howe on Jun.25, 2009, under Automobiles, Michigan
(Olympus E-3, 14-54mm at 54mm (2x crop factor), ISO 100, exposure 1/1250 sec @ f/3.5)
This past weekend I attended the 2009 Eyes on Design car show held at the Edsel and Eleanor Mansion in Grosse Point Shores, Michigan. The event is an annual affair and is a fund raiser for the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology. This is the shows 21st year. Each year has a different theme and this year highlighted advertising and cars. Many of the cars on display had a framed advertisement for the vehicle next to it. It was interesting to see the way cars have been marketed through the years.
The image above shows a ‘mascot’ or hood ornament from a 1930 Packard 740 Roadster. What caught my eye with this particular ornament was the color. Most mascots that you see are chrome or crystal, this one looks to be brass. Whatever the material, it caught my eye. As I framed the shot, I noticed that the next car made an interesting background. I shot this from both sides and I liked the look of this one better. The car in the other angle was a grey/silver and didn’t go as well as this one. I did a little tweaking of the contrast, but that was about it. The majority of the work on this image was done in Adobe Lightroom.
Comments and feedback welcome.
Image and text Copyright © 2009 James W. Howe – All rights reserved
Please see some other mascot shots in my Hood Ornaments Gallery on ImageKind.