(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.

(Nikon D700, 70-300mm at 112mm, ISO 250, Exposure 1/60 sec @f/11)

I like to take pictures of classic automobiles but dealing with lighting conditions that you can’t control, reflections of cars and people, etc. can make it difficult to get a nice final image. I like to focus on the details which make these cars so interesting and sometimes the reflections are really a distraction. In the image above, I actually liked the reflections. The picture shows a 1932 Packard Stationery Coupe on display at the Classic Car Club of America (CCCA) show held at the Gilmore Car Musuem near Kalamazoo, Michigan. I took the shot primarily because I liked the way the reflections looked in the curve of the spare tire holder and other places on the car.

There is much debate among photographers about whether to get the image right ‘in camera’ or ‘fix it later’. My feeling has always been that for many images getting it right ‘in camera’ simply means getting the composition and exposure that will allow you to develop the image in later steps, whether that be in a wet darkroom or a digital darkroom. In the case of this image, I knew that I liked the reflections and when I saw the image I imagined more of a painting than a photograph. I had a good idea of the processing that I would use on this. In this case, I chose the Topaz Simplify filter. I looked at some of the presets including BuzSim, Painting – Oil and Painting – Watercolor and decided that the Watercolor came closest to what I had in mind. I tweaked some of the settings and saved the image. The original image was a bit washed out and I wanted a bit more color so I then applied a curves layer to give the image some more color and contrast. If you compare the completed image above to the raw image below, I think you will see the difference it made.

Someday, of course, I really should learn how to paint and create a real watercolor, but for now this will do.

As always, comments are welcome and encouraged.

Copyright © 2010 James W. Howe – All rights reserved.

(Nikon D700, 28-80mm @ 56mm, ISO 200, Exposure 1/4000 sec @f/4.8)

Every year the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology holds a benefit car show called Eyes on Design. The event is held at the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House in Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan. What I like about this event is that it always has an interesting collection of automobiles. Each year the event has a particular theme. This year is was on automotive design: past, present and future.

The image you see above is the tail end of a 1935 Chrysler Airflow automobile. It was a very bright day and as I was walking around the show I saw this car and I really liked how the light was highlighting the curves.

In post processing I darkened the blacks to emphasize the shadows, but that was the way I saw the shot when I took it. Additional processing was used to blacken the windows.

Feel free to leave comments below.

Copyright © 2010 James W. Howe – All rights reserved.

(Nikon D700, 28-80mm at 68mm, ISO 200, Exposure 1/125 sec @f/8.0)

One of my favorite subjects to shoot are classic automobiles. In the past I’ve focused on exterior details, but after a while you need a break from taking another fender shot. As a result, I’ve started spending some more time trying to get some interior shots to go along with the exterior shots. Interiors are harder because the lighting is generally bad, particularly for coupes and sedans. Also, most owners don’t let you climb in the car so you have to find a way to get your camera in a position which will take a nicely composed shot.

The image above is of a 1958 Corvette which was on display at the first ever “Cars R Stars” car show held at the Packard Proving Grounds in Shelby Township, Michigan. I like this shot because of all the circles and curves. There is the curve of the steering wheel, the semi-circular speedometer, the circular gauges, etc. The lighting isn’t great, but you work with what you have when you shoot at an outdoor show.

Processing included some preliminary work in Lightroom where I brought up the blacks and brought down the exposure a bit. I then took the image into Photoshop where I used Topaz Simplify to smooth out some of the less attractive elements. I reduced the opacity of that layer and then painted on a layer mask over the numbers on the speedometer to keep them clear.

I’d be interested in hearing what you think. Feel free to leave comments on the image below.

Copyright © 2010 James W. Howe – All rights reserved.

(Nikon D700, 28-80 at 56mm, ISO 250, Exposure 1/125 sec @f/11)

It’s almost summer so that must mean its time for classic car shows! I recently attended the Classic Car Club of America Museum ‘Experience’ show, held annually at the Gilmore Car Museum in Western Michigan. The show always has a great collection of classic automobiles, all of which have been beautifully maintained and/or restored.

The image above shows some of the spare tire detail from a 1929 Sport Phaeton Cadillac which was on display. For some reason, I found the combination of the leather straps against the black and white of the tire to be visually appealing and I tried to capture that feeling in this shot. The original shot was just a little bit larger, but I decided to crop it down to focus on the elements which caught my eye originally.

Processing was fairly minimal. Aside from a minor crop, I used an Hue-Saturation layer to remove a blue cast which came from the overcast skies. I also increased the contrast and bumped the saturation of the reds to bring back some color to the leather which I felt was lacking in the raw image. Some final sharpening and you have the final image.

I took several shots at this show and I suspect they will be appearing in this blog over the next few days!

Comments?

Copyright © 2010 James W. Howe – All rights reserved.