Images and Notes » Eyes on Design

’58 Cadillac Eldorado

James Howe — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 12:16:32 +0000

(Olympus E-3, 14-54mm at 33mm (2x crop factor), ISO 100, 1/400 sec @ f/3.2)

I was spending some time going through my Lightroom catalog looking for some interesting images to post to my Google+ profile when I came across this image that I took in 2008. The car is a 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham and it was on display at the annual Eyes on Design car show held in Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan. I don’t think I ever posted this image anywhere before, so here it is now!

If you compare the image to the raw image below, you will notice that a few things have been done to get to the final version. One of the first things I did was to remove all the grass surrounding the car, simply painting over it with a black brush. I used a couple of different HSL layers to remove some of the color which was reflected in the chrome. I wanted the chrome to look more silver than either green or blue. I used Topaz Simplify to give the body a somewhat HDR look, but I masked the effect elsewhere. Finished it off with a bit of sharpening and that was it.

Please feel free to leave any feedback you might have below. Thanks!

Goldenbird – 1955 Thunderbird

James Howe — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 00:46:32 +0000

(Nikon D700, 28-80mm at 28mm, ISO 200, Exposure 1/500 sec @ f/16)

One of my favorite car shows of the summer is the ‘Eyes on Design’ car show held annually at the Edsel and Eleanor Ford mansion in Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan. The show always has a great collection of interesting vehicles old and new. This picture shows a customized 1955 Thunderbird which was given the name ‘Goldenbird’ by its owner. Since this picture was taken at a show, there were several elements around the car that I didn’t want to have in the final image. I used the Content Aware Fill capability of Photoshop CS5 to remove some people who were sitting in the background. I also cloned out a big sign which was next to the car on the right and replaced it with grass patched in from various places. Finally I used Topaz Simplify to make the grass and background look more like a painting, while masking the car to keep the details. Finally I used a curves layer to darken the windows of the car and some of the background. Compare the finished image to the original below.

Comments?

’35 Chrysler Airflow

James Howe — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:40:21 +0000

(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.