Here’s another shot from my trip to the Studebaker Boneyard in Arizona. I really like the texture and patina that this front end from a 1950 Studebaker has. The famous “Bullet Nose” grill is an American icon. Studebaker was so far ahead of it’s competitors, in the design realm, after World War II . Unfortunately the cars themselves were pretty mediocre in terms of the quality of their components which helped seal their fate.

I shot this at midday and, as I do most times, I was using my polarizer to cut down on the glare. I find using a polarizer to photograph these abandoned vehicles helps when I do my final processing. The polarizer seems to intensify the colors and bring out the texture in the rust. I recommend using polarizers to my students when they are shooting in less than favorable light such as the light in the middle of the day.

I processed this image in Topaz Adjust using the Spicify preset then I dialed it down somewhat from the default setting. One of the real benefits of using a plug-in such as Topaz Adjust is that I can accomplish the feat of opening up the shadows and showing the detail that is in them, such as the inside of the wheelwell here, where the viewer can see the ground and the inside of the fender too.  Too often I see images that have gone through one of these plug-ins where the effect is too strong. I often advise my students to think in terms of “less is more” when using them.

Compositionally I like the way the the subject comes forward in the frame; almost as if it is trying to jump back on the highway for one more ride.  The many triangles that are formed by the composition keep the image from being flat or static. The angles move our eyes within the frame while suggesting that there is more going on just out of our sight.