STOP!

STOP!

I found this car at a local car show. I have never seen a top that was chopped and then laced back together but the rat rod crowd does some interesting fabrication. I liked the way the rusted patina of the car contrasted with the slick finish of the yellow car reflected in the stop light. I thought the inclusion of the bullet holes in the rear deck lid helped add interest to the right hand side of the image.

I framed it in as a classic rule of thirds placing the red light at the intersection of the lower third section and the left third section. I processed this image using the NIK HDR Efex Pro plug-in and finished it in Aperture 3.

2 thoughts on “STOP!

  1. There are some topics which lend themselves to HDR processing and vintage tin is high on that list. However, there are other topics that look just awful when HDR is used, including many landscape settings. Do you have a private thought as to whether HDR is being over-used across the board at the moment, partly because it’s now relatively new to do easily?
    Like the stitched-on top, Well seen.

  2. Geoff, thank you for taking the time to comment. I agree with your observation that there is a tendency today to use extreme HDR processing in images that don’t lend themselves to the process. I participate in Photo Duels on Pixoto.com and the overuse of HDR effects is rampant. Too many photographers are trying to salvage poorly exposed and poorly executed images by running apps such as Topaz Adjust to intensify and enhance them. I can speak from my own experience with using these plug-ins that when one first discovers them the tendency is to over use them, so I try to see that aspect when viewing HDR type images. That said, I think that many people do, in time, back off the amount of saturation and enhancement if they look at their images critically.

    Personally I am more interested in using the true HDR process of bracketed shots to bring out information that will allow the image to portray the scene in a way that closely imitates our human ability to see a broader range of tones than our camera sensors are capable of recording in a single exposure. I like having the ability to open up the shadows and dial down the highlights so that I can convey the scene as I saw it when I shot the image. My photographic vision for color has always been a bit over saturated even when I was shooting film many years ago. Most of my work leans toward enhanced colors because that is the way I see the world when I’m using my camera. I have evolved in my use of these plug-ins over the time that I’ve been using them and am a lot less heavy handed today than I was a couple of years back. When I first started with pseudo HDR I wasn’t bothered by halos and noise; I was just excited by the vibrance and detail that the process allowed. Today I find myself looking to reduce those effects and attempt to portray the image in a more realistic manner. There are still going to be images that respond to radical processing but they are the exception rather than the rule for me.

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