Back to the Bonneville Salt Flats today. The sky on this particular morning was amazing due to two weather patterns colliding. It was raining the night before and then a high pressure front moved in which gave these amazing clouds.
I used Topaz Adjust to bring out the detail in the sky and mountains and then returned it to Aperture 3 for sharpening.
I love hot rod, street rods, motorcycles, choppers, customs, dragsters, etc… the list just goes on and on. I am the son of a 1950s hot rodder and whenever these machines are around I’m out there with my camera recording them for posterity. One day these folks will be gone and the passion for the hobby will pass into history as so many other things have over time. I hope that my images will remain to document the creativity and engineering knowhow that make this such a unique piece of Americana.
Every August Louisville host the NSRA Street Rod Nationals. The city is filled with amazing vehicles that show so many different interpretations of what a street rod is. When the first street rods hit the street in the 1970s the cutoff point was that nothing newer than 1948 was considered a streetrod everything else was labeled as a muscle car, kustom or street machine. In those day this Chevy pickup probably wouldn’t have been entered in the Street Rod Nationals because it was too new. Times change and with the rise of the Goodguys events that allowed later model cars in the NSRA changed their rules to allow these later model vehicles into their shows as well. There was some initial grumbling, change never goes well with some folks, but for the most part the NSRA members accepted the change and started building later models too.
This little Chevy pickup is part of a movement to present vehicles that show the wear and tear of time but perform flawlessly due to modern drivelines and safety equipment. I really dig the stance of this truck and the background in the shot makes it really pop. I used TopazAdjust Spicify preset to bring out the warm tones in the sky and accent the headlights. Placing the truck diagonally in the frame and at the bottom helps reinforce the lowered stance of the vehicle while allowing the sky to spread majestically over the entire scene.
I shot this rat rod at a local car show. I really dig the outrageous engine and aggressive stance this little rat has. A tunnel ram intake, straight pipes and a chopped top all scream hot rod which is why it appealed to me in the first place.
I processed this one using Aperture 3 and Topaz Adjust. Once again I used the Spicify preset and then tweaked the settings to get the overall look I wanted. Spicify does a great job accenting the texture of the rust and the colors in the scene.
I framed this image so that the diagonal lines in the photo would draw the viewer into the frame. The front tire seems poised to leap out of the frame. Once again I was shooting with a polarizer because it was around midday and I knew that the polarizer would saturate the sky and the colors in the scene.
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.
Every vehicle in this shot is a Studebaker truck. The location is in western Arizona along US 50. Even though it was midday I was able to create a memorable shot which comes back to my belief that with practice and study a photographer can capture good images no matter what time of day he is shooting.
I really like the way Topaz Adjust helped me bring out the colors in this shot. I have printed this image at 24″x36″ and the detail is amazing.
I use a local print shop, Unique Imaging Concepts, to print most of my work. They print on many different substrates but my choice is their glossy aluminum. Their process is dye-sublimation which really works well to preserve the vibrance and detail that I require in my work for gallery exhibition. I still print on paper when the client or gallery requires that but my preference is printing on aluminum.
