What car do you have?

[Huntsman]

Ok.

 

[RJman]

Cool pic. Of course, when they ran it in Classic Style, it did seem a bit "Readers' Wives"...

Will, when it breaks down and my mechanic has taken August off, a little absinthe does the trick.

 

[Lucky Strike]

Bonus pic for Huntsman *Just saw this on the street):

 

[Lawman]

2005 Mercedes E320, graphite grey metallic, and it is in a perpetual state of uncleanliness.

 

[Miguel Antonio]

Hunstsman, your photos are impressive. It's incredible how you look so good, almost like a classic movie star.

 

[spertia]

Originally Posted by Miguel Antonio

Hunstsman, your photos are impressive. It's incredible how you look so good, almost like a classic movie star.

Seriously, that first photo looks like it could be straight of a Wallpaper magazine spread.

 

[Artisan Fan]

Originally Posted by spertia

Seriously, that first photo looks like it could be straight of a Wallpaper magazine spread.

That's what I was thinking!

Notice the strategic Zero Halliburton case. Wonder if Cheney has one of those...

 

[skalogre]

Originally Posted by spertia

Seriously, that first photo looks like it could be straight of a Wallpaper magazine spread.

 

[LSeca]

Huntsman, that is one great photo. Can you tell us how you set that pic up, why does it look so good?

 

[Huntsman]

Originally Posted by RJman

Cool pic. Of course, when they ran it in Classic Style, it did seem a bit "Readers' Wives"...

Heh, I know what you mean...

Originally Posted by Lucky Strike

Bonus pic for Huntsman *Just saw this on the street):

Awesome! Striking colour. Feels like its an older one than mine, which is even more impressive. Somewhere around you lives an example of the most violent incarnations of the XJ-S, a full-off, 700hp Lister Le Mans. I hope I never see one!

Originally Posted by Miguel Antonio

Hunstsman, your photos are impressive. It's incredible how you look so good, almost like a classic movie star.

Thanks. But that's mainly due to your not being able to see my head

Originally Posted by spertia

Seriously, that first photo looks like it could be straight of a Wallpaper magazine spread.

I have never heard of this... might have to look it up.

Originally Posted by Artisan Fan

That's what I was thinking!

Notice the strategic Zero Halliburton case. Wonder if Cheney has one of those...

I hope he doesn't. According to Wiki, it was the same Halliburton, but before the oil company was founded. Well, at least there's no association anymore than the name, because I'm too fond of these cases to give them up!

Thanks guys.

~ Huntsman

 

[Huntsman]

Originally Posted by LSeca

Huntsman, that is one great photo. Can you tell us how you set that pic up, why does it look so good?


Thanks, LS. Like everything else here, it's just about the style, and the style is always in the lighting, just as in a portrait. Which this is, even though its a portrait of a car. Didn't do anything fancy, but will add some comments.

The style I wanted is what all the comments on it say -- classic, sophisticated, mysterious, perhaps, elegance with edge. Bond-esque, if you will. Thus...

Sophistication and mystery means you need it to be night. Enhance that with lighting, and I personally like dramatic light for the edge -- that is, light that is highly directional, because it renders things in sharp relief and you get high contrast between those areas and the areas in the darkness. It is good for curves, angles and textures, but sacrifices explicitness (who cares?). Cars are especially great for that; you get the diffuse reflections off the paint, and highlights on the chrome, and shadows from the bodylines and whatnot. So I went looking for point sources -- streetlamps, spotlights, etc. Streetlamps were generally too high up -- the light looked 'normal' coming from high above, just like the sun. But in the garage, the light was two feet higher than my head, so it hit more sideways, which is more dramatic.

Next, sports cars should always be depicted as the rakish beasts they are -- they should be rebels, never between the lines, never parked normally. Too boring. They should not generally (just generally!) be photographed orthogonally (straight on from any aspect). Get em on angle like the car is circling you. And though I regret I violated it here, the front wheels should almost never be straight! Usually best to have the camera at a level with a driver's eyes or lower, as it makes the car more dominant. In this case I was at driver's level so that my head, being much higher, would not dominate the car too much. Urban settings have a certain something, to, can't define that right now.

I once saw these two guys park a new red SLK behind a hotel. They parked, and one guy gets out his disposable camera (no kidding) and starts to take pics. The car is just sitting there, parked. Were it a Spyker, it would still be just sitting there -- I went and talked to the guy, and had him park it at an angle across the lines, turn those front wheels to get some wheel profile, then told the guy to get off the front quarter and crouch down and shoot. I hope he liked them better.

Post -processing: Do, do, do adjust the levels to be sure that you get some 100% saturated black and some 100% saturated white -- force the full dynamic range into the image. Having those extremes establishes max contrast, and contrast is drama. I also adjusted the color balance to be shifted green-blue -- the cool colors, because it makes the image, well, more cool. Warm tones not so much. I also desaturated it a few percent so that it wasn't too green.

Other than that...I don't know. Don't center stuff (in the full image I'm about 35% from the left frame). The full image is actually better as you see the light and its coma, as well as the ceiling with the concrete beams above. Use the slowest film/digital ISO you can and still have adecent exposure time. I shot this at 80 ISO and 1/10sec on my old Olympus E-10. My father has an 18" wide print of it that's pretty stunning for 4MP. Oh, infrared remotes for the cameras are nice -- you can see mine in my hand in the lower piccy.

That's about it. Let me know if you have any questions, and think drama (at least that's my photographic credo).

~ Huntsman

 

[Pink22m]

I drive a 1995 Chevrolet Cavalier with just over 104,000 miles on it. While I am not a fan of American cars, it has been a good car for me. I hope it gets me through the next two years of graduate school, after which time, I plan on buying a new car.

 

[Maharlika]

Here's mine: So L.A.!

 

[imageWIS]

Originally Posted by Maharlika

Here's mine: So L.A.!

How do you like the Mini? How's reliability been? Any problems with the car?

Jon.

 

[Maharlika]

Originally Posted by imageWIS

How do you like the Mini? How's reliability been? Any problems with the car?

Jon.

1.) I like my MINI. It's a pleasure to drive. The basewheel and design of the car makes it a joy to drive specially when 'hugging' the curves. Fortunately, the weather in L.A. permits me to drive topless most of the time. 2.) Very reliable. Remember, even though it's made in Oxford, England MINI is owned by BMW and meets the Bavarian standards. 3.) I have 30,000 mi. and no problems, so far.