Vintage cars in the rain

[iangreenhalgh1]

It was a horrible day, dark, dull, gray, raining, so 'normal' photos jut looked boring and dull. So I decided to try some HDR and abandon realism, going for a bright, shiny look, won't be to everyone's tastes but I enjoyed trying something a bit different. Lenses were an early Konishiroku Hexanon 2.8/35 in F mount, a Sankor 3.5/28 preset and a Sankor 2.5/105 preset.

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[Attila]

Image upload issue is fixed now, beautiful series Ian!

[iangreenhalgh1]

Cheers, something a bit different I thought.

[RSalles]

Great series, really Ian. Perfect balance between HDR, available light and subject.


Cheers,

Renato

[DigiChromeEd]

Great series Ian, your dad's Rover always looks the part no matter what the weathers like!

[Nordentro]

Nice series indeed

[iangreenhalgh1]

Cheers guys, I wasn't sure if the more extreme hdr toning would appeal to others or not, but I guess it works quite well with this subject.

[kuuan]

[iangreenhalgh1]

Thanks. NEX-3, some of them are stitched from 3, 4 or 6 images. I have selectively blurred the backgrounds on most of them too. The first three are with the old Hexanon 2.8/35, the rest with the Sankor 3.5/28, the closeup are with the Sankor 2.5/105. They all received the same HDR tone mapping, but different processing after that using NIK Sharpener and various settings on the 'Structure' slider.

Here is the GMC pickup image after just HDR tonemapping in Photomatix:



Then after further PP - the background has been selectively blurred and the truck has been sharpened using NIK Sharpener with the Structure setting turned up to 80%:

[kuuan]

really great processing!
thank's for explaining in detail Ian! I realize, well, I always have known, that I must study PPing. I have no idea how to partially blur, I don't know NIK sharpener and never even tried stitching - which also enhanced, besides the partial blur, 'object separation', full depths of car being in focus while full background is blurred? I've got to do homework..

[iangreenhalgh1]

Stitching gives you all kinds of possibilities for different perspectives, I particularly like the ultra wide angle perspectives it can give you.

These ones are stitched:

1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14

It can give more of a 3D look, but only in certain shots.

This image is a single shot with the Sankor 3.5/28:



This image is made up from 4 shots, same lens, I just moved closer to the car. You get a much wider perspective (with corresponding distortion) and I had to use the Transform > Warp tool in Photoshop to play around with the curvature of the image and correct some of the distortion.

[Olivier]

WOW.
Very nice serie, Ian.
Congrats for the topic and the quality.

I like to see 2CV and Citroën 11, Ford Escort, Audi 80 or 100 (Avant ?).


Jaguar is great.
What brand emblem is the warrior's head ?
(it looks like a Gaulois, a person from Gaul, ancester of french people).

[iangreenhalgh1]

Merci beaucoup mon ami.

I think that is an Audi 80 Quattro Coupe.

The head is supposed to be a Viking, it is the emblem of the Rover company.

[Olivier]

[iangreenhalgh1]

Yes, they used the Viking ship on the badge, never knew what vikings had to do with an English car company though.

[Minolfan]

[quote=""iangreenhalgh1]Cheers guys, I wasn't sure if the more extreme hdr toning would appeal to others or not, but I guess it works quite well with this subject.[/quote]

I am not every time positive about your ladscapes in HDR, sometimes a bit exaggerated effect, but this time you deliverd very nice balanced pictures! Really the best of whats possible in in the dull circumstances IMHO.

[iangreenhalgh1]

Thankyou, I also have mixed feelings about my HDR landscapes - sometimes they come out as I hoped, other times, not so much.

[patrickh]

Good series Ian, making the most of rotten conditions


patrickh