Tbird portrait - critiques welcome

[DJ-S1]

I'm thinking of making a print of this as a Christmas present for a friend of mine. He's spent a lot of time fixing up this Thunderbird. I'd appreciate your thoughts on it and any improvements I might try. TIA

http://daveorama.smugmug.com/photos/10073461-L.jpg

[Bodwick]

I'm thinking of making a print of this as a Christmas present for a friend of mine. He's spent a lot of time fixing up this Thunderbird. I'd appreciate your thoughts on it and any improvements I might try.

What about Photoshopping out the white parking lines......

[DJ-S1]

What about Photoshopping out the white parking lines......Okay. Seems a bit plain w/o them, but maybe they were distracting. What do you think?

http://daveorama.smugmug.com/photos/10075965-L.jpg

Oops, missed one under the front tires, I'll get that next edit.

[hutchman]

My $0.02 worth. This was kinda fun. I've been away for a while - SICK! Good to be back.


http://hutch.smugmug.com/photos/10096709-M.jpg
Thanks for the opportunity to play!

Hutch

[mercphoto]

I'm thinking of making a print of this as a Christmas present for a friend of mine. He's spent a lot of time fixing up this Thunderbird. I'd appreciate your thoughts on it and any improvements I might try.

Very cool sky. Getting rid of the parking lines is a good move. Using a circular polarizer when shooting the shot can help with reflections off the glass and hood, bring out a bit more color from the paint. The sun was behind the car, so a bit of fill-flash can help as well.

Nicely done.

[DJ-S1]

Thanks for playing Hutch. I like it, but I haven't developed the eye for this kind of stuff yet. So lesse...I think you cropped the sky a bit, rotated it to make the bodyside molding horizontal, and pumped up the saturation on the car only? Anything I missed? :scratch

I was thinking of making a small (8x10) poster out of it; large black border, small dark red stroke around the image, and some dark red text at the bottom. Sort of like your recent truck work, only amateur-style! :D Any tips for making the text look good in photoshop, or is it a no-brainer?

[DJ-S1]

Very cool sky. Getting rid of the parking lines is a good move. Using a circular polarizer when shooting the shot can help with reflections off the glass and hood, bring out a bit more color from the paint. The sun was behind the car, so a bit of fill-flash can help as well.

Nicely done.Thanks! This is a surprise gift, so I snuck these shots while he was working late so he wouldn't see me do it. Didn't even have a tripod with me. I should have used the flash; now that you mention it, it seems obvious but I'm still new to this stuff.

As for the polarizer, I need to get an adapter for my S1 so I can use filters. Once I get the adapter a polarizer will definitely be my first purchase. I had one for my old 35mm Minolta and I miss using it with this new digital camera.

Thanks for the great suggestions, that's very helpful. :thumb

[hutchman]

I did not touch the saturation. I cropped and rotated the car. Set the black and white for color adjustment. Used the "cletus" method to lighten up the foreground and to slightly darken the dark clouds.

Pretty quick and dirty. Again, thanks for the project.

Hutch

[DJ-S1]

I did not touch the saturation. I cropped and rotated the car. Set the black and white for color adjustment. Used the "cletus" method to lighten up the foreground and to slightly darken the dark clouds.

Pretty quick and dirty. Again, thanks for the project.

Hutch
Oh, okay, so setting the black and white in the curves advustment is what made the car pop more. Cool, thanks for the tips Hutch. :thumb

[lynnma]

My $0.02 worth. This was kinda fun. I've been away for a while - SICK! Good to be back.



Thanks for the opportunity to play!

HutchGlad you're feeling better Hutch.. nice to have you back :thumb

[DJ-S1]

Okay, so here's what I have. I think I'm pretty happy with it, but I'd like your opinions. There's always room for improvement, I know.

I decided not to rotate it like Hutch did, I liked it both ways but in the end decided to leave it angled. I did punch it up slightly, and I added a faint logo in the sky. Do you think that's too much?

http://daveorama.smugmug.com/photos/10224791-L.jpg

[digismile]

Looks GREAT on my screen :thumb . I definitely like the sky. The picture looks like it came straight out of an ad. Makes you want to go buy a car ...

Brad





Okay, so here's what I have. I think I'm pretty happy with it, but I'd like your opinions. There's always room for improvement, I know.

I decided not to rotate it like Hutch did, I liked it both ways but in the end decided to leave it angled. I did punch it up slightly, and I added a faint logo in the sky. Do you think that's too much?

[tmlphoto]

Looks GREAT on my screen :thumb . I definitely like the sky. The picture looks like it came straight out of an ad. Makes you want to go buy a car ...

Brad

Looks good to me too. I like the logo in the sky. "Print it!"

[DJ-S1]

Thanks Brad and Thomas, I think it came out pretty good. I've certainly learned a lot here on this board.

I ordered an 8x10 glossy of it to see how it looks for real, I'm not sure I can print it much larger than that.

[hutchman]

The bird in the sky is cool. Very subtle. I still like the car more horizontal, but I really like what you did for the sky.

This is the kind of Christmas effort that any friend should really appreciate.

Great job,

Hutch