Calendar Image Poll - It's all Done

[GranCuda1970]

Nice Action shot !!!

[DAYTONA]

...my camera is a very simple one my wife won at a biz meeting about 8-10 years ago...I know very little technical stuff, but I have watched many pro photographers shoot my cars over the last 25 years for magazines etc...I learned what they watched for, how they did it...digital cameras are the best, I usually take 100-150 shots at a time, gonna get at least 1 good picture, LOL

[ChallengerHK]

Attached is a photo I would offer up for consideration for next year's calendar. It's of my heap, '71 Cuda, at the '09 Pikes Peak Hill Climb. Its the first day of practice which takes place from the Devil's Playground to the summit. Note my death grip on the steering wheel, the rooster tails coming off the back tires and the frost on the roof. The photo was taken about 6 am. Thanks, Jess Neal.

Neal,

Cool shot. To enter for next year, send me a copy that's close to 3000 pixels wide, to rdwaryer at aol dot com.

[tommyg29]

Ive been bored all weekend because its been raining (got 6" yesterday and more today), so been playing with paint.net and discovered you can really do some neat tricks with hue and saturation. Although artificial, it can really make a dull or improperly lit photo look much better. Will you or can you do this to any of the photos to brighten or sharpen them up?
I tinkered a little with my submission and made it look a lot better IMO, yet still true to the original.
Look at the difference between these two, which I'll probably submit for next year. The untouched first photo looks washed out. The second one looks more like it would under ideal light conditions:

[ChallengerHK]

Ansel Adams, who is generally considered the father of "realistic" photography, said something like "I always tweak everything I print. I'm not after making the print look the way the subject looked, but the way the subject made me feel."

[tommyg29]

Everyone knows that pictures dont usually do the scene justice, especially expansive natural scenes like Ansel Adams was famous for.  Cameras usually dont accurately recreate what your eyes see, and especially not what your brain remembers. Sometimes its a good thing to help the camera a little bit.

[ChallengerHK]

Sometimes its a good thing to help the camera a little bit.

I would say it's always a good thing. Unfortunately, I know that not everyone has access to the software or the experience to do it, or at least to do a full blown job of it. But that tool you found might be useful to folks.

[tommyg29]

Everyone with windows has mspaint, but "paint.net" is free and does a lot more.
Anyone can use it. Very simple.
I think its a freebee designed by the same developers as microsofts mspaint.

[DAYTONA]

...the green '71 by the water is a great shot


...I always tweak the color and contrast a little...kinda like waxing your car with the computer

[spamtank]

Everyone with windows has mspaint, but "paint.net" is free and does a lot more.
Anyone can use it. Very simple.
I think its a freebee designed by the same developers as microsofts mspaint.

Thanks for the paint.net recommendation.  I've been using The GIMP, but I find it cumbersome to use.  This one looks more straight forward.

[DanGoodman]

I voted for my faves, but love # 12

[GoodysGotaCuda]

Ive been bored all weekend because its been raining (got 6" yesterday and more today), so been playing with paint.net and discovered you can really do some neat tricks with hue and saturation. Although artificial, it can really make a dull or improperly lit photo look much better. Will you or can you do this to any of the photos to brighten or sharpen them up?
I tinkered a little with my submission and made it look a lot better IMO, yet still true to the original.
Look at the difference between these two, which I'll probably submit for next year. The untouched first photo looks washed out. The second one looks more like it would under ideal light conditions:

.

It's almost a necessity to use photoshop with any photos I take of my car. The yellow just washes out with the slightest imperfections in lighting. Not that photoshop is a requirement, but adjusting color really helps jazz things back up again.

[tommyg29]

So, does that mean the calendar photos will or can be touched up? In my case I submitted an untouched photo. I think it turned out real well as is,  but tinkering with the saturation just a few percent makes it look even better.
I think I read somewhere not to submit touched or cropped photos, so the layout peole can do that. Also, what is the aspect ratio for the calendar? Is it 4:3? Like I said before, that could make cropping some of the photos problematic. By that I mean you might have to crop out or cut off important elements of the shot, or...just throw off the compostion.

[ChallengerHK]

There's always touching up, before printing yes.

[1ownr]

The photos will be color corrected for output to print. When you view photos on a computer and adjust them for saturation or contrast you are changing the curves, ie highlight, midtone, and shadow values. This does not always translate well to print as you are viewing them on a back lit device, a computer monitor. Shadows become too dark and muddy and if the color midtone is pushed too much, the color will over saturate in print mode. As in taking photos, overcast days are best to keep a good ratio between highlights and shadows, just as when you take a photo in bright sunlight the highlights are too high, bright and the shadows are too dark, black, you loose definition and have created a overly contrasted image. When printing you need to keep definition because muddiness will occur when laying ink or toner on a sheet of paper. The goal is too keep detail in the darkest shadow when it is printed, not viewing on a computer screen. The photos will be cropped, also included on the page as before, is the member info.  After the voting has finished, if there is anyone who has any concerns or requests about the image of their car that will be in the calendar, just PM me directly. Not to worry.


judy