Cruisin’ to Clarkston

The wife and I spent part of our Saturday in Clarkston at the Cruisin' to Clarkston Car show. There were many good looking rigs with some serious head turners. One of my personal favorites was a 1973 Plymouth Cuda, with 2 inches chopped off the top. The Cuda on its own already looks sleek and mean, this just looked like it was flying at a standstill.

I have a bunch of other pictures of the Cuda however I'm not done tweaking them yet so they're not posted. Subscribe here for pictures from the car show to know immediately about new photo posts. Most of the preliminary work is done; there is still a bunch of work to be done however.

I also met someone with a beautiful 1964 GMC. I am a Ford guy through and through. All three vehicles in my driveway are blue ovals, and my boat is powered by a Ford engine. This doesn't mean I will ignore a good looking Chevy or GMC, I'm just not going to run out and buy one, classic or not. Mopar is a different story because well, I abso-!@#$ing-lutely love the Charger. But I digress, so back to the subject at hand.

This is one of the most creatively themed vehicles I've seen in a long time. I spent some time talking to the owner and discovered that my hobby can pay considerably if I master the art of it. I don't think I could charge as much as was spent which shall remain nameless on some work that was done for him. However at the same time, I haven't really tracked the number of hours spent doing a single photo like what was discussed. However I think I will take the pictures I have and play with them and see if I can come up with something like it.

Under the hood was just as beautiful.

I've discovered that my eye is starting to learn and spot different conditions more quickly. I've also learned from past experience what needs to be avoided at all costs. A big thing that needs to be avoided when taking a picture of a car is people in the background for the most part. Often they can add to the photo, especially when endowed with qualities which all men appreciate. However someone in the background chatting with someone else creates a distraction in the picture. The result is the eye is drawn from the focal point of the picture, the car, to the people in the background. Other issues cannot be avoided, only mitigated; such as reflections from the sides of vehicles. These are worst when you have are photographing a dark vehicle with a bright vehicle next to it. To avoid this reflection issue, take the photograph on the sunny side of the car. The reflection is most prominent on the side with the shadow.

That's all for now, I have to wake up to go to work in the morning. As other pictures are done if I feel them worthy of highlight I'll do an additional blog post. (I will because there was an awesome Pontiac whose owner I chatted with as well. That vehicle is worth of highlight. It's amongst the pictures that are partially done.)