<<< o >>>guest entry: notraces 20 comments + add yours
chromasia.com

A big thank-you to David for trusting me with Chromasia for a day. I'm eternally grateful for the opportunity. Good luck, and much happiness to you and your family in your new home!

I woke up very early this morning with one purpose in mind - to find a decent image to post for all to see.

I hope you like her. She adorns a beautiful, black 1931 V12 Cadillac limousine, once owned by Al Capone. There are exactly four left in the world like her. I live in Chicago, what else would you expect? When I tell people I meet during my travels where I'm from, they inevitably bring up gangsters and Al Capone. Hey! But what about my beloved Chicago Cubs?! Oh well - if you can't beat 'em, join 'em is my philosophy.

The great part of this story is I ventured out not once, but TWICE to search for just the right subject. My first trip out the light was flat, it started to sprinkle, and I was ready to break down and cry. However, the Chromasia muses were with me. Near the final turn of my second trek, just when I was ready to hang up my camera for good, I found the owner of this beautiful automobile. He was very willing to share his story and let me take all the photographs I wanted. A rare find, for sure - simply a wonderful way to finish the day.

bob

camera
capture date
aperture
shutter speed
shooting mode
exposure bias
metering mode
ISO
focal length
image quality
white balance
cropped?
Nikon D70
12:10pm on 25/7/04
f2.8
1/1600
AP
+0.3
Pattern
200
40.0mm
RAW/NEF
Auto
No
 
guest entries + no print
comment by Raminok on Holidays at 02:30 AM (GMT) on 25 July, 2004

Love the shining metalic surface and the reflection, and also the background colours. The lighting on the object was pretty good.

comment by Alison at 02:40 AM (GMT) on 25 July, 2004

Pretty. I like how the top is whiter from the reflections, very cool.

Da Bearss.

comment by tiffany at 03:05 AM (GMT) on 25 July, 2004

Terrific DOF! I've spent the last two days trying to take good photos of a shiny object ... I know how difficult it is to get a good clean shot. Nice work.

comment by bill at 05:33 AM (GMT) on 25 July, 2004

awesome! what lens?

comment by myla at 09:15 AM (GMT) on 25 July, 2004

This is one of your best, B. I am sure Dave will love it. =)

comment by James at 12:29 PM (GMT) on 25 July, 2004

Well captured, I love the DoF.

comment by djn1 at 12:34 PM (GMT) on 25 July, 2004

Bob, thanks. This is a wonderful shot and an equally wonderful tale. And I'm very familiar with the 'going out twice' experience; it can be entirely exasperating, at least until you manage to capture something you know is ok - at which point in all suddenly becomes worthwhile :-)

comment by Bob at 02:02 PM (GMT) on 25 July, 2004

Thanks to everyone for the kind comments. I used the 17-55mm f/2.8 lens for this shot. I can tell you it was a real pain to focus her just right. Maybe I'll post some 'B' sides on my site in the series section for you to see. I also plan on posting up a few shots showing the car -- the problem is the car was parked at the owner's place of business (a tire center) - so the surrounding are quite busy - I like cleaner shots with little or no clutter.

I'd also like to extend my thanks to Dave, Ryan, Fredrik, Keith, and John. With their kind help and vast patience, I now have at least a small grasp on what Photoshop can do for me in the digital darkroom. This image was vastly improved using various adjustment layers - nothing I wouldn't have done in the wet darkroom - no trickery. Of course, the camera lens helped immensely in providing just the right depth-of-field I was searching for. I'm please with how she came out. Thanks so much to Dave and all the Chromasia viewers!

comment by Ryan at 02:47 PM (GMT) on 25 July, 2004

So That weight is off your shoulders now, huh Bob! Good job, and I am sure the owner would love an 8x10 of this....could also lead you to a few more gem shots!

comment by RainKing at 05:58 PM (GMT) on 25 July, 2004

Very pic shot. Great DoF. I like it.

Also it's quite amazing that you took it two days from now:

capture date: 27/07/04

;-)

comment by RainKing at 05:59 PM (GMT) on 25 July, 2004

Very pic? Wtf :)

That was "very nice."

comment by john at 07:21 PM (GMT) on 25 July, 2004

That's a wonderful photo Bob!

Hood ornaments rock! I would have never guessed that it was a Cadi though...

I've seen some Rolls-Royce ornaments that are beautiful too. Not that I get to see very many Rolls or Bentleys up close...

comment by fredrik at 07:49 PM (GMT) on 25 July, 2004

beautiful shot bob! nice and clean, and the dof is spot on. well done:)

comment by djn1 at 08:43 PM (GMT) on 25 July, 2004

Bob: I've changed the 'capture date' to the 25th :-)

comment by Christine at 06:03 AM (GMT) on 26 July, 2004

She is simply beautiful. What a wonderful story to go with the photograph!

comment by ninds at 10:10 PM (GMT) on 26 July, 2004

Gorgeous picture, Bob..Just stunning...

comment by wvs at 04:01 AM (GMT) on 28 July, 2004

bob, this is such a great shot. the exposure is just right on target and so is the focus range. i know how hard it could be to achieve a shot like this and you did a bang on job. also, the image is amazingly sharp and smooth at the same time. the blurred areas are so perfectly smooth (which is a compliment for your lens as well). and tell me if i'm mistaken, but i guess you were contemplating between posting a b&w version or color? but the touch of brown totally makes it and i think it was a perfect decision to go with color. the story behind it just makes it even more appealing. overall, an excellent piece of work.

comment by Bob at 08:55 PM (GMT) on 28 July, 2004

Thanks, Sam for the great comment. You know, I never gave much thought to converting this image to b&w - until now... I suppose the reason i didn't was because i felt there were limited colors in the image anyway -- it almost has a black and white feel to it anyway... The truth is, it took me about 6 or 7 shots to get the focus right - AND the subject framed -- I can say that this is EXACTLY the way I envisioned the final work... Thanks again!

comment by Muffin at 06:18 PM (GMT) on 24 August, 2004

Gorgeous!

comment by Matt Simpson at 12:39 AM (GMT) on 4 February, 2006

Wow. Me likey a lot.

I [less than three] macro photography.