I really wanted a vertical, a tight shot of a rod and the great neon sign. I wondered and wondered trying to find the right spot and I settled on this angle. The gray sky was the real killer for me, minimizing it while not messing with the angles. This is another HDR again to pull out the color and shades that make the rod so spectacular. A couple of the finishing notes to this image. There was a white banner on the right door, I removed it. Stuff in the background, some has been removed and some more needs to go. The biggie is the neon sign itself. While it might be a HDR image, I finished it “realistically” but I want the neon to glow. To achieve that I simply used Nik Color Efex Pro Tonal contrast and ran it just on the neon sign.
I think I like this one the best of all. I shot this at f/2.8 focusing on the front grill of the truck. And even though the image is a HDR, I ran again Nik’s Color Efex Pro Tonal Contrast on all the image except the truck on the right. The lining up of the cab on the right with the building and the yellow pump going down the middle were done intentionally to frame all the elements. While I have no intention to go back to my car shooting days of my youth, it sure was fun revisiting them and exploring them with radically new tools. The participants not only had a great time but produced some gorgeous images. What a great way to play in the rain!
Photos captured by D3x, 70-200VR2 (top HDR Efex Pro, bottom Photomatix Pro) on Lexar UDMA digital film