Aston sunset - Day2

[shadytree]

Yet another gorgeous day in sunny Saafend, so I thought I'd do the front end today.
Took in a lot of what you guys said about yesterday's pics, so hopefully I'm learning something new everytime I get the camera out.

So once again, you critical opinion is much appreciated. (sorry it's that Aston again )









Then seasider turned up. So a few with Del's Griff as well.

[Wacky Racer]

shadytree said:

Yet another gorgeous day in sunny Saafend, so I thought I'd do the front end today.

I hope you remembered to put the handbrake on....




Lovely car btw....

[zetec]

This is one fantastic photo, I love it.



As much as I hate Southend it is a great place.

[wedge girl]

Cool, love the way the light hits the bonnet.

[gravymaster]

Hi mate.

I like this photo a lot composition wise but I couldnt resist giving it some post processing to really bring out the mood of the shot and the smooth curves of the car.

I cloned out the stuff on the horizon and the boat to remove the little distractions.

Changed the midpoint on the levels tool to make it lighter overall, adjusted the curves control to bring out the nice reflections, and adjusted the brightess and contrast to try and drag some detail out of the dark grille but not blow out the highlights on the bonnet. Then i sharpened it slightly with the photoshop Unsharp Mask. Next i hit control + J to duplicate the layer, set the mode to soft light and reduced the opacity to about 30%. This just gave the image a bit more punch.

The second version is a quadtone conversion with fred miranda bw workflow pro to Blue/Purple/Green/Black

They look great on my monitor, but its a bit dark I think.

Hope you dont mind me tampering with your shots.

Cheers

Matt

[shadytree]

gravymaster said:

Hi mate. I like this photo a lot composition wise but I couldnt resist giving it some post processing to really bring out the mood of the shot and the smooth curves of the car. I cloned out the stuff on the horizon and the boat to remove the little distractions. Changed the midpoint on the levels tool to make it lighter overall, adjusted the curves control to bring out the nice reflections, and adjusted the brightess and contrast to try and drag some detail out of the dark grille but not blow out the highlights on the bonnet. Then i sharpened it slightly with the photoshop Unsharp Mask. Next i hit control + J to duplicate the layer, set the mode to soft light and reduced the opacity to about 30%. This just gave the image a bit more punch. The second version is a quadtone conversion with fred miranda bw workflow pro to Blue/Purple/Green/Black They look great on my monitor, but its a bit dark I think. Hope you dont mind me tampering with your shots. Cheers Matt

cheers Matt
That's just the kind of tips and advice i'm looking for. I thought about taking the boat out, but wanted to hear the opinions first. Love the BW image, I'll have to try a few of those.

[zetec]

I like the boat in the original pic, as you mentioned Southend in the original post I would have been dissapointed not to see a small fishing boat in the background.

[seasider]

God my bum looks big in the last two

& who parked that bl00dy Aston in the way


Lovely pics Twiggy next time perhaps i wont have just driven 150 miles so the car will shine a bit more!!! & i'll have a camera with me

[seasider]

zetec said:

I like the boat in the original pic, as you mentioned Southend in the original post I would have been dissapointed not to see a small fishing boat in the background.

I'm no expert but i agree the boat is part of the pictures atmosphere...

[wedge girl]

The orginal shots are better, the richness of the sunset reflecting on the paintwork, doesn't work with most paint colours but it works on that one IMO.

Keep the boat, it adds perspective and depth.

[gravymaster]

Shrug. I think on the whole they are a bit underexposed, and I like photos to have a bit more kick thats all. Just personal taste.

Cheers

Matt

[iandbeech]

Thorpe Bay Yacht club slipway today then?! I did a lot of sailing from there in my younger days - and got to know a young lady very well under it in later years I wanted to see the Aston with the rear side lights but never mind , still lovely pics and 60k less than a Vanquish, but just as quick! Great choice of car that man

Edited to add: bet you took those pics quick before the Commodore came down!

>> Edited by iandbeech on Sunday 14th November 21:17

[shadytree]

iandbeech said:

Thorpe Bay Yacht club slipway today then?!

gonna have to find a location round here that you don't know.
mmmmm not easy.

[iandbeech]

shadytree said:

iandbeech said: Thorpe Bay Yacht club slipway today then?! gonna have to find a location round here that you don't know. mmmmm not easy.

Could be hard - lived there for 44 of my 46 years!

[EmmaP]

gravymaster said:

You've killed the shot! Far too light and contrasty. The highlights are well and truly blown. You've also removed any hint of atmosphere by taking the colour and saturation out of the sky. This served to compliment the blue tones present in the car. The removal of the fishing boats further removes any sense of location.

>> Edited by EmmaP on Sunday 14th November 23:29

[trackdemon]

Matt, definately think your monitors a bit dark chap Sky's too washed out - nicely sharpened and of course the BW stuff is excellent as ever

[Zad]

For the close-ish shots, a low power fill in flash with diffuser would have been useful, or maybe two bracketed exposures, the darker one would expose the sunset better, and the lighter one would expose the shadow side of the car better. Then a spot of Photoshop trickery to merge the optimal parts of each.

Absolutely top stuff though, two of my favourite cars in one place

Mike

[TT Tim]

have to agree that the 'processed' images have lost a lot of the quality of the originals, look too over exposed to me, so I thought I'd have a quick play, one major problem is everyone's monitor is different, so we're not all seeing the same thing!

Anyway, here are my 'processed' images:




They're nice shots without being processed anyway!

Tim

[GregE240]

I like the first picture, in all its unfettled glory.

Can also just make out Canvey through the smog

Good pics Shady.

[gravymaster]

EmmaP said:

The removal of the fishing boats further removes any sense of location.

You dont need a boat to know its by the sea

Thank you for confirming my suspicions about my screen.

Cheers.

Matt

>> Edited by gravymaster on Monday 15th November 08:50