Old Rod

[dkord]

Been working with this pic on and off for a couple months now, never truly satisfied with it.
I like the concept: old hot rod, shiney with chrome but also kinda dinged up.
So I sepia toned it, added some grain in the background and lighted the speedometer. I also subdued the steering wheel's highlights, I thought it was disctracting and brought out the Bel Air and Chevy logo a bit.
Does it work? Does it give the car a sense of old glory and recaptured youth?


http://www.sparksonline.org/asm/dkord/speedod0751sepia2.jpg

[LadyHawk]

I like it, dkord. The grain looks good, too. But it doesn't make me feel younger... (I relate all to well to being dinged up!) :)

[shootitup]

It doesn't say nostalgia to me. It would be awesome if you could soften those edges, it would bring the picture into a scene of looking into the past into the heyday of old cars. The sharpeness of the bright lights tells me it was taken somewhere other than a dusty old garage, someplace like a convetion center, or someplace with bright lights. But take my two cents for what they're worth.

[dkord]

Thank you both for your invaluable input.

The reason I decided not to soften the edges is that I wanted to avoid that kind of nostalgic cliche. I felt bad enough using the sepia. I should of said desired youth, not recaptured youth. Kinda like people who use Botox and plastic surgery even though they're their 60s.
I think sometimes when we're a little older and trying to do things from our youth we need to accept our dings with the shine.
Yes, it was shined up for a car show and that's how I got my inspiration.

Ladyhawk, what's the saying? "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." My tired bones tells me that all the time!

[PhotosGuy]

I know what it is, which should probably tell you that most people today won't! ;-)
I like the right half of the pic. I'd like to see a bit more light on the speedometer to identify it better, & I'd get rid of whatever that thing dangling next to the steering column is.

[dkord]

Thanks for the critic Photosguy,

I like the right half of the pic. I'd like to see a bit more light on the speedometer to identify it better, & I'd get rid of whatever that thing dangling next to the steering column is.

Yeah, that's actually the steering wheel. Other then wholesale cloning, I'm not sure what to do with it. I already cleared off alot of reflection. I tried a brighter speedometer, but it becomes too strong and even more distracting and unnatural. I rather that the viewer discovers it later: kinda like when you peek into a car window to look at the odometer, everything is kinda dark and vague.