Tools of the Trade

Tools of the Trade, originally uploaded by Tony DeSantis Photography.

Car shows are cool enough but they can be repetitive. How many shots can you take of cars before your processing becomes the same old thing?

Today I visited 2 car shows. These are weekly events where the local muscle and exotic cars get together, drink coffee, eat donuts and share ideas. Many people walk around with there cameras and take photo's of the cars and such. I look for cars that have color and contrast that would make for a good HDR photo. The first show I went to had plenty of muscle cars and flames and contrast but it was 6am and the sun wasn't out yet so trying to take photo's would have been futile. I was traveling with a friend who is an avid car enthusiast and he wanted to head to the second show so we did. This car show had many Ferrari's, Porsche's, Lamborghini's. Not much in the way of contrasts so I looked for more interesting shots.

This came from a Volkswagen. The spare tire in the front had a compartment in the middle that had all the tools to repair. i thought it interesting and decided to HDR it.

The Shot:
Standard 3 shot HDR (-2, 0, +2) Photomatix (Detail Enhancer)

Post Processing:
-ACR-Adjustments to Vibrance, Fill Light, Black, Clarity all to taste

CS-5:
-Layer Nik Color Efex Pro-Tonal Contrast 60% Opacity
-Layer Nik Color Efex Pro-Pro Contrast 60% Opacity
-Layer-Topaz Adjust-Bring back Color and Contrasts
-Adjustment Layer Levels-White point to remove yellow from white walls
-Adjustment Layer Hue/Sat-Enhance Greens
-Adjustment Layer Hue/Sat-Enhance Blues
-Adjustment Layer Hue/Sat-Enhance Purples
-High Pass Sharpening, Cropped and sized for posting