Car shows this summer

The first article I ever had published was a photo essay in a travel magazine about car shows. Well, not about the shows, but about car “parts.” And the photos were pictures of hood ornaments, door handles, headlamps, etc.

My photographic predilections haven’t changed much since then, back in the early 1980s. I still immediately gravitate to the bits and pieces, rarely, very rarely, the entire car.

Here are a few images from the car shows Chris and I went to on Whidbey Island this summer. There are just four photos, actually, but two different versions of each. Why? Why feature both the full-frame image and a cropped, square version?

Two reasons. Instagram and marketing.

Instagram initially wanted pictures that were square. So that’s what I put there. Then they began accepting full-frame images. But all of my pictures I post online are in frames and they’re low-resolution. That’s on purpose. Makes them less liable to be stolen.

But a framed, non-square picture on Instagram gets chopped up and my pictures look stupid that way. So, square they remain.

And for marketing purposes, by offering my buyers on Fine Art America both a full-frame AND a square version, they have a choice. Easy.

Naturally, a lot of the pictures I make don’t work as squares, but some do, and here are four examples. All these pictures look good both in square and full-frame versions. You may prefer one over the other, but both versions look good. To me, at least!

Images Copyright ©2019 Carol Leigh

Squarification

I post a lot of my work on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/visualeigh/ and like to keep everything consistent in a square format. So whenever possible, I look at my photos and, if they’ll look just as good in a square format, I’ll crop and save that version as well, for a possible Instagram post.

Here are a couple examples of full-format pictures and their squarified versions.

DRAGONFLIES
I’ll be posting the square version of the dragonfly picture on Instagram, and here’s what the full-frame version looks like. I can’t really say that one is “better” than the other. It all depends on the final use of the photo, really. (Will it be a notecard, will it be for a framed print, for a magazine article illustration?)

That being said, however, I do like the full-frame version. Why? Because dragonflies fly! They need room to fly from and to. So I think the extra space helps with that concept of movement.

I uploaded both versions to Fine Art America, just to give people options. Here they are: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/two-dragonflies-square-carol-leigh.html

OLD FORD
Again, the square version of this picture will go on Instagram, but here’s how it also looks full-frame. The square version is appealing to me more today because it draws my attention right onto the subject. The full-frame version offers more “looking room,” but that slice of emptiness to the left isn’t all that interesting (to me). This one will not be going up on Fine Art America. Why? Looking at it at 100%, I’m not satisfied with the amount of sharpness.

So there you have it. Two photos, two versions each. One more way of looking at your photos — full-frame, or squarified. You be the judge.

All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you for your understanding and kindness.

It's a Ford . . . an old one

A couple more images from the old cars we saw on our exploration to Port Angeles. Unless tended to daily, old cars just don't stand a chance against the environment here in the Pacific Northwest. And for a photographer like me, that's very good news . . .

All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you for your understanding and kindness.

Latest black and white images

I'm experimenting with black and white photography these days, which, because I usually gravitate toward brilliant color, is kind of weird, but I'm enjoying the process. And sometimes I'll add a bit of color here and there, very subtly, as you can see in the second and third pictures.

A hood ornament on a 1933 Oldsmobile stands out nicely against the soft background. Even nicer when it's all black and white, no green and red cars back there to distract our attention from the lovely lines of the hood ornament.

The second picture was taken on the Oregon coast. The original, color version contained way too much bright (fluorescent) algae growing on the big door to the right as well as here and there throughout. Way too distracting, and takes your eye away from the weathered and old feeling that I wanted to emphasize.

And then a black and white (plus a bit of color) shot of an old Volkswagen photographed in Port Townsend, Washington. I like how the touch of color adds some warmth to the otherwise cold black and white version.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh.

Experimenting

This picture was taken years ago in Tillamook, Oregon. It's the headlamp on a very old water truck from the Corvallis fire department.

I like the repeating vertical lines on the left, the diagonal line on the right, and how the round shape of the headlamp softens the strong, straight lines in the rest of the image.

The bright orange color is a bonus. Or is it?

If what I like is the DESIGN of the photo, the color overpowers the design, making ORANGE the first thing you notice. How can I change that?

Would a black and white treatment emphasize the lines, the circular element, and make the photograph more about composition rather than color?

So yeah, that's what I did. I turned the image into a strong black and white, but then allowed just a hint of color to come through here and there to add interest.

What do you think?

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh.

Cool Bayview Nights Car Show

Whidbey Island's "Cool Bayview Nights Car Show" was a big draw for me Saturday. I can never pass up a car show and the weather was perfect for this one -- cool and overcast.

As usual, I zoomed in on details, not the entire car, which makes me very happy. The coolest hood ornament I've ever seen was on a blue Nash Rambler wagon. The ornament is referred to as a "Flying Lady," but to me it had a distinct California beach bunny vibe.

The grille on a 1939 Ford convertible caught my eye with all its cool repeating curved lines. Same thing with the grille on a 1941 pale blue Willys Coupe. No curves on the Willys grille, but the bold vertical lines are pretty impressive. Another shot of this same car shows a more languid set of curving lines. Ahhhhh . . .

A green 1952 Kaiser Manhattan (a car I'd never heard of until now) also looked pretty cool from the front.

And finally, lots of trophies were all lined up, waiting to be handed out at the end of the day.

The car show was right next to a farmers' market, where we bought fresh corn and a huge planter of basil.

And next to that was a nursery, where we ate at its cafe and then admired all the Japanese maples. If deer don't eat them, I think one of them is definitely in our future. More research needed on that . . .

A good day on Whidbey Island. So happy to be here.

 ©Carol Leigh
 All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

ROYGBIV: ORANGE!

Go to an antique/classic car show and you're bound to find at least one outrageously orange car. I'm not so sure I would want to have an orange car, but I just love photographing them.

This coming weekend I'll be missing two different car shows -- one on the Oregon coast and another on Whidbey Island. Alas. But there will be more to come, and always with at least one orange car.

The first photo essay I ever sold was all about antique cars. Not the whole car, just the "parts." That was so long ago. But my love for the close-up and the abstract remains today.

By the time you're reading this, we are en route from Oregon to Whidbey. With the cat riding shotgun . . .

 ©Carol Leigh
 All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Abstracts anywhere . . .

Nothing like shooting at an antique car show to fill your frame with line, design, and color.

What I particularly like about this image is how there are all those horizontal lines repeating themselves in the upper section of the square.

For me, however, it's that one curving line that (a) contrasts with all the straight lines and (b) moves your eye down toward the bottom of the frame.

Without that little curve, your eye would tend to remain relatively static, flickering a bit left and right. With the curve, your eye flickers left/right and then, yee ha! Your eye swoops down the picture, only to come back up to the strong left/right elements.

Lather, rinse, repeat . . .

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Colorful morning . . .

Lovely morning yesterday, beginning with a car show at 8 and from there, down the hill to the fishing boats. Weather was painfully sunny, so bright, so glaring, so tough to deal with, but wonderful just the same. Photography was a challenge, but I'm pleased with these two, the screaming colors of a 1948 Ford panel truck and the hull of a blue fishing boat reflected in calm water.

Right now my online class students are working on an assignment called "Extreme Colors," so I had them in mind as I was doing my shooting. The car's definitely extreme; the boat a little less so, but colorful nevertheless. A very good morning.

©Carol Leigh

Taking liberties . . .

As I was preparing this photograph to be uploaded to Fine Art America, I found I was taken more with the graphic forms of my composition (gotta love those repeating vertical and horizontal lines) than I was with the original colors. I wondered how I could punch up the shot to make it bolder and brighter.

I turned to Topaz Adjust 5, which has a variety of filters designed to do all sorts of cool things. As I was scrolling down the selections, I accidentally clicked "Solarized Dreams." Now, I NEVER use "Solarized Dreams," but in this case, I loved the screaming complementary colors of blue and golden orange. So I selected that.

Then I wanted to soften the photo somewhat, make it a tad more painterly, so I chose a filter called "Venice Paint." That filter maintained the colors, enhanced them a bit, and also softened the overall look. I'm happy.

But then, as is my wont, I wondered how the photo would look cropped down to a square format. And I like that, too.

So there you go. That's how I spent the first hour of this lovely morning. It's going to be a good day.

©Carol Leigh

It was a good day . . .

We went to a classic car show yesterday in Lincoln City (always a hit with me) and then a lunch of fish tacos at Tidal Raves in Depoe Bay (again, always a hit with me!), enjoyed the fog blowing around in the morning, and then the bright sun mid-day. 'Twas the best of all worlds: good photography, good food, brilliant weather, and a loving (and loved) companion. Wishing you all the same . . .

©Carol Leigh

Red!

Woo hoo! Love the exuberance of red on a bright, shiny, beautiful old automobile. There are four more car shows to attend in the next thirty days or so . . . can hardly stand the excitement! ©Carol Leigh

Over the top . . .

This is a photo I took of a car at an antique car show last year. I liked the soft colors and the clean lines. I also liked the detail in the car's headlamp as it's surrounded by all that smoothness.

So then I began playing. I used a technique in Topaz Adjust 5 to create the middle image. Yes, the photo's obviously been tweaked and the colors are nowhere near "normal," but that's what I liked! I loved how the underlying purple tinge in the original shot went cartoon-like. And I liked the metallic bronze color butted up against the purple. But what I really liked was the way this filter made the details inside the headlight look crisp and bright.

So then I wondered, what if I took my original shot and let just the Topaz filter appear on the headlight and nowhere else? And that's what you see in the third photo. I like this version better than my original because here the headlight really pops, becoming the focal point it was intended to be.

It's fun to be able to turn a sedately-colored car carnival-colored, but it's also satisfying to use an outrageous technique found in Topaz Adjust 5 in a more subtle, more "contained" manner. How about your own work? Perhaps some of the possibilities within Topaz Adjust are too ridiculous for you, but maybe just a hint here and there could make all the difference in the world.

Happy weekend, everyone! ©Carol Leigh

Car show!

Our friend Judy T. is in town and, since she's as enthusiastic about photography as I, we headed out yesterday to do some shooting. First stop: a classic car show in Newport. Lots of cars, lots of color, lots of fun. Here you see a red 1938 Chevy Sedan and a beautiful blue 1937 Ford Sedan Slantback. We made two stops after that, but I've no time right now to prep anything else . . . more to follow! ©Carol Leigh

Car show season . . .

Car show season's coming up and I can't wait! It's a real rush to see what I can find, extracting various elements, creating simple compositions based on color, line, design, and a swoosh of reflective chrome. These are a few from last year, prepped last week. Will you be out there, too, shooting these luscious vehicles? Yee haw! ©Carol Leigh