The Truck Stops Here.

[GBO25]

Just spent some time at Lightning Ridge which is an opal mining town in north west New South Wales. Besides being the only place in the world where black opals are found it also seems to be the retirement capital of the world for old trucks. These are but a few.

#1 Old and bleary eyed.



#2 PiP




#3 At the Wreckers




#4 Reflecting on Former Glories




#5 Truck Stop (aka Lightning Ridge Services)

[IzzieK]

All good shots. I particularly like your out of bounds effects in #2. There must be quite a big collection of old trucks there? Is the mine that you went to still a working mine? #4 is also an excellent shot especially with the title. Good job in all of them. Interesting, as all of them seems to have lost their glories from old age. I bet if they can talk, they have a lot of stories to tell too.

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[GBO25]

All good shots. I particularly like your out of bounds effects in #2. There must be quite a big collection of old trucks there? Is the mine that you went to still a working mine? #4 is also an excellent shot especially with the title. Good job in all of them. Interesting, as all of them seems to have lost their glories from old age. I bet if they can talk, they have a lot of stories to tell too.

Thanks Izzie. There is not just one mine. In fact there are dozens and dozens of mines. They are all quite small, often just one or two people. I guess it's better described as lots of prospectors working the small mining leases they buy from the government.
You definitely have to be very careful where you walk when in amongst the diggings because there are a LOT of deep holes to fall down into.

[Chrisclick]

Love these shots, Graham. Great work on #2, I like how you kept the shadow going to complete the effect. The weathered signs in #5 look great. I almost expect to see a couple of the dog characters from Ken Maynard's Ettamogah Pub -complete with buzzin' flies - emerging from the kenel-like structure on the right!

Great stuff.

[Sam W]

Nice shots Graham. I like the soft glow in #1. The PIP (#2) is a real eye catcher, I like it best. Sam

[Wavelength]

All images are outstanding

[MrB]

3, 4, and 5 for me Graham - I like to see the old paint and the rust! I would probably crop in closer for 4 and 5, although 5 still is my favourite photo of the set.

Cheers.
Philip

[FootLoose]

Good set, Graham. Did you get any up close with the trucks - to show texture on their weather-beaten surfaces?

I like the processing of the first, I think adds a touch of romanticism to the subject and scene. Although I wonder if you could have achieved a bit more separation between the truck and the tree if you had changed your camera position slightly.

[IzzieK]

Love these shots, Graham. Great work on #2, I like how you kept the shadow going to complete the effect. The weathered signs in #5 look great. I almost expect to see a couple of the dog characters from Ken Maynard's Ettamogah Pub -complete with buzzin' flies - emerging from the kenel-like structure on the right!

Great stuff.

Hey Chris...is Ken Maynard still going strong? I have clipped one of his cartoons -- the one with a guy sitting on an outhouse with a laptop...brought it with me here to the US and is pasted on the door of my den. I love Ken's drawings.

[GBO25]

Thanks for the comments and feedback everyone.

Love these shots, Graham. Great work on #2, I like how you kept the shadow going to complete the effect. The weathered signs in #5 look great. I almost expect to see a couple of the dog characters from Ken Maynard's Ettamogah Pub -complete with buzzin' flies - emerging from the kenel-like structure on the right!

Great stuff.

Yeah Chris, I wouldn't be surprised if an Ettamogah Pub character popped up either and there'd certainly be flies, there are Gazillions of 'em out there.
The effect in #2 is about 10 mouse clicks and a few slider adjustments in PS Elements. I like the effect as well but then if I didn't I wouldn't do it

Good set, Graham. Did you get any up close with the trucks - to show texture on their weather-beaten surfaces?

I like the processing of the first, I think adds a touch of romanticism to the subject and scene. Although I wonder if you could have achieved a bit more separation between the truck and the tree if you had changed your camera position slightly.

didn't get any real close ups but I do have a couple of other shots of the the truck in #1 & #2 taken from different angles and also in portrait.

[Dave A]

Really good series. I'm partial to good images of old trucks/car that have seen better days because they make good subject matter IMO.

Dave

[GBO25]

Thanks Dave.

[bnnrcn]

Very nice series Graham. I love the BnW conversion in #1. I would crop the water in #4 in order to put the emphasis more on the truck and #5 is a super photo

[GBO25]

Thanks Binnur.
I tried various crops on this shot but didn't want to cut off the higher branches of the tree behind the truck. I also had trouble keeping height verses width dimensions looking reasonable so the image didn't look tall and skinny.

Having said that maybe you would prefer this crop? It just a rough one and needs some cloning out of stray branches and the rock in the lower foreground.

[MrB]

Given the titles of the thread and the image, it would seem to me that the viewer should be drawn to the truck and its reflection, from which the trees are a distraction. The photo for me would be a square crop from the bottom of the image in post #15 up to just above the roof of the truck, to relegate the trees to being merely the background of the scene, and possibly even give them a bit of a blur. Sometimes less is more.

Cheers.
Philip

[GBO25]

Perhaps something like this Phillip.
It's just a rough crop and blur done on my iPad because my computer is down at the moment. I do have one with blur on the HDD.

[MrB]

That is the sort of crop for me, Graham, but more important is what do you think of it?

[ I note the point about your rough edit but, just to clarify(!), I would only blur the background. ]

Cheers.
Philip

[bnnrcn]

Hi Graham I like Philip's crop suggestion but IMO the blur doesn't work for this image.