Vauxhall Viva

[RichB]

Carregwen mentioned I should shove a picture up in a new thread, so I've just gone out and taken this. It's a Vauxhall Viva looking away from its modern successor. I'd love to have some C&C.

[Donald]

Well, the one thing we can say immediately is - You sure know how to convert to B & W. That's a cracker. Really rich tones and you've handled the Bs & the Ws beautifully. Good to have another B & W'er on board.

There's obviously a lot of distraction in the scene with the buildings in the background and lampposts and trees inconveniently sticking up in the way of things. And the pavement running from half way up the left-hand side to half-way along the bottom and on it that pretty flat expanse of grey, doesn't really lend a lot. But for a quick run outside and grab-a-pic, it's a good 'un.

Keep them coming.

EDIT - ps - You didn't shoot a jpg in mono I hope and this is what came out of the camera!

[carregwen]

OMG! I remember those...

Good BW conversion, with a nice range of tonality. And it's clever to show the old juxtaposed against the new.

[RichB]

No indeed not it's converted from RAW. I struggled to get a non distracting composition and I really wanted to keep the Insignia in the frame so I thought I'd make a feature of the pavement but it is a bit prominent isn't it, I meant to throw the background out of focus but clearly didn't go far enough. Thanks for the comment.

[Donald]

OMG! I remember those...

That's because you're as old as me!

[RichB]

Is it worse to know what it is when you aren't old enough to have been around?

[Donald]

Is it worse to know what it is when you aren't old enough to have been around?

No. That's called an appreciation of history and our industrial heritage. Long before you were born lad, we used to manufacture cars.

[carregwen]

That's because you're as old as me!

Don't make me laugh (my wife will think I'm happy). I can remember the Morris Minors with the metal bit up the middle of the windscreen!

[arith]

I had a rust box when I was young, it had a nice paint job and I used to clean the engine every week, on the inside But it was a Ford and I never wanted one of those Vauxhall thingies preferring the escort Mk II.

B+W pic looks alright to me, I thought the composure was done on purpose. The only thing I can say is maybe change the number plates a bit, my first was MRF 988F but this was definitely scrapped.

[RichB]

I'd love a mk2 escort .

What could I do to the plates?

[arith]

I usually just blur them a tiny bit. I like the older Fords.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Richard,

I agree with the others; a good capture apart from the aperture of F/8, something much wider would have blurred the background more, although at the risk of losing the Insignia with it. I guess, in hindsight (ain't it wonderful?) f5.6, or a little wider if possible, would be a good compromise.

I have a few other suggestions, but they are all PP ones - you'll soon learn I have this tendency
Well you have CS3, let's use it!
a) Clone out the metal fire hydrant cover (or whatever it is) in the road just behind the Viva
b) Blur the background houses, fences, et al, with a gaussian blur, but more agressively the further away you go
c) Spot healing brush to de-litter a bit
d) Tone down a couple of the layby white dashes under and in front of the Viva and the adjacent bright bit in road surface

My motto is, if it doesn't "contribute"; get rid of it - or tone it down

Cheers,

[RichB]

I couldn't effectively blur the background unfortunately as it was beyond me to retain the detail in the window reflection while blurring the background you can see through the car but I've done the other bits and cropped out some of the pavement. Is this better?