CO

I recently attended this photo shoot in Leesburg, VA. A 1932 Duesenberg was rented. VintageLimos has many classic cars that can be rented. For lighting, I used a studio strobe on a light stand with a 22" beauty dish and diffuser sock. I had a Paul C. Buff Vagabond power supply connected so I could take the strobe all around with me. Critique is welcomed. I realized that I have posted a lot of photos so please don't feel like all need to be critiqued. Just a couple would be great.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Nice images!!!1
My question is: Since this was a 1930's theme why did you post color images instead of Monochrome or sepia?
For the interior images I would have used a 10 or 20 deg.Honeycomb grid in a 7" reflector or a 10"x30" strip soft box with the egg crate grid and diffusion panel, so as not to over expose the exterior of the car.
Not pertaining to the taking of the photograph there are many problems with the props, #1 seat belts, tilt steering wheel, radio speaker in the kick panel and a cigarette lighter plug under the edge of the seat last but not least the hand gun the "gangster" is using does not fit the period (it looks to be a hammerless)med-lg caliber.

CO

Thanks for the comments. I have the RAW files. I'll make monochrome versions of the photos. I have a 30 deg. grid for an 8.5" reflector. I also have a 10" x 30" strip soft box with the grid. The only light modifier I had with me was the beauty dish and diffuser sock for it. I would like to have used the strip soft box.

The limo company probably had to add seat belts in order to meet state inspection and for the safety of the occupants. They added a sound system to entertain folks renting the car. The chauffeur played Boogie Woogie tunes on the stereo from groups like the Andrews Sisters. I think the tilt steering column may be original equipment.

Maybe a replica of a .38 caliber revolver would have been better but some of the earliest pistols like the replica he's holding were produced as far back as 1910.

This Browning pistol went into production in 1910.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

I know about the firearms and that replica looks to be a much larger frame. I have owned a couple .32 cal Colts and worked on a couple of other .32 cal and they were much smaller frames.

CO

CO

Mr. Shapiro, I did a reply to your post but somehow I accidentally entered my reply in the middle of your post. It's just above where you talked about the Old portrait lenses.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

Hi CO!

Sorry for the delay!

I am haveig some computer issues and I had to take down my last post- The images were badly corrupted.

The quality of ypour images are very good and contemporary. I thought for a 1930s theme a sort of faded image or something more in keeping with the style and the equipment and photo-methods of that era. Old portrait lenses with Waterhouse stops had very shallow depth of field and the edges or background would have been softer.

Black and white or sepia would work, however, there was some color imagery in the 1930s. Kodachrome emerged in the early 30s and prints made from Kodachrome transparencies were made on Kodachrome material- kind of a plastic and the colors, unlike the slides, were muted and slightly monochromatic. Another popular process was to make sepia toned back and white prints and hand color them in transparent oils. They had a kinda muted look as well. I fiddled around trying to simulate those "looks". Problem is, I am working out of my city again and all I have here is the phone and a tablet with limited editing properties and poor quality. I'll post one- just to give you the idea.

Funny thing- back in the late 50s and early sixties, the studio I workd for still offered hand colored prints. A good "colorist" color get pretty close to natural color. We could have made direct color prints but fading was a major issue back in the day- especially for wall portraits.
I also have some family portraits (the ancestors) taken back in the 1920s and 30s that were had colored and the are still in perfect conditions- the have a nice ambience.

You might consider adding some density to you images, diffusing the edges and see what comes out of it.

Not much you can do about that modernized antique auto- very classy! . Hey- the real notorious gangsters back in the days would have brandished a Thompson Submachine gun.

Seriously- if you are not trying to exactly produce a totally authentic image, I just consider theses things a "genre portrait"- cute- good job!

I'll post that mess I made of you image just to give you the concept.

Thanks for posting!

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

Edit?

(Download)

CO

Thanks for the critique. That's really good information. I definitely want to get to work and make versions of these photos with muted colors, B & W, and sepia.

I think the fellow was more portraying a detective or perhaps a body guard for the model stepping out of the car. I just did a search online about police revolvers used at that time. It looks like .32 or .38 caliber revolvers is what they would have carried.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

Could bs a S&W 38 Detective Special (Snub Nose) .🔫