1956 Ford: Snapped this evening, in the shade, towards a setting sun. ISO 200 , Shutter 1/640, F/3.5. Too dark with the back light. What could I have done different to bring out the...

Dogman Loc: Michigan

Snapped this evening, in the shade, towards a setting sun. ISO 200 , Shutter 1/640, F/3.5. Too dark with the back light. What could I have done different to bring out the Ford's colors. Did not bring my speed light. Hand held Canon T1i. Not looking for PP, just better techniques.

Dogman

Dback4430 Loc: Lockport Il

Dogman wrote:

Snapped this evening, in the shade, towards a setting sun. ISO 200 , Shutter 1/640, F/3.5. Too dark with the back light. What could I have done different to bring out the Ford's colors. Did not bring my speed light. Hand held Canon T1i.

Dogman

My dad would love to see this , He had one and I do believe that it was that color . Not sure . Thanks for sharing

Dogman Loc: Michigan

Dback4430 wrote:

Dogman wrote:

Snapped this evening, in the shade, towards a setting sun. ISO 200 , Shutter 1/640, F/3.5. Too dark with the back light. What could I have done different to bring out the Ford's colors. Did not bring my speed light. Hand held Canon T1i.

Dogman

My dad would love to see this , He had one and I do believe that it was that color . Not sure . Thanks for sharing

My father had on just like it but it was red on white. Learned to drive in it. Thanks for looking.

Dogman

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Hard to say without being there, but if there was some sunlight you could redirect, you could reflect some back at the car. Usually works best with a big panel, but you have to be careful where you put it because of reflections.
I have a couple of light panels (Lightform P-22) made with PVC similar to this: http://www.flickriver.com/photos/neyuttad/3102098960/

You say you don't want any PP techniques, but this looks like a good candidate for a realistic HDR rendition.

I think my family had a '56.

KG

Not PP, but if you were to retake the shot:

I find that if I have no way to illuminate the subject against brighter background, then it's better to just overexpose and clip highlights of the background.

It's better to have washed out background than to have underexposed subject.

Of course, it's better to have both properly exposed. But when you have to choose, then choose the subject over anything else in the frame.

In your specific case, I would watch the brightest part of the subject -- the reflection on the left-rear of the car. Get that to be almost pure white. The rest will fall into place.

If the front of the car is still too dark while reflections approach pure white, then forget the reflections and clip them as well.

johnske Loc: Townsville

Set your camera to spot meter - as KG mentioned, the background will be blown out :)

RoyLegrand Loc: Vancouver, Canada

Actually I like the color depth already. What else I probably should do it's cropping the yellow car completely (the mass of it just distracts the balance, in my opinion), then add an overall lite amount and a little bit of a contrast. Sometimes it works for me...
But I like the picture, the background and the angle!

Bamboo Loc: South Carolina

I second Goofynewfie on the HDR.
From what you have said I expect that you would have taken this near Lake Michigan. Am I right?

rayford2 Loc: New Bethlehem, PA

Dback4430 wrote:

Dogman wrote:

Snapped this evening, in the shade, towards a setting sun. ISO 200 , Shutter 1/640, F/3.5. Too dark with the back light. What could I have done different to bring out the Ford's colors. Did not bring my speed light. Hand held Canon T1i.

Dogman

My dad would love to see this , He had one and I do believe that it was that color . Not sure . Thanks for sharing

Back then Ford called those colors Turquoise Blue and Snowshoe White.

jim charron Loc: Ontario Canada

speed too fast for a still !

slow down to 1/100 would have given brighter pic.

also internal settings 4 saturation/contrast can be made.

Bamboo Loc: South Carolina

Love the color. I had a 57 Merc in those colors.

Dogman Loc: Michigan

Bamboo wrote:

I second Goofynewfie on the HDR.
From what you have said I expect that you would have taken this near Lake Michigan. Am I right?

Bamboo - wrong side of the state. Southeast Michigan. Thanks for dropping by

Dogman

Dogman Loc: Michigan

jim charron wrote:

speed too fast for a still !

slow down to 1/100 would have given brighter pic.

also internal settings 4 saturation/contrast can be made.

Thanks for the tip Jim. The cars will be back next week Thursday and I'll try the settings you suggested.

Dogman Loc: Michigan

RoyLegrand wrote:

Actually I like the color depth already. What else I probably should do it's cropping the yellow car completely (the mass of it just distracts the balance, in my opinion), then add an overall lite amount and a little bit of a contrast. Sometimes it works for me...
But I like the picture, the background and the angle!

Thanks Roy. No post process was done on this image. There were people setting at front of the car, you can just see them at the left edge of the picture and of course the yellow mass to the right. Actually this was taken with instinctive aiming from my belt buckle. Lucky to have captured it as I did.

Dogman

Dogman Loc: Michigan

GoofyNewfie wrote:

Hard to say without being there, but if there was ... (show quote)

Thanks for the hints Goofy. When I said I wasn't looking for any post techniques was because I'm looking techniques/skills to capture a better image. I'm not against any post processing just want to capture quality pictures.

The image was taken at a small car show that happens every Thursday evening in our small community. Next week is the last one for the year. Reflecting the light would be a good idea. One of these days I'll construct a gizmo to do that.

Dogman