Old Fire trucks and a tractor...

[IzzieK]

I need C&C.......be harsh with me. I need to learn, especially black and white...

1 Fire Truck #1


2 Fire Truck #2



3 Tractor B/W


Pepsi can still on top of the tractor...I do not know why it is there. I can' remove it because I got short legs. I don't have Nik Sofware yet so I can't. Still having trouble getting it...I know my B/W needs polishing...eraser and the delete button is my friend...

[Shadowman]

Isabel,

What were your camera settings and how did you expose for all three?

[Werner]

Hi Izzie, first of all you have a good eye for perspective and you can find interesting stuff.
Generally spoken i think you should consider more where the light comes from and where the shadows go.
No 1 is really nice, maybe a circular polarizer might have been helpful to soften the hard reflections.

Hope this isn't too harsh, although you asked for it.

[IzzieK]

John...I shot all three on the same day I shot that crammy barn house ... around 3pm at the height of the hot 70 dg F. I think I used the D90 for this..I just went as close as I can to the objects. Firetrucks are both ISO 200, F/8, SS 1/250, 18mm focal lens. Tractor is the same but used 28mm focal lens and F/9 aperture. Metering is sunny of course...I just blurred the background. I have other angles but I think it is too much if I upload all of them so I just chose these two firetrucks.

Yes Werner, I should have thought of a circular polarizer. I had it with me -- in the hangar (useful place to be in btw and ... though it is quite a long walk back to there, I have no excuse. I should have brought the car to my venue so I have all my gears with me..)

[bnnrcn]

Hi Isabel I like the compositions, they are a bit too bright photos, so decreasing brightness and decreasing highlights might help. If there wasn't that metal thing on the right side of #2 ,that would be a better composition but I don't think cropping helps because if you crop you will lose the space which is necessary for the composition. I would also try adding some contrast to the images

[AndrewMcD]

The Pepsi can is likely to prevent foreign matter (rain water, critters, etc.) from entering the engine through the exhaust pipe. With that in mind the Pepsi can is an authentic farm implement.
Andrew

[Mike Buckley]

The second one is quite nice. Well done!

The polarizer would have been of little help on the painted metal because most of it is not in direct light. It might have helped on the windshield of the first one.

You did a nice job of converting from color to monochrome but my issue is that that photo wouldn't work in color or monchrome for me. The light is too harsh. There are problematic, extraneous objects on the right side. The contrast in brightness and texture where the grass meets the concrete is a distraction.

In the monochrome, you also seem to have blurred during post-processing everything except the tractor and parts of the ground, leaving the rest of the ground in focus. You also forgot to blur the area immediately in front of the large tire. You're better off leaving everything sharp unless you can apply the blur in a gradient that resembles the way it would be blurred when using a larger aperture; your blurring has defied the laws of optics and, as a result, looks extremely unnatural. Also notice that parts of the tractor (especially the steering wheel and the exhaust pipe) display a halo of blur, which happened because you accidentally blurred those edges of the tractor. That's easy to do if you don't take great care to mask it properly.

[Geoff F]

Bright sunshine, shiny chrome areas and shadows will always need a bit of compromise; but these have actually worked out well considering the conditions.

The tractor has started out OK, at the front end, but the rear end is now looking unnatural due to the edit.

It is a 'row crop' model but which make? Alis or John Deere? Not sure looking at it in monochrome.

[Manfred M]

You are fighting with the lighting here. Shooting this type of work at 3:00PM in the bright sun is not "helpful".

If look at the histograms, you will find that you have lots of shadow detail and lots of highlights, and this is due to the time of day and the bright sunlight. The middle of the tonal range is rather flat and in fact looks a bit "hot", i.e. underexposed to me.

Playing with the exposure and curves should bring out a more interesting mid-tone values. A polarizer would definitely kill some of the glare and could bring a bit more detail into the sky on the first image, looking at the direction of the shadows. Obviously best to do this during the shoot, but it's a bit late for that now, so you are stuck trying to improve the shot in post.

[Stagecoach]

Hi Izzie, I think it's all been covered already, you simply had the light against you here and there's not a lot you can do about it other than than attempt these at a different time of the day.

These are great subjects for some close up work and perhaps trying some from a lower perspective.

As for the B&W work you have made a better job than what I seem to be able to do with it so far

Grahame

[IzzieK]

Thank you all for the comments, especially Manfred coming to my aid again. I know it was a hopeless day that day...too many things happening at the same time...but since the scene is almost near our hangar, I still have time to reshoot and reshoot properly without much editing. I forgot Claudio's rule come to think of it...blur without editing (as in the magnolia shot). I shot in manual, wrong time of the day too. I can do a reshoot tomorrow if we go there on a cloudy part of the day. But Wednesday will be all day cloudy so that might be the ideal time of the day to do a reshoot.

My tractor editing really sucks Geoff, I agree...I had already submitted my post so I cannot get it back now... I will look at the brand next time I am there. I don't usually like going to Creve Coeur.

Thanks Mike for your comment...I really appreciate it very much. I hate spending so much time editing but this exercise is all the reason for my learning...

Binnur, on all of them I was having a hard time trying to crop because they are positioned so close together. #1 truck has some sort of old pipes very near it...angle shooting shot the whole scenario; #2 I would have cropped too close to "that metal thing" on the right side and the crop will be too tight. #3 has an airplane next to it very close. I might have to do some footwork and mouth work next time I go there to do some shots.

Thanks Andrew...that makes sense...a Pepsi can -- an authentic farm equipment? Thank you for making me smile.

[Scouse]

Looks like everyone said the important stuff Izzie. I like them mainly because of your composition and framing. The B&W I like a lot, flat tyres, Pepsi can and all. Got to work on that PP though.
Well done.

[Mike Buckley]

When you return, try to get some closeups of the flat tires and the Pepsi can. I'm suggesting that you fill the frames with those subjects.

[FootLoose]

Just to add to what Mike has suggested, Izzie, a close-up of the open engine compartment of the tractor, or the pump on the front of the first truck, or just the panel of dials on the left, would be interesting subjects.

[flashback]

Izzie,
In my opinion one can never go wrong photographing fire engines.
Those are both some classic irons, Howe and International Harvester. I'm guessing #2 is a parade piece? I'm hoping neither are front line pieces. #1 is a bit over exposed, can you sort that out in PP? Sometimes, when the light's not right you just have to move around and find the shot. #2 is a good shot and I think a bit more PP would make this one shine.
I like the tractor shot, sad the front tires are soft. Did you apply some in-camera PP? I'm trying to figure out why the column is out of focus, seems like it shouldn't be. There are some weird things happening on that rear tire; did you do some selective something or other there? There's a diagonal line on the tire/wheel from light (above) to dark (below).

[IzzieK]

Ken -- you are too kind...I am doing a reshoot today. Hopefully we can go there in good time for the cloudy spot we might have today...thank you for commenting.

Mike...Yesterday, I had been looking in the internet of "old rusty fire engines" to get some ideas from your suggestion. I think I have enough in my mind right now to take up those that I saw there. Thank you. I hope to come up with some newer stuff now that you all know how the fire trucks looks like...I appreciate it very much...

Greg...thanks to you too for your suggestions. Worst comes to worst, if I did not get what I want, I might end up going down the fire station down the road from where I live and see if I can find some old trucks there too.

Jack, I had not seen any of those trucks on parade at all. Maybe in the old times before my time. I have always seen them there by the side of the open shade where there are airplanes tied down, airplanes who doesn't really have their own hangars. I was talking to Bob (manager of the airport) the weekend after I organized a local meet-up group to go to our airport and he mentioned something "...about those people who came here last weekend...taking photographs of the old fire trucks at the back instead of taking advantage of the multitude of antique airplanes to be shot at our museum and the hangars that were opened for them..." I just laughed and told him that, that was the first thing I did when Bill took me to the airport and was showing me around...

So actually this is the second time I actually took shots of those fire trucks. That first lot could have been stored anywhere in one of my hard drives. It has been ages and ages since that first lot. Two boys ago, I think..