"Rusting Away..."
Can't remember the year, but I had never seen this model Mercury before
© Imagery by Charly | All Rights Reserved
...
Read more
Can't remember the year, but I had never seen this model Mercury before
© Imagery by Charly | All Rights Reserved
Read less
© Imagery by Charly | All Rights Reserved
Read less
Aug, 2013Views
802
Likes
Awards
Editor's Choice
Superb Composition
Peer Award
Top Choice
Absolute Masterpiece
Outstanding Creativity
All Star
Magnificent Capture
Exceptional Contrast
Love it
Top Ranks
Top 10 rank week 1
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Krishna_Kumar
August 05, 2013
Great capture, you should post this in the "Frozen in time" contest as well
PRO+
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
A wonderful Texas gentleman gave me permission to walk around his acreage of old cars. He had so many, I walked around for a few hours with him; taking pictures, listening to his stories and comparing our thoughts on certain modelsTime
This image was taken on Aug 1, 2013 at approximately 9:30am. When we entered a fenced in area, this 1940s Mercury in its rusted state stood out. Had it been earlier or later the the light would've been all wrong. It's really true that timing is everything. My find was at the perfect time to capture one of my favorite images from that day. The shadows really helped make this image stand out for me, which brought out the rusted old Merc's front end in the filtered light.Lighting
What made this image perfect was a beam of filtered light through the towering pine trees that surrounded this scene. The branches broke it up enough to cast a wonderful soft morning glow upon this great old car. Giving it a great look that was somewhat mysterious. Had the light been harsher, it would've ruined this beautiful car's quiet begging for someone to restore it back to its one time glory.Equipment
This image was taken with a Sony A33 that I had at the time. I used my favorite go to lens: Minolta 25mm - 85mm f/3.5 - 4.5, an oldie but a goodie. Since there were a lot of tall trees on the property, I set up the camera on my Manfrotto 190 carbon fibre Pro 3 tripod with Manfrotto Joystick head. Capturing in natural light is my passion, thus I do not use any type of flash.Inspiration
I absolutely love cars from the past! They had such beautiful lines and a classic look. So when I was given this opportunity, I couldn't wait to see what shots would be afforded me on my journey. There were so many makes and models from the early 1900's through about the 1980's, though most were pretty old. The cars were in really rough shape to restorable condition. This Mercury was one in restorable condition and its rust did not take away from its beauty in this photographers mind. The massive hood, grill, hood ornament and headlight, all with great chrome after many years in the elements called to me. And the light was too perfect to pass it up. It also looked like a face, posing to show off its lovely look. All this is what inspired me to capture this glorious image of a Merc over 70 years old.Editing
With this particular image, I didn't have to do much post-processing. I worked it in Lightroom 4 by tweaking the White Balance, pushing up the orange color to make the rust take on a life of its own and added a bit of Vignette to make the Mercury's front end stand out a bit more.In my camera bag
I now have a Sony A65 that I absolutely love and my fav lens, a Minolta 25mm - 85mm f/3.5 - 4.5 is on it 95% of the time. The versatility of the lens to sharply capture pretty much anything I ask of it and producing great colors is unmatched by many other lenses I've used over the years. I also use a Sony 70mm - 300mm telescopic lens and a Minolta 50mm f/1.7 periodically. The 2 things I cannot be without are many SD cards and a travel cleaning kit. Lastly as mentioned previously, my Manfrotto tripod and head go everywhere with me, which I use probably 85% of the time.Feedback
The best advice I was given is what I would give to other photographers. 'Take your time, see the shot, look at it from all angles, check your settings / composition and take a couple, few shots. Look at them and reshoot if you didn't get what you saw.' When I first started out, I lacked good composition and hadn't learned to slow down. I rarely walked away from a shot, which taught me nothing. Once I slowed down and really looked for what caught my eye to begin with, that's when wonderful shots appeared to me which have gained recognition in photo contests. My image Rusting Away... took about 5 minutes to find the shot and 2 shots to capture what my eye saw. It was fairly quick, as I knew the light wouldn't hold out, yet I have spent up to a hour or longer finding the shot. Patience as the say is always a virtue and that holds true for photographers. If one takes the time to scope out what the scene has to offer and its worth capturing to the photographer, he or she will have a wonderful portfolio to show off to family, friends and future potential clients.
