Golden
Annual Low Rider Car Show in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
Annual Low Rider Car Show in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
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Canon EOS 70D
Aperture f/2.8 ISO 100 Shutter 1/250 Focal Length 20/1 
Santa Fe, New Mexico, US
Apr, 2019Views
1813
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Awards
Contest Finalist in Lifestyle Marketplace Project
Contest Finalist in Image Of The Month Photo Contest Vol 44
Staff Favorite
Peer Award
Outstanding Creativity
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
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Genius
Magnificent Capture
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Behind The Lens
Location
I captured this image at The Third Annual Lowrider Day in Santa Fe, New Mexico USA. The event was held at the Old Town Santa Fe Plaza. There were nearly a hundred lowriders on display. Most from New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas!Time
This image was taken on May 26, 2018, at 11:16 AM.Lighting
The Santa Fe Plaza is a National Historic Landmark in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico. There are park-like grounds in the center of the square. Two-story buildings in the style of traditional Spanish-American adobe buildings enclose the square. The lowriders were lined up side-by-side on the streets between the buildings and the central park. A harsh midday sun was overhead and there were dark clouds randomly moving overhead. Lighting was very unpredictable. The buildings cast shadows, the sunlight was bouncing off adjacent cars, people walking by created shadows and the clouds moving overhead would quickly change the setting. There were extremely dark areas inside the car mixed with bright light reflecting off the dash, steering wheel, and seats. Because of the dynamic range of light, I decided to shoot 3 different exposures in raw format so I could stack them or create an HDR image in post-processing.Equipment
Canon EOS 70D with EFS 17-55 mm lens, UV filter, handheld.Inspiration
Lowrider culture is strong in New Mexico especially in the northern cities of Espanola and Santa Fe, and it continues to grow. I retired to north-central New Mexico in 2014 and attended my first Lowrider show in 2016 just to see what all the fuss was about. The intricate, colorful designs and meticulous attention to detail hooked me. These "car artists" are dedicated and put an extreme amount of hard work into their vehicles. I could see their pride in the photos that I was taking, so I continue to snap shots at shows and share them as much as I can. Initially, it was the Golden interior color of this particular vehicle that drew me to look closer. My interest peaked when I saw tell-tale props like the "Whatabuger" #58 order card; '58 being the same year as the car, and the brochure carefully placed on the seat. Just had to get a shot!Editing
I shot this image in a raw format and used 3 different exposures. My first step was to synchronize the camera calibration of the exposures using Adobe Lightroom. Then I merged the three images to 32-bit HDR Pro in Photoshop. Removed ghosts and then sent the image back to Lightroom to finish the toning and sharpening. Once I completed those actions I moved the image back to Photoshop to work with the shadows, highlights and gradient fill. I used a neutral density gradient.In my camera bag
Canon EOS 70D with EFS 17-55 mm lens, Tamron 150-600 mm for wildlife and sports and a Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM Lens. A blower, a couple of lens rags, a lens brush, extra battery, and a card.Feedback
Patience is my best advice for photographing at an outdoor car show. You have to work with the crowds of spectators moving in and out of almost every scene, the varying light and inquisitive car fans. Leave your tripod at home. Bring a wide angle and zoom lens. Distances to the cars will vary. A small aperture wide angle lens is great to capture the interior more in focus.
