Clean up or not to clean up?

Hot Rod  

It looks like the only thing I have done lately was nature photography but I shoot other things too, just don’t show much of it in my blog here. Today I show you a couple car shots I made earlier this month. The Hot Rod Power Tour came through Dubuque almost two weeks ago and there was another event a day later in Dubuque with vintage cars on display. I don’t really care how old they are and what the whole technical background for each car is if they are just esthetically pleasing. For my wildlife photography I hardly clone out things of an image in Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop. This is reduced to very small cosmetic corrections in the background at the most. This is just my way to work with wildlife.

Ford Model A

 

When shooting cars that are on display at a show there is always some “junk” in the background that distracts from the subject. In this matter some flags, fence posts, wires, and even a motorcycle had to go. It’s a different game if someone uses the photos to tell a story about the event itself. What I call junk can become part of the story telling. I just went for the beauty of the cars. Anything else is just distracting and that’s why I have no problems to clean up a picture for this kind of photography.

 

Hot Rods in the heat

Hot rod 1
Nikon D200, Sigma 10-20 mm, f/4.0-5.6

 

As everybody knows who stops by at this blog regularly, I focus on wildlife and landscape photography.  But sometimes I like to do something totally different. Last weekend I brought some good friends from Germany back to Chicago. Despite the awful heat here in the Midwest we stopped in Galena, Illinois for some sightseeing. I didn't know that Galena had their 34th Annual Pre-49er Car Show and Rod Run this weekend. The cars were parked along the Galena River. Many had a lot of distracting "junk", like coolers, lawn chairs, and all kinds of signs around, but a few were in a nice setting with just the beautiful city in the background. I hope you enjoy!

Hot Rod 2
Nikon D200, Sigma 10-20 mm, F/4.0-5.6