Three months ago I posted a rear view photo of a Mercedes 250SL, explaining that I was not too excited about the front view shots that I took, but noting that I might try to salvage them at a future date. Last week that post received a new comment from Dave who asked to see a front view image. Although the car is a beauty, the composition and background are pretty bland. The other shot I took from the front was exactly the same except that a car drove through the street. The original image I posted from the rear is clearly more interesting. In fact, I struggled with the image until I came up with the black and white treatment above, which seemed to do the best job of mitigating the effect of the bland background, including the unsightly traffic barriers across the street.
Then I considered that someone who asked to see the front of a red Mercedes might actually want to see it in color, so even though I’m not much for selective saturation, I created the image below:
The car is a mix of about 40% of the version above and 60% of the same exact image, with all of the same processing effects, except for the black and white. The rest of the image is exactly the same as the top image.
Finally, just to show what i was working with, here is the original version, straight out of some mild HDR treatment, but otherwise completely unprocessed:
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Tobias George
16 Dec 2010Great post! Think I prefer the red treatment on B&W
Hector Garza
16 Dec 2010Both HDR versios are really nice… I would go for the B&W one because the building reflections on the car look better IMO.
Jesse Pafundi
16 Dec 2010I love both versions Mark. I still dont understand the widespread disdain for selective color, but I think you did an excellent job. I love the soft processing effects you used