1931 ford light painting

last fall i was topping off gas at costco and met howard hall who neared completion of 6.5 year restoration of his 1931 ford victoria (355 chevy engine with 700 r4 transmission, gulp). just as i was about to drive off, i noticed he was having car troubles so i offered to help. it was one of his maiden voyages and the car wouldn't start. i felt for him, gave him my card, and offered to shoot his car just 'cause. he called me a few months later and took me up on my offer. sunday night we made guys night all about photos and cars (and a few beers).

howard's 6.5 years of patience invested in his beautiful restoration shows. gotta love that painted tangelo pearl color, too!
1931 ford victoria tangelo pearl

shot in broad daylight in a mini-cave at red rocks amphitheater. photo stats: f/2.8 at 1/125, using a 70-200 at 140mm, ISO 400, handheld
1931 ford victoria tangelo pearl at at red rocks amphitheater

i love the sunset appearance, juxtaposed nicely with the tangelo :)
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and from the rear, showing off the agressive forward rake (a trait of hot rods in those days :)
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and here's howard with his toy: (shot in broad daylight. f/8 at 2 secs, 200mm, ISO 400, on tripod)
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a little artsy shot to spice things up:
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then we added a little flash flavor:
flash flavor 1931 ford light painting

the secret formula for the shot above goes something like this: red rocks at night + 1 strobe manually triggered about 8 times + 1 mini soft box for diffusion + nikon d80 at f/13, iso 200 + 30 seconds = our favorite shot. for those inquiring minds, here's the shot straight out of the camera (note remnants of my light painting):
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this mini-project also happened to to be #12 on my list of 101 photo goals in 1,001 days. inspiration for the light painting came from the video featured below. if you are interested in getting your car shot, contact us by clicking here.