Joey's Gallery: Backroads of Michigan

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Joey, the "Living the Dream" shot stands out of the bunch. I think it would probably work well in B&W as well, giving it that old shot feel. Great stuff.

 

[Joey D]

Thanks 👍! I should have some more later in the week depending on how the holidays go and my time back to work after being gone for 5 days. I shot some amazing pictures up north this weekend.

 

[NLxAROSA]

Excellent shot! 👍

A long way gone and light bridge could be awesome too with different post-processing.

 

[Joey D]

Thanks 👍!

I'll have to play around with the RAW files a bit more, maybe I can clean em up a bit better!

 

[Joey D]

Autumn Photoshoot: Redux

So I essentially took these same pictures last year, but it's such an awesome area I went there with a buddy of mine this past weekend. The colours were awesome! I love autumn in Michigan and it's one of the few redeeming qualities of the state.

Familiar Ground

Autumn Ring MINI

My Good Side

Insert Domestic

Seeing Double

Screamin' Eagle

Lonely Road

Hold Up!

 

[TB]

That is a glorious stretch of road! The tree canopy is perfect.

A few comments on the cars and shots themselves -

Do you happen to have a polarizing filter? That could have cut down the reflections on the windows and hoods.

In the My Good Side shot, I think I might have turned on the fog/driving lights. They look very dark an get a bit lost in the grille.

Totally not your fault (unless you installed it!) but is there any reason why the mufflers aren't centered on your friends Firebird? That would drive me insane.

 

[Cano]

heck, what a freaking place. I'd pay to shoot there.

 

[Joey D]

Thanks for the comments 👍

Do you happen to have a polarizing filter? That could have cut down the reflections on the windows and hoods.

I do, and it was in use during the shoot. When I would turn it though all the reflections would go away and it would make the pictures boring.

In the My Good Side shot, I think I might have turned on the fog/driving lights. They look very dark an get a bit lost in the grille.

Unfortunately I cannot turn the lights in my grill on independently, I have to turn my regular lights on then flip my high beams on. Plus those lights in my grill are BOOM YELLOW and annoyingly bright against my camera. I agree though I probably should have taken the caps off of them to bring them out a bit more.

Totally not your fault (unless you installed it!) but is there any reason why the mufflers aren't centered on your friends Firebird? That would drive me insane.

It has something to do with the exhaust system layout on the car, it's newly installed and that was the first thing I said when I saw it .

heck, what a freaking place. I'd pay to shoot there.

It's on the university's campus that I graduated from, oddly enough it's a maintenance road.

 

[Bram Turismo]

Autumn colors are beautiful, aren't they? 👍

Seems like autumn in Michigan is a lot brighter of yellow than it is here where I live. It stays darker yellow for a shorter while when everything turns strongly orange.

I like this set a lot, and it seems like you've got yourself a new lens since that same shoot last year as the image seems so much crisper and better overall. Great stuff!

I'm wondering whether a small angle in the "Screaming Eagle" would've worked, but I'm crap at photography myself so I won't shout out too loud

Great stuff Joey!

 

[Neal]

Really good set and amazing colours, you went there on the perfect day 👍


I noticed the off centre exhausts too

 

[Joey D]

Thanks 👍!

The colour depends on the trees, the leaves all over my backyard right now are a deep orange and the front yard is nothing but yellow and red. Up north in Michigan you see every colour of autumn and it's really amazing. I wish I had time to get up there but peak colour was probably last week.

Same lens as last year, but it is a new camera, I upgraded to a T1i. I have been working more at post production work though so that could help.

 

[Joey D]

Summer of Car Shows

So it's been a little while since I've updated this, but now I have more time to mess around and take photos. I also picked up Lightroom which makes post processing a bit easier for someone who isn't a professional/skilled armature like myself. As always I welcome any critiques to help me improve my photography.

The theme of this post has to do with photos I've shot at local car shows since the beginning of summer and is hopefully a preview of things to come. I plan on attending a lot of shows this year, which means a ton of pictures!

Quarter Mile at a Time

Competition Boots

Pony Powered

American Icon

Modern Muscle

London Calling

 

[Joey D]

Pure Michigan

These are some shots from my trip up to the Traverse City area over Memorial Day.

Château de Michigan

This is Pure Michigan

Misty Mission

Doin' the Rain Dance

 

[Joey D]

Nature Walk

I felt like trying my hand at being Bill Oddie

Rusty Gold

Come at me Bro!

Red Winged

 

[Azuremen]

First one needs more contrast if it is going to be monochromatic, and some burning and dodging. My attention is brought ridiculously to the bright grass right below the middle of the shot...

 

[Joey D]

First one needs more contrast if it is going to be monochromatic, and some burning and dodging. My attention is brought ridiculously to the bright grass right below the middle of the shot...

Noted, I'll probably play around with that one a bit more. I wasn't overly happy with it any ways

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Car Show Update

Just some more snaps from local car shows and what not, nothing to spectacular.

Seven Sisters

Lucky No. 7

The Gas With Guts

Vintage Italiano

Raging Bull

My Previous Engine

Imported From Tokyo

Old School Cool

Stingray

 

[Crispy]

What car was the one with the Nismo rims? Was it a Skyline.

 

[boiltheocean]

Pure Michigan

These are some shots from my trip up to the Traverse City area over Memorial Day.

Château de Michigan

I really like this Joey 👍 I agree with Cody on the monochrome shot too, maybe a little shallower depth of field might also help separate the metalwork from the background.

 

[Joey D]

What car was the one with the Nismo rims? Was it a Skyline.

Yup, a R34. One of the few legal ones in the US, or so I'm told.

I really like this Joey 👍 I agree with Cody on the monochrome shot too, maybe a little shallower depth of field might also help separate the metalwork from the background.

👍

Thanks! Ya I'm going to try to play around with the monochrome picture and see if I can't get it better.

 

[Joey D]

Playing Bill Oddie

So I recently acquired a Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM telephoto lens and figured I needed a place to try it out, so Kari and I took a drive to the Toledo Zoo. Other then the fact that I had to drive through Ohio with their annoyingly slow speed limits, it was a pretty fun day. The lens did wonderful too and I'm quite impressed.

Tweet For the Camera

Caught Me Snackin'

Going For a Swim

Smile Crocodile

Don't Go Into the Long Grass

You Lookin' at Me?

Safari in Ohio Pt.I

Safari in Ohio Pt. II

Never Forgets

 

[Grand Prix]

Congrats on the lens purchase. 👍

I really like the first bird, first rhino, and the elephant extreme close-up. The wire/string is a bit distracting, but still a great shot.

 

[Beerz]

This place is just fantastic, would love to have something like that near where I live, would be shooting there all the time.
The shot is very good, I would only dodge the car a bit, so it wouldn't be so dark and dull (if it was a vivid colour would help) in comparison to the bright and colourful surroundings. That would immediately bring the viewer's attention to the car itself, and the fantastic surroundings would serve as a gorgeous frame for the car, instead of downplaying it a bit. 👍

Beautiful image, and the editing is spot on. I'd just have composed it slightly different, showing less of the clear sky, since it's not adding to the whole. Maybe 1/3 sky only, instead of the 1/2.

Very good ones, these two. Love the framing, DOF and editing. 👍

My favorites of the bunch, each one for different reasons. Probably the croc shot being the one I like the best.
On the penguin shot, I would've tried to frame slightly more to the right, leaving less space behind it. The moment is very well captured though, and the fact that you can see where he's looking at adds a lot to the photo and makes the viewer relate to him. 👍

 

[Joey D]

Thanks for the comments guys 👍!

I really do appreciate the critiques, criticisms and compliments. The only way to learn is to hear what other have to say.

Thanks again!

 

[Rue]

Noted, I'll probably play around with that one a bit more. I wasn't overly happy with it any ways

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Car Show Update

Just some more snaps from local car shows and what not, nothing to spectacular.

Seven Sisters

Lucky No. 7

The Gas With Guts

Vintage Italiano

Raging Bull

My Previous Engine

Imported From Tokyo

Old School Cool

Stingray

Love the processing on these Joey! Really professional. Share any tips?

 

[Joey D]

Thank Rue 👍!

I've been using Adobe Lightroom 3.4 to process most of the pictures. I shoot everything in RAW then do basic clean up in Photoshop, then I import the image to Lightroom and have at it. My favourite preset is the Yesteryear one, which most of those shots have. From there I just tweak it till it looks good.

I experiment with other presets too trying to find others that I like and when I get something that really fits the overall mood of the picture I go with it and just make adjustments until I'm happy. If you don't have Lightroom, it is a great product to have. I think I paid like $80 for it or something.

 

[Rue]

Cool, thanks for the advice Joey. I have just got LR3.4 too and I'm enjoying getting to grips with it. Some excellent features for sure! However, I don't want to fall into the trap of having all my images looking too post-processed, which is why I liked yours. They're not too in your face and you focus on the image rather than the processing.

 

[Joey D]

Cool, thanks for the advice Joey. I have just got LR3.4 too and I'm enjoying getting to grips with it. Some excellent features for sure! However, I don't want to fall into the trap of having all my images looking too post-processed, which is why I liked yours. They're not too in your face and you focus on the image rather than the processing.

No problem! I love a retro feel to photos, which is what I try to accomplish with my shots. Sometime I feel a few are over done but I rather error on the side being overdone, then being boring or having an image look flat. I've gone through some of my older images and it surprises me how boring they were.

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With that said on to the next set. A few weeks ago my little cousin, whom calls me Uncle Joe, came with my other cousin and my aunt to stay with us for a week. Not knowing how to entertain a 3 year old I took her to the zoo and she absolutely adored it. Here a few shots I took while there.

Majestic Monarch

Almost Human

Detroit Safari

Little Emma

 

[Joey D]

Backroads of Michigan

So it's been a while since I've put any pictures in this thread. I really haven't had anything worth posting, but now that spring and summer are coming I'll probably be more apt to taking the camera out.

I went for a drive last night with my best friend and his newly acquired '06 330i since he wanted to get some good pictures of it and drive some backroads. We stopped at a few places along the way and I fooled around with my camera while he was busy shooting his car. Towards sunset though we got horribly lost and we pulled over at an access road to turn around, the sun and sky were really cool so we figured pictures were in order.

I haven't the foggiest idea where we were even though we were only about 30 miles from where we live. I was the definition of Small Town, USA though. There was a corner market, a church, a bar and a gas station...and that was about it:

The first thing I think of when I think of a BMW is the car in a farmers field, almost like it's natural habitat. Not race tracks, the Autobahn or anything like that, this is where it really belong :

And just because it was a cool picture I snapped a shot of the sunset over a barn.

 

[Pupik]

The barn semi-silhouetted by the sunset looks great, Joey.

 

[Joey D]

Thanks Pupik 👍