A little help making this truck stand out

[Jim Kosinski]

I have a client that wants some photos of his restored '69 PU. It is Frost Blue in color. This is a photofrom the beach (that he requested). It was an overcast day and the PU gets lost in the background.

http://www.bestlightimages.com/photos/69chevypu_034.jpg

Anyone have any ideas as to a background that would help this stand out? Remember that I am in South Florida so hills are out of the question.

Thanks in advance.

[Daniel Buck]

Well, the spot he requested is probably not the best, considering the truck is a very close shade and color to the water and sky. I'd suggest trying to find a darker background, or one with a warmer color, a warm color will make the light blue pop out more. If he wants a 'nature' background, you could try to find a dark forest line, brown trunks and dark green leaves/needles would do nicely I think (do yall have pines there? we have a lot of pines back home in Louisiana).

If you could find a beach with alot of warm sand, that would probably go nicely. Not sure how easy that is to come by though, a beach you can drive on.

If he isnt locked into a 'nature' background, a darkish/warmish wall or a tan colored wall might go well with the light blue, though the "shot infront of a wall" picture might be a little bit predictable and over used, but I wouldn't strike it off my list. A rock quarry, or cement factory usually offers some pretty cool locations for a truck, (there are usually large piles of stones and sand that provide a great backdrop!) also, if there is any logging mills around, I find that the stacks of logs makes an interesting background for a truck. (we had alot of logging mills in Louisiana)

Anything but water on a cloudy day, haha! :D

Aside from a different location, you could probably get the truck to pop out a bit more with some photoshop work, you could darken and warm up the background a little bit, and bling out the wheels a bit more.

I love this style chevy, I hope to own one someday! Was it a short bed?

[John Jovic]

If you get a clear blue sky, no clouds, you can sometimes shoot from ground level and use the clear blue sky as your background. I like that kind of shot because of it's simplicity. It works best with warm or light colours, not so much with darker colours.

A slight crest on a road can sometimes be the ideal spot to do this kind of thing, as long as there isn't any traffic or safety issue.

JJ

[Jacob Leveton]

i think you need to look for a deep red backdrop (old barn, brick wall, etc). The baby blue truck definately gets lost in the water

[Mark Delbrueck]

I agree with the comments above. Also, I'd shoot with a telephoto lens to further seperate it from the background. If you want to work with the shot you already have, try darkening the background, and lessening the saturation. Then use a mask to pump up the sharpness, color, and contrast of the truck and the road. Draw the attention to the truck as much as possible. A slight vignette will also help with this.

[Jim Kosinski]

Thanks for all the suggestions. We have another shoot planned for the end of this week and I'll going to go scouting for better places.