Stuff that Shouldn't work - Red on Red

[Paul Hansen]

Haven't posted in a while, so thought I would put up some of my latest, in anticipation of putting up some of my earlierest. Due to the usual excuses (non-road legal cars), making do with what I had.

Which involved shooting a red car against a red background, which shouldn't work, possibly doesn't, but darned if I don't like it anyways.

http://www.sevenphotos.com/dev/ryo/ryo_001.jpg

http://www.sevenphotos.com/dev/ryo/ryo_002.jpg

http://www.sevenphotos.com/dev/ryo/ryo_003.jpg

Cheers

[Jacob Leveton]

I'm more amazed at the vividness of your reds knowing that you shoot canon ;)

[John Jovic]

It does work. You just need to have enough separation so that the car doesn't dissapear in the background. I like the pic's except for the dark line in the background, but of course I realise you can't always control the background the you would like.

JJ

[Paul Hansen]

I'm more amazed at the vividness of your reds knowing that you shoot canon ;)

Heathen! Unbeliever! :D :D

[Jacob Leveton]

in all honesty, this is one of those rules you learn, and when you are good enough to understand why the rule is there, you can break it.

Just like the 'perfect exposure' rule of having a 'bell-curve shaped histogram'. or the rule of 1/3's. or shooting motorsports on the middle. Or having a level horizon. etc.

2 super duper critiques...

- in the 2nd photo, part of the air vortexer on the roof runs into that black line on the wall. A half step to your right, and you're good.

2 - i would like to see a C/P on the 1st and 3rd windshield.

that's it.

now let's trade addresses. you come live in socal next year, i'll go live in japan. deal?

[Daniel Buck]

why, in theory, shouldn't shooting red on red work? I have heard this somewhere else as well, but I don't understand why it shouldn't work :-)

[Paul Hansen]

Well, it could be said that green on green, or yellow on yellow, or black on black shouldn't work either. :D

I am generally looking for some sort of separation of car and background, and *usually* if the colors are similar that is hard to accomplish. A silver car on a grey concrete background is a good example.

In this particular case, I was helped by the fact that the reds are different, plus the foreground car was in light while the doors in back were in shadow. But you cannot deny that nearly any other car color would have stood out more in front of those red doors. Of course, the door colors could have also overpowered the look of some cars as well.

[Mark Delbrueck]

I like these, but the color shift in the backgrounds keep them from looking like a set.

[Daniel Buck]

Idonno, most shots I have seen with color matched background don't look to bad to me. maybe just personal preference :)

[Paul Hansen]

Color shifts were hard to address, as we had a good 30-40mph wind and clouds blowing overhead at supersonic speeds. I was just shooting whenever the sun was obscured by clouds, to remove all the shadows from electrical lines and whatnot. Japan would look incredibly better if they would move into the 19th century and bury all their power and telephone lines...

[Morgan J Segal]

Japan would look incredibly better if they would move into the 19th century and bury all their power and telephone lines...

I never appreciated buried power lines, etc. until I went to Japan. Japan is definitely visually cluttered. I imagine it is better to have them above ground in case of an earthquake, easier to repair. I'm going to be in Japan in 2 weeks for my sister-in-laws wedding, down in the Osaka area

You should retouch the black seam shooting out of the roof ( it looks like part of the car at first glance) and perhaps even the crack between the pavement and the doors for a smoother look.
Also, try making them darker (only car needs to go darker in the first one), I think they would be more dramatic if they were deep and moody. Darker will also bring more detail to the highlights and make the pavement less washed out looking. And I might suggest trying some vignetting to add some interest to the image

[Paul Hansen]

I've never had a lot of luck with vignetting after the fact - something I need to experiment more with in photoshop, I suppose.

Back in Osaka again? It is a good time of the year at least, the weather is quite temperate. Every time summer rolls around I swear I am going to move back to Seattle. At least for the summer.

[Morgan J Segal]

If you are using ACR to convert raw files there is actually a great vignetting feature.

I usually go to Japan in Dec/Jan., so this will be a nice change. I think we are planning a trip to okinawa, I have never been there, so looking forward to it. At least I don't have to make deliveries this year

[Paul Hansen]

Okinawa is cool, the beach I had gone to was quite nice. It will still be quite warm there as well.

And, yeah, this time of the year is definitely better than Dec/Jan, which tends to be grey and gloomy, other than the new years drinkfest.