Electronic Billboards...wish I could share the link with you

This has been a ton of fun.  As one of Ford's "digital influencers" I got invited to create billboards, Electronic Billboards using their cars and templates and adding my own touches.  Hit enter and voila they go live shortly thereafter in the city you chose.  The cities to chose from are L.A, NYC,Chicago, DC, and Miami.

Here in Los Angeles the billboards are along a variety of freeways.  This pic is from the one near my home at the 210/605 junction.  I've also had my designs show up at NYC Times Square and at the SF Golden Gate Bridge.  Pretty cool huh!?

The Auto Show is made for HDR images

I've made mention in the past that HDR, High Dynamic Imaging is one way to control contrast and get details in the highlights and shadows beyond what a normal DSLR can capture.

Since it is a bracketed exposure set to capture highlights, mid-range and shadow as "perfectly exposed" when you get around to generating the HDR file you have complete detail across a much broader EV scale than what you can get with just one image.

Both of these are HDR images that I post processed with the help of Adobe's CS5.  The Top image, that of a Cadillac ELR that is set for production in the next few years was done more with a surreal touch whereas the Mustang GT500 was done with a more realistic blending.  Both work for their own reasons.  Both will show up in publications around the web.

I have on flickr an entire set devoted to the 2011 L.A. Auto Show HERE.

Cars and HDR are a good combo

I like HDR work and cars. It lets you tame the demons of highlight and shadow so you see the whole car and nothing but the car, turn it surreal or who knows what via the simple magic of a PC, and an HDR/tonemapping program.

I still prefer Photomatix as the program of choice for both HDR Generation and tone mapping. In particular the HDR files are much better aligned and easier to work with than those done in Photoshop using the "merge to HDR" function.

The car you see isn't available for sale in the US yet. Give it another 6-8 months and you will see it. It is the 2011 Ford Fiesta slated to fill the sub-compact gap in the Ford line up. It will be a premium small car, IE High content, good quality materials and workmanship. The prototype I drove is near production ready so I think if the driving feel transfers with the great design of this car they will have a hit on their hands. I'll reserve final judgement for when I get my hands on the real deal next year.

How did I come about this chance to photo and blog the car. I've got connections at Ford's Premier Auto Group based in the OC. I contact them and when they have a free car they will let either deliver it or I will pick it up. I get free acess to cars and share my images with them for internal publications only. A win in terms of portfolio building and networking that I hope to parlay into photo for money of automobiles somewhere along the line.

In the interest of integrity I do have to acknowledge that for this shoot the Ford rep did pay for lunch as the shoot went into the lunch hour. (Great conversation, learned a lot about Ford and the direction it is moving).

What I did last night...2010 Mustang Premier Party

I'm off very shorty to the first day of the LA Auto Show media days...yes, they recognize me as legitimate media and gimme a full pass.

This years LA Auto Show is so cram packed with world premieres and other events that the good folks at Ford didn't have enough time to premiere all of their new cars.  The solution was to hold a party in SaMo to reveal them all.  I have tons of  raw pics on Flickr.  I'll get around to doing my arty stuff after the weekend is over.  

Until then enjoy the videos from my little digicam of the Falken Racer drifting and the drive on of the new 'stangs.  Great cars, Ford is going to do well with them.

I think Lincoln has a home run with the 2010 MKZ

Actually I think they have a knock it out of the park home run with the MKZ.  And for kicks and giggles while they were running the bases they kicked the ES350 squarely in the crotch then knocked the G35 into the dirt for good measure as well.   I just wish I could show you all the pics and give you the details right now.

I got to sit in it and take a bajillion pictures of the car today.  Ford made us promise to abide by an embargo until 12:01AM on 11/19 for this little sneak peak and chance to talk with the entire design and engineering team behind this car.  It is an amazing car.  You'll have to watch for my post going live exactly at 12:01Am, and shortly thereafter the pics will be in the 2010 MKZ on my flickrset for the MKZ page.  Yes, I'm abiding by the embargo, I won't burn anyone that treats me this well.

Also...while there I confirmed that the 2010 Mustang Reveal party is taking place on 11/18 AND that car is going to be nothing short of amazing as well.  I even wrangled out a ride with a pro-drifting driver in the 2010 GT.  Now if I can figure out how to video it all as well as get some pics.  

Oy the next week and half leading into the LA Auto Show is going to be fun!  Thanks Ford.

Bullitt and San Gabriel Mountains - perfect mix

If you follow my antics and rounds you show know that a I blog about all sorts of stuff.  I love adventures, add in cars and it gets to be even better.

This weeks addition to the old experience bucket is a day long drive in a Mustang Bullitt.  Long story short.  In July I got to spend sometime in a 2010 Camaro.  I was impressed and said when it launches the base Mustang will be a gelding in comparison.  Ford didn't appreciate it.  They dropped me a note and let me know I was probably a little harsh and offered up a GT500 to prove the Mustang still has it.  No GT500's exist right now but they had a Bullitt.  They asked if I would settle for that.  HELL YESSSSS!!!!  Full story on what I think about the Bullitt will be up on metblogs later today.

The image was shot up on the Angeles Crest.  I can tell you that the Bullitt was made for that highway.  No stress, no fuss, no constant shifting, just pick a gear and carve up the curves on the twisties.  Lawdy be...if I could get rid of the Dad car I'd opt for the Bullitt.

Anyway what better way to illustrate a surreal day than HDR?  I shot this frame overlooking downtown LA from up on the crest bracketed +/- 2 stops from average.  Photomatix was used for the HDR file generation and tonemapping.  The final image was run through virtual photographer to heighten the saturation a bit more.  

Enjoy the image.  Do click it for a slightly bigger version...and note you can even see downtown in the fog.  More images in my flickr Bullitt set.

Cars, People and 'nother slip in the adventure bucket

I'm a pretty optimistic person most of the time. Rather than a bucket list of things I want to accomplish, I have a list of cool stuff I've managed to do. My adventure bucket keeps growing and its nice to see. Each adventure I learn something new, experience something new.

Tuesday I got invited to Ford's 2009 Media Ride and Drive for the LA area. Odd..they call it LA but actually I had to venture behind the OC to attend. All very interesting, more so in the talks about the cars coming our way and their new Sync system. Of course it allows me to get into more situations to photo stuff I normally don't get to do. I got this invite through a post I did regarding the 2010 Chevy Camaro on LA Metblogs. Of course this adventure appears as a post on LA Metblogs titled "Ford Takes LA Beaches and aims for a little more".

The images here are of the 2009 Ford Focus Coupe that is just now going on sale and of the 2009 Lincoln MKS that went on sale in July. The images themselves were taken during the pre-drive discussions with the PR Guys.

I shot them bracketed knowing that the people moving would be out of register and that would add to the surreal illustrative image I wanted in the end.

After the HDR file is generated I used photomatix tone mapping to adjust the contrast range, micro-contrast and the final blending to better isolate some items while allowing others to blend into the background more. That final file was then given the final post process in Virtual Photographer to bring back some contrast and saturation to further move it from the real to surreal in the final image.

I like the final images. The cars were the subject of the day and how the media attending interacted with them was more entertaining.