OWF calendar photo preview thread

scramboleer

scramboleer

Super Moderator
Staff member
All-Star
Aug 16, 2011
12,160
San Francisco, California
First Name
Dan
Willys Model
  1. Wagon
Willys Year:
  1. 1964
All,

The 2019 OWF calendars are being shipped and should arrive starting this week depending on where you are at in the country. In the meantime, it was suggested to add a "calendar photo preview thread," so here we go.

Goals (and I quote):
  1. Give us an opportunity throughout the year to sharpen our photo skills.
  2. Keep the topic top of mind so we would remember to take pictures for possible submission.
  3. Get suggestions on how to improve a photo by cropping or reshooting in different lighting, or choosing between different photos.
Sounds like a good idea to me. So feel free to post your pictures here (no limit, but please use your judgement as 20 slightly different versions of the same picture won't be too helpful). You can then ask questions about your own pictures, offer perspectives on other posted pictures, etc. There will be a seperate official thread started this fall for the 2020 (!) OWF calendar.

Cheers!
.
 
I guess I'll start.

Being kind of an amateur photographer I'm always willing to learn better methods. Much of what I read is to be aware of lighting position and quality, background, foreground, etc. Another is to "use your feet". Don't be afraid to walk around to get the perfect shot.
And don't expect to get it the first time. Professional photographers often take dozens of pictures to get one that works.

There are times of the day, those "perfect hours" when the lighting is best. Most prefer early dawn or late dusk, when the sun is almost at the horizon. This allows the light to reflect off the vehicle and highlight the body lines.
But, depending on the vehicle, a certain amount can be accomplished even at noon.

Other than the harsh shadow thrown by the mirror, I kind of like this shot. Advice is always welcome.

2016_06_01_3311.JPG
 
That’s a beautiful old truck and I like the framing between the willow and the lake. The setting is nice and the picture is sharply focused and not grainy, thanks to the bright lighting. This photo would definitely be a contender.

Great observations and advice as well!

What might be improved? The interesting elements of the picture are all in a strip across the middle. The monochrome gray road at the bottom and a sort of bland sky at the top take up quite a bit of real estate but don’t add to the photo. Had the sky been more interesting that day, you might have been able to tilt the camera up a little to exclude some of the pavement and capture a dramatic cloudscape.

Your comment about sunlight is spot on. Bright noon sunlight usually doesn’t produce tbe most interesting light. It tends to “flatten” scenery and photos. For example, when visiting the desert, the scenery is much more interesting in the morning or late afternoon when angled sunlight casts shadows that accentuate the texture of the land. While shadows obviously complicate Jeep photos, they can also make them more dramatic and interesting.

Alternatively, some of the best pictures in the latest calendar contest were taken when it was cloudy — and the clouds diffused the light and mostly eliminated shadows. That can sometimes be good, too.

Anyway, that’s a strong photo and probably would have made it into this year’s calendar. Thanks for posting, it’s always a joy to see nice photos of beautiful jeeps.

My hope for this thread is that it will help us pick our best photos, sharpen our photo eyes, give us ideas, and result in another great calendar next year.
 
Grimscale said:
I guess I'll start.

Being kind of an amateur photographer I'm always willing to learn better methods. Much of what I read is to be aware of lighting position and quality, background, foreground, etc. Another is to "use your feet". Don't be afraid to walk around to get the perfect shot.
And don't expect to get it the first time. Professional photographers often take dozens of pictures to get one that works.

There are times of the day, those "perfect hours" when the lighting is best. Most prefer early dawn or late dusk, when the sun is almost at the horizon. This allows the light to reflect off the vehicle and highlight the body lines.
But, depending on the vehicle, a certain amount can be accomplished even at noon.

Other than the harsh shadow thrown by the mirror, I kind of like this shot. Advice is always welcome.

View attachment 55634
Click to expand...


I wondered if your photo would benefit from a little crop, while maintaining the dimensions. I also increased the color saturation just a little. It was quick and dirty, What do you think?2016_06_01_3311.JPG
 
Lookout Ranch said:
View attachment 55652

Here is one I considered submitting, but I wasn’t sure if a picture of a hood would be interesting enough to win a place in the calendar. What makes a good “calendar picture?”
Click to expand...

Carter, I think the setting is perfect. Time of day, setting,background, foreground all great. I do think the Wagon should be coming toward the camera maybe somewhere right at the bend in the road so you can see a 3/4 shot of it. Great picture anyway you look at it.
 
57Willys said:
Carter, I think the setting is perfect. Time of day, setting,background, foreground all great. I do think the Wagon should be coming toward the camera maybe somewhere right at the bend in the road so you can see a 3/4 shot of it. Great picture anyway you look at it.
Click to expand...
You’re right, that’s the photo I should have taken.
 
Lookout Ranch said:
I wondered if your photo would benefit from a little crop, while maintaining the dimensions. I also increased the color saturation just a little. It was quick and dirty, What do you think?
Click to expand...

That's nice. Most of my pictures end up straight-out-of-camera as I do not have Photoshop. There's not a lot I can do with Paint or Paintshop Pro.

Believe it or not, that "lake" is merely a pond at the mobile home park. I tried to frame it so that you didn't see the mobile homes to the left and right of the picture, and traffic was light so you didn't see any cars on the main road that is beyond the trees on the other side of the pond.

I agree the flat grey of the road could have been framed out. The sky isn't bad, at least it isn't a plain blue. A tighter crop would have highlighted the truck more, but at the time I wanted as much of the willow on the right as I could get without showing the mobile home that was right there.
 
Lookout Ranch said:
Here is one I considered submitting, but I wasn’t sure if a picture of a hood would be interesting enough to win a place in the calendar. What makes a good “calendar picture?”
Click to expand...

For myself, a good calendar picture is one that has the vehicle as the main focus of the image. pictures of hoods are nice, but a picture of the whole truck, or more of the truck, would be better.
Maybe a picture from in the back of the wagon showing the interior, dashboard, seats, etc., and the scenic view framed in the windshield?

Nice picture either way. it definitely gives the impression of a truck that is used, and I love the clouds off the curve.
 
Grimscale said:
That's nice. Most of my pictures end up straight-out-of-camera as I do not have Photoshop. There's not a lot I can do with Paint or Paintshop Pro.

Believe it or not, that "lake" is merely a pond at the mobile home park. I tried to frame it so that you didn't see the mobile homes to the left and right of the picture, and traffic was light so you didn't see any cars on the main road that is beyond the trees on the other side of the pond.

I agree the flat grey of the road could have been framed out. The sky isn't bad, at least it isn't a plain blue. A tighter crop would have highlighted the truck more, but at the time I wanted as much of the willow on the right as I could get without showing the mobile home that was right there.
Click to expand...

Most photo viewing programs provide some limited ability to crop and/or change saturation or contrast, etc. I don't have Photoshop, either, but used something on my PC called Photo Gallery to crop yours and adjust the saturation.
 
79D69AE6-0031-4FDF-959B-059BC3535E24.jpeg0EE8588D-FBBB-4F28-A86B-A0BB2E16B742.jpeg
Grimscale said:
For myself, a good calendar picture is one that has the vehicle as the main focus of the image. pictures of hoods are nice, but a picture of the whole truck, or more of the truck, would be better.
Maybe a picture from in the back of the wagon showing the interior, dashboard, seats, etc., and the scenic view framed in the windshield?

Nice picture either way. it definitely gives the impression of a truck that is used, and I love the clouds off the curve.
Click to expand...

Above are a couple of other pics I took that same evening that show more of the wagon.
 
My 2019 calendars were at the gate this morning when I left home at 0 dark thirty. They must have been dropped by UPS last night. Thanks, Dan! The quality is much nicer than I expected.

One observation that may be helpful to those submitting pictures for the 2020 OWF Calendar is that all the pictures were cropped to the 4:3 aspect ratio, or the nearest thing to it, so it would be best to compose your submissions accordingly so that key elements of your photo aren't cropped out of the final edition.

The 4:3 aspect ratio is the normal size of a rectangular photo taken by an iPhone -- at least that seems to be the case with mine.
 
scramboleer said:
I really like this one.
Click to expand...

X2 ! I remember that pic and said that’s a calendar shot .

Here’s one I thought about as my entry . Ended up submitting a rear shot as something different. Thoughts on black n white ?

554F6537-7E81-4FF7-B7D8-36B6383F0956.png
 

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54 wagon ken said:
X2 ! I remember that pic and said that’s a calendar shot .

Here’s one I thought about as my entry . Ended up submitting a rear shot as something different. Thoughts on black n white ?

View attachment 55720
Click to expand...
Personally, the gate doesn't really add anything, and the photo feels crowded on the right side. Photos of cars, like people, usually "feel" better when there is more space ahead of the subject than behind. That's a beautiful wagon and very nice country; why give up a third of the picture to telephone poles and a wide gravel road?

If others disagree, I hope they'll jump in and tell me I'm wrong, tastes in photos are different, and that's good. My goal is just to have a good dialogue and end up with a bunch of really great pictures for our next calendar.

Edit: Regarding the B&W version, I think a black and white photo would be a risky submission in a contest full of color pictures. The subject and the context need to be very compelling, because B&W isn't "pretty." Black and white is generally good for accentuating contours using shadows, evoking nostalgia, etc., and I don't think it adds to this particular photo.
 
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54 wagon ken said:
X2 ! I remember that pic and said that’s a calendar shot .

Here’s one I thought about as my entry . Ended up submitting a rear shot as something different. Thoughts on black n white ?

View attachment 55720
Click to expand...

One other observation. The aspect ratio for pictures in this year's calendar is 4:3. Your picture is much wider than that, so it would likely be cropped on the left side when the calendar is printed, resulting in a photo that cuts off the gate and looks like this:

554F6537-7E81-4FF7-B7D8-36B6383F0956 (2).jpg

That sort of destroys the symmetry and framing you were going for.
 
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