What have you done to your Land Cruiser this week? (45 Viewers)

[Vossie]

Made Just for Y'all :

View attachment 1384867


~Skydog

very cool image. incredible the efforts you go to to get an almost surreal shot! any ideas on how to get good up close images of our 40's?

 

[Skydog]

very cool image. incredible the efforts you go to to get an almost surreal shot! any ideas on how to get good up close images of our 40's?

Vossie : how to get good up close images of our 40's - is a difficult one to answer. (We're referring to "attractive, artistic" '40 images, and not the conveying of "what is this thing in my engine" type snap-shots). The 'attractive-artistic' pics are of course largely relative to one's opinion about things. No different than music, conveying imagery is based squarely on one's opinion on how something should be perceived. Beyond that, the uniqueness of an image involves not only an aspect of creativity & the use of uncommon lighting, but also practice of what works & what doesn't in looking at something in a particular way, either up really close, or from afar. Lots of practice.

Any one of us can take a well liked close up picture of our '40. There are already several of them posted recently to this thread, alone. But it really boils down to learning what other people like to look at, as well as what they don't like to look at. And we don't know until we try. Until we try different angles. Until we take the picture at different times of the day, or in different weather, etc. Sometimes, the best pics of our 40's come by pure accident. Often, we don't anticipate something something we just did to turn out sooo good, that so many people are reacting so positively to it. And other times, it's like making music - that actually hurts one's ears. ... I'd say simply snapping some pics, that you, yourself think is most becoming of your '40 - and openly observing how others react to any particular resulting picture. That would be a good & easy first step. ~Marc

 

[Vossie]

Vossie : how to get good up close images of our 40's - is a difficult one to answer. (We're referring to "attractive, artistic" '40 images, and not the conveying of "what is this thing" info type snap-shots). The 'attractive-artistic' pics are of course largely relative to one's opinion about things. No different than music, conveying imagery is based squarely on one's opinion on how something should be perceived. Beyond that, the uniqueness of an image involves not only an aspect of creativity & the use of uncommon lighting, but also practice of what works & what doesn't. Lots of practice. Any one of us can take a well liked close up picture of our '40. There are already several of them posted recently to this thread, alone. But it really boils down to learning what other people like to look at, as well as what they don't like to look at. And we don't know until we try. Until we try different angles. Until we take the picture at different times of the day, or in different weather, etc. Sometimes, the best pics of our 40's come by pure accident. Often, we don't anticipate something something we just did to turn out sooo good, that so many people are reacting so positively to it. And other times, it's like making music - that actually hurts one's ears. ... I'd say simply snapping some pics, that you, yourself think is most becoming of your '40 - and openly observing how others react to any particular resulting picture. That would be a good & easy first step. ~Marc

Well, in that case, let me post up a few of my favourite pics of both of my 45s and see what a pro thinks

 

[Skydog]

Well, in that case, let me post up a few of my favourite pics of both of my 45s and see what a pro thinks

View attachment 1384873 View attachment 1384874 View attachment 1384875 View attachment 1384876 View attachment 1384877

Vossie : First off, you're on the right track. What you just posted in your post above is not at all bad. Based on my own opinion & taste, my basic comments are below :

I've taken out a good bit of the cyan toward the top, and most of the blue haze in the middle & bottom, making the image a bit warmer. The background at the top was somewhat darkened & desaturated; and to a lesser extent, selected portions of the vehicle, to help with its contrast against the background at top. Problematic previously was the bright fog light on our left. It contrasted highly with the darkness around it, and therefore caused the eye to become locked-in on that one part of the image.

I like this one above a lot. It's actually your best one. What was hurting our subject (your vehicle) was the double-billboard on the opposite side of the road. It was literally competing with you truck - and winning. Rather than noticing the vehicle & looking at it, I was finding myself trying to read the dual roadside billboards. So, to reduce the distraction, and to make the overall image more simple & to the point (that of only the vehicle & the interesting setting/rising sunlight upon the vehicle's road), the billboards were removed. I then saturated the overall image by just a little bit, approximately 10%. Just enough to give more emphasis on the justified warmth as a cause of the setting/rising sun, and to provide slightly greater attraction to the overall concept of intrigue of the image.

This one was hard, as it was heavily blown-out. My eye was striving to look away from the original image. But particularly, it was not wanting to look at or upon the vehicle. My eye was wanting to retreat at least to the stacked bricks in the lower right, where it was somewhat comforted. I would try photographing this same image once again; but this next time, make it that the sun is not streaming over the vehicle, but somewhat more so through the vehicle's glass. Or perhaps that its light is refracted upon the glass, itself. The sunburst you were able to capture is indeed interesting - but it cost you the subject. For the image, I not only cropped-in, but darkened it by quite a bit, which enhanced the spectrum of color of the sunburst. However, I then enhanced its color a bit further, that it become the actual subject.

This is your second best image of the five. I simply cropped the image that the vehicle is not directly on the vertical centerline. I'm not at all one to follow the age-old Rule of Thirds; and what I've done here also doesn't follow that, but having the subject to one side, at times, does create a greater intrigue. The visual info on the original image's far left was actually not needed. And neither was that at its very bottom (which also made the vehicle seem farther away than it seems now). Now, with the vehicle to one side, and more so at the bottom, we're more in tune with the more centered trees & mountains. However, the vehicle, with its bright white color, still balances the overall image, even though it is actually down lower & more so to one side than it had been.

This type image would be best suited as your typical "artsy-fartsy" B&W. It would look good in sepia too. Sure, we lose perspective of & respect for the colorful rust that nicely coats the subject vehicle. But we gain in a bit more interesting lighting, and a far greater sense of texture. For this image, I did not simply desaturate its original color to come up with a colorless image. Instead, I created a B&W that is of higher contrast at the bottom than that at its top - drawing the eye downward. At the bottom, on the vehicle, I had to lighten the vehicle's side apron, that we could gain a greater sense of its heavy amounts of detail. And now, with the grill & light sockets so highly contrasted with lights & darks - that area of the image has become super-enticing. We now want to literally touch it or feel it with our hands. Conversely, the one aspect of the image I feel I lost for you by going B&W is that of the red handled screwdriver, there on top of the engine hood. That screwdriver was the coolest part of the whole picture. You could, if you wanted, keep an image like this in b&w, and simply have the red of the screwdriver handle - making it stand-out over everything. But for me, and for many others, that's a technique that became old about a decade ago. It still has its place though; and if you were wanting to show-off the screwdriver, that'd be one way of doing it.

Basically, you did a Great Job !! And my comments here are merely that, simply my instantaneous take on what you presented. And of the five, there wasn't a bad one. But I do very much like that second image, the one parked alongside the highway, where we can see some of the warmth of the sun through the vehicle's glass. ~Marc

 

[Vossie]

Vossie : First off, you're on the right track. What you just posted in your post above is not at all bad. Based on my own opinion & taste, my basic comments are below :

View attachment 1384878
I've taken out a good bit of the cyan toward the top, and most of the blue haze in the middle & bottom, making the image a bit warmer. The background at the top was somewhat darkened & desaturated; and to a lesser extent, selected portions of the vehicle, to help with its contrast against the background at top. Problematic previously was the bright fog light on our left. It contrasted highly with the darkness around it, and therefore caused the eye to become locked-in on that one part of the image.

View attachment 1384879 I like this one above a lot. It's actually your best one. What was hurting our subject (your vehicle) was the double-billboard on the opposite side of the road. It was literally competing with you truck - and winning. Rather than noticing the vehicle & looking at it, I was finding myself trying to read the dual roadside billboards. So, to reduce the distraction, and to make the overall image more simple & to the point (that of only the vehicle & the interesting setting/rising sunlight upon the vehicle's road), the billboards were removed. I then saturated the overall image by just a little bit, approximately 10%. Just enough to give more emphasis on the warmth as a cause of the setting sun, and a provide slightly greater attraction to the overall concept of the image.

View attachment 1384883
This one was hard, as it was heavily blown-out. My eye was fighting to look away from the image, all together. But particularly, my eye was not wanting to look at the vehicle. My eye was wanting to retreat to the stacked bricks in the lower right, where it was somewhat comforted. I would try photographing this same image once again; but this next time, make it that the sun is not streaming over the vehicle, but somewhat more so through the vehicle's glass. Or perhaps that its light is refracted upon the glass, itself. The sunburst you were able to capture is indeed interesting - but it cost you the subject. For the image, I not only cropped-in, but darkened it by quite a bit, which enhanced the spectrum of color of the sunburst. However, I then enhanced its color a bit further, that it become the actual subject.

View attachment 1384887 This is your second best image of the five. I simply cropped the image that the vehicle is not directly on the vertical centerline. I'm not at all one to follow the age-old Rule of Thirds. And what I've done here also doesn't follow that. But having the subject to one side, at times does create a greater intrigue. The visual info on the original image's far left was actually not needed. And neither was that at its very bottom (which also made the vehicle seem farther away than it seems now). Now, with the vehicle to one side, and more so at the bottom, we're more in tune with the more centered trees & mountains. However, the vehicle, with its bright white color, still balances the overall image, even though it is actually down lower & more so to one side than it had been.

View attachment 1384888
This type image would be best suited as your typical "artsy-fartsy" B&W. It would look good in sepia too. Sure, we lose perspective of & respect for the colorful rust that nicely coats the subject vehicle. But we gain in a bit more interesting lighting, and a far greater sense of texture. For this image, I did not simply desaturate its original color to come up with a colorless image. Instead, I created a B&W that is of higher contrast at the bottom than that at its top - drawing the eye downward. At the bottom, on the vehicle, I had to lighten the vehicle's side apron, that we could gain a greater sense of its heavy amounts of detail. And now, with the grill & light sockets so highly contrasted with lights & darks - that area of the image is now super-enticing. We now want to literally touch it or feel it with our hands. Conversely, the one aspect of the image I feel I lost for you by going B&W is that of the red handled screwdriver, there on top of the engine hood. That screwdriver was the coolest part of the whole picture, I thought. You could, if you wanted, keep an image like this in b&w, and simply have the red of the screwdriver handle - making it stand-out over everything. But for me, and for many others, that's a technique that became old about a decade ago. It still has its place though; and if you were wanting to show-off the screwdriver, that'd be one way of doing it.

Basically, you did a Great Job !! And my comments here are merely that, simply my instantaneous take on what you presented. And of the five, there wasn't a bad one. But I do very much like that second image, the one parked alongside the highway, where we can see some of the warmth of the sun through the vehicle's glass. ~Marc

wow!! thanks for the input and apparent ton of effort! its exactly why i asked the question and posted the pics, bc, although i have done a lot of photography work, 99.99% of it has been with birds. so i find very informative the info you've put forward about where the eye is drawn and what works/ doesnt.

as for that second photo, it was a road about 2 min away from my old house. i would drive it every day. but that particular shot was taken at 5.08am the one morning when i was coming back from work at the airport. i was dead tired and just wanted to get home to sleep. but as i was driving down the road and the sun burst into my rear view, i just had to pull over and capture the moment. a lasting memory of mine, and one that makes me dearly miss my first cruiser, the one that started it all

 

[David70FJ40]

Remember seeing the A-1 Skyraiders in Vietnam. Marvelous shot, very impressive!

Your comments to @Vossie were very good and the work you put into the improved photos was very kind indeed.

 

[RWBeringer4x4]

@Vossie @Skydog Just a thought - maybe this could be its own thread, BUT -

The company I work for produces a calendar every year with images submitted by its employees. There's a year long "photo contest" of user submitted photos, then a couple rounds of voting at the end of the year (around October). Then the winners get turned into a calendar format and distributed in November/December for the upcoming year.

With this many cruiserheads on IH8MUD - we could probably have a pretty epic photo contest/annual "IH8MUD" calendar...I've seen some truly awesome shots by @hairy_apple, @jetranger and @pngunme to name a few

@Skydog - you're combining my two favorite things, military aircraft and 40's - REALLY excellent work!

 

[Solace in Solitude]

If you haven't seen this thread, there are some really great examples https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/artistic-cruiser-pics.108545/

 

[Skydog]

@Vossie @Skydog Just a thought - maybe this could be its own thread, BUT -

The company I work for produces a calendar every year with images submitted by its employees. There's a year long "photo contest" of user submitted photos, then a couple rounds of voting at the end of the year (around October). Then the winners get turned into a calendar format and distributed in November/December for the upcoming year.

With this many cruiserheads on IH8MUD - we could probably have a pretty epic photo contest/annual "IH8MUD" calendar...I've seen some truly awesome shots by @hairy_apple, @jetranger and @pngunme to name a few

@Skydog - you're combining my two favorite things, military aircraft and 40's - REALLY excellent work!

Okay, RW, I'll tell ya what : I thought about your suggestion for a brief moment; I like it; and will agree with you. I've made in full multiple calendars in my past, both photography-wise and graphic design-wise. I'll go ahead and agree here to produce a professionally made calendar, based on contributed & then selected images from MUD contributors - for IH8Mud & its contributors & sponsors. And if it works, and is well sought, we can then do this annually. And to do so, I'll go ahead and initiate a new thread for that, for that specific purpose & goal - an Official IH8Mud calendar. As my sweat-contribution to MUD, I'll go ahead and create the actual layout & design of the calendar, as this type of work has been my profession. And once down the road (errr, I mean, muddy-path), we can then determine the actual hard printing cost & cost to package the individual calendars & to ship it to each domestic & international address - for 2018.

A good idea & suggestion of yours.
~Skydog

 

[David70FJ40]

Sign me up, I'll take one, when they are ready!

 

[Skydog]

Sign me up, I'll take one, when they are ready!

I like your response ... but it'll be long, long forgotten come later this year..
~Skydog

 

[David70FJ40]

I won't forget!

 

[gator25]

Figured I'd post a few pics. of what I've gotten done so far, not much. Been running the roads and spending to much time researching parts and combining a new list of parts to order.

I'll cut the other wing out tonight, that will be it besides getting the flanges off the wheel wells. Worried about the tub flexing so I'll weld a few more pieces in for support before cutting any more out. The tubing at the rear one of POs put in for the rear sill will be coming out, along with the D/S lower fire wall and floor pan. Oh, almost forgot the D/S rocker and what's left of the wheel well supports.

 

[rrv333]

Rebuilt the Warn Hubs today

 

[JohnnyC]

This week I watched the ice be too scared to go under my truck ... or was it the oil keeping it away lol

 

[FJ404345]

This week I watched the ice be too scared to go under my truck ... or was it the oil keeping it away lol

View attachment 1385278

Is that because of that product that you spray on it on a regular base?

 

[JohnnyC]

Is that because of that product that you spray on it on a regular base?

Yep

Nothing like a coating of spray grease ... I actually switched to a new brand that works as well if not better imho ... my store was no longer able to carry the other ???

This is what i use now

It could also be one or two oil drops from various other places lol

 

[FJ404345]

What was the name of the other brand? was that also black or maybe transparant?

 

[JohnnyC]

@FJ4043

The other stuff was "open gear lube" that came out black as well... looking on the net to see if I can find a pic... and there's just nothing out there lol

Like it got wiped off the planet because the planet hates it

If your looking for a clear rust inhibitor spray I'd go for LPS rust inhibitor ... it's clear and works great... just double the price of my cheap black stuff lol

Like $14 a can ... but... I highly recommend it

 

[waiting for time]

Figured I'd post a few pics. of what I've gotten done so far, not much. Been running the roads and spending to much time researching parts and combining a new list of parts to order.View attachment 1385165
View attachment 1385167 View attachment 1385169
I'll cut the other wing out tonight, that will be it besides getting the flanges off the wheel wells. Worried about the tub flexing so I'll weld a few more pieces in for support before cutting any more out. The tubing at the rear one of POs put in for the rear sill will be coming out, along with the D/S lower fire wall and floor pan. Oh, almost forgot the D/S rocker and what's left of the wheel well supports.

That is starting to look like a serious challenge.
Good job so far.