It’s that time of year again. Trees and flowers are full bloom and, depending on where you live, pandemic restrictions are loosening allowing classic cars to start rolling on manicured lawns for Concours d’Elegance or Cars & Coffee events to pop up an the nearest asphalt surface.

Tip #1: To make interesting photographs at a car show, either indoors or outdoors, you gotta love cars. A passion for the subject you’re photographing is always a plus and enables you to look beyond the surface of a car to see its essence, its soul.

How I Made this Photo: Shot with Olympus Pen E-P3 and highly underrated Olympus 15mm f/8 Body Cap lens with an exposure pf 1/400 sec at f/8 and ISO 640.

Tip #2: Before making any pictures try to talk to the car’s owner. You don’t need to be an expert; just be curious and polite. Most owners can talk for hours about their cars because there never was a restoration project that didn’t have some interesting twists and turns. One of the best ways to get to know the owner involves asking questions covered in the next tips. (To see me talking with some car owners check our the Joe and Cliff Go To Cars & Coffee on my YouTube channel.)

Tip #3: Try not make photographs of cars with their hoods—or bonnets if they are British—raised. Many owners like to display the cleanliness or sparkling chrome underneath but that’s not always the best way to photography a vehicle because it breaks up the car’s lines There are times, where the car needs to have the hood up. Who makes that determination? You do. If the owner nearby, ask them owner if they would close the hood so you can make a photograph of the car. In exchange, offer to give them a print or e-mail them a JPEG of the finished image, both of which positions you as a photographer who cares.

How I Made this Photo: Shot with Olympus E-M10 Mark I and OLYMPUS M.14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 II R kit lens (at 17mm) with an exposure pf 1/250 sec at f/8 and ISO 200.

Tip #4: It’s also a good idea to remove show placards such as the identification cards placed on the dash or under the windshield wiper. Ask the owner before touching any part of his or her car! It’s always best to have them do it, so ask politely.

to be continued…

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One way to add color to a monochrome image is to start with a black and white photograph and paint in the colors on separate layers. Using Photoshop or any image-editing program that lets you work with layers; you can simulate this hand-coloring technique from the 1950s. It’s not only faster to accomplish digitally but can be immediately fixed using the program’s History palette to go back before you made that error. After you’ve completed a masterpiece, you can fix any nagging miscues or even change a color by deleting a color layer, adding a new one and painting in the new color. Instead of just any black and white image, we’re going to use one that was captured in digital infrared.

The reference image of a classic Porsche Speedster was photographed using a Canon EOS 50D converted for infrared capture by Life Pixel using an exposure of 1/100 sec and f/16 at ISO 200. It was captured as an RAW file and opened in Adobe Camera RAW.

The original RAW file was converted into monochrome using Adobe Camera RAW and opened in Adobe Photoshop where it was dust spotted and tweaked. I used the clone stamp tool to remove the two guys who were standing behind the car in the background. Tip: When hand coloring a monochrome file, you should work with an RGB or CMYK file. You cannot work with a grayscale image, so you have to change the image’s Mode (Image > Mode > Color RGB.)

Start by adding a Color Layer (Layer > New > Layer > Color) and then select Color from the Layer palette’s Mode pop-up menu. Once you have a Color Layer, you can paint directly on top of your image using Photoshop’s brush tool while leaving the background layer untouched. To apply the Brush tool for this specific image I worked with a mouse instead of a graphics tablet and stylus because that’s what I’m used to but if you like using a tablet and stylus and are good at it, the process should go smoother and faster.

Next, select an airbrush from Photoshop’s Tool Bar. You can use the bracket keys on your keyboard to make the brush smaller (left bracket) or larger (right bracket). I picked a color by clicking on the Foreground/background colors at the bottom of the tool bar. This pops up a color picker and I chose a blue that reminded me of my old 1966 Mustang convertible. You can also choose any color from the Swatches Palette (Window > Swatches) simply by clicking on a color. After painting, you can fine-tune the chosen color by reducing the Opacity of the Color Layer or by adjusting the colors in Color Balance (Image > Adjustments > Color Balance).

When hand coloring, the Eraser tool is your best friend. Even if you use a graphics tablet and stylus it’s impossible (for me anyway) to paint around small details, so don’t try. Just paint and then use the Eraser tool with the image set at a high magnification so you can see those small details and erase the blue or whatever color in case you “go outside the lines.” I also used the Eraser tool to remove the blue color from the car’s trim areas such as chrome strip, rocker panel moldings, and logos. This process requires a small brush and patience but makes for more finished looking job.

You can keep adding additional layers, one for each different color, until you think you’re finished. In this case, I used a pale yellow on the wheels and while dedicated Porschephiles will probably cringe at this color scheme on a classic Speedster, I thought it added an element of fun. You can use whatever colors that make you smile. A little tweak with Curves to bump of the contrast and cropping to remove some of the grass at the bottom of photo and you’re finished.

Life Pixel does a great job with IR conversions and have done most of my Canon DSLRs and all of my Panasonic Lumix G-series cameras. This is not a paid or sponsored endorsement, just my experience.

My book, The Complete Guide to Digital Infrared Photography is available from Amazon for $47.99  with used copies starting around ten bucks as I write this. Creative Digital Monochrome Effects has a chapter on IR photography and is available from Amazon for $20 with used copies starting at around ten bucks.

Photo courtesy The Rodder’s Journal/ used courtesy Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance

Ken Gross remembers watching the coolest guy at Salem High School drive down the street at the wheel of his customized chopped-top ’51 Mercury. Looking at that ride, with its flipper hubcaps catching the light, its rumbling exhausts, and a customized body all sleek and mean, Gross thought, “Man, I’d love to be that guy.”

More than half a century later, Gross, a celebrated automotive historian, museum curator and author, as well as a Selection Committee Member and a Chief Class Judge for the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance has made it his mission to bring a measure of cool to the18^th fairway of Pebble Beach Golf Links. Gross has put together the first-ever postwar class of Mercury Customs to be shown at the Concours, which takes place on Sunday, August 16.

By the late 1940s, Detroit automakers had retooled after World War II and were once again producing civilian cars, but the offerings were often less than inspired. The 1949-to-1951 Mercury was the epitome of what mid-century automotive writer Ken Purdy called “a turgid, jelly-bodied clunker” but with imagination and the right tools, it could be transformed into a dreamboat. In search of a more expensive-looking, sleeker silhouette individuals began to customize these cars, lowering rooflines (chopping), dropping bodies over frames (channeling), Frenching headlights (tunneling them into fenders), and removing ornamentation and trim to create an almost sinister kind of cool.

It all began with Sam Barris, who bought a nearly new 1949 Mercury coupe and started deconstructing and modifying the vehicle until he had customized its way to the cover of Motor Trend. “People were blown away,” says Gross, “by how good the car looked. These custom cars were something special in their era. Part of it was the skill it took to build a really good car, and when someone got it really right, like Barris, the car became absolutely elegant.”

One of the most eye-catching Barris Kustoms was an arresting lime-green ’51 Merc, customized for Bob Hirohata, which was used in the B movie “Running Wild.” One of the most recognizable was the mildly customized ’49 Mercury coupe James Dean drove in the 1955 Warner Bros. film, “Rebel Without a Cause.” “When people think of custom Mercurys,” says Gross, “they often think of the James Dean coupe, which truly romanticized the car. This was in an era when many men and women wore hats, but that just wasn’t possible with lowered rooflines, so these young people were making a fashion statement of their own.”

image courtesy of Greystone Mansion Concours d’Elegance

A 1932 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Short Chassis Zagato Spyder will be among the 2012 show highlights.  This extremely rare car is one of the only 2.3 Alfa Romeo’s in existence with its original coachwork still intact.  Additional highlights include a 1939 Bugatti Type 57C Coupe, believed by many to be the most original type 57 in the world today; a 1954 Alfa Romeo 1900 SS Zagato, one of 39 ever made; a 1972 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 ‘Daytona’ originally owned by legendary American gun manufacturer William Ruger; a 1925 Hispano Suiza H6B and a 1930 Cadillac 452A.  The 2012 Greystone Mansion Concours d’Elegance will feature 12 automobile categories including Ferrari, Porsche, Rolls Royce / Bentley, Pre & Post-War American, European & British.

An awards presentation will take place at 3:00 p.m. and honor select vehicles.  Hosted by KABC7 TV Automotive Specialist Dave Kunz, the ceremony will award prizes for Best in Show d’ Elegance and Best of Show de Sport, FIVA Most Well Preserved Vehicle, Spirit of Greystone, Tiffany & Co. Elegance Award, Mayor’s Choice, People’s Choice, Meguiar’s Outstanding Paint, Best of Class Awards, an award presented by BRM Watches, among other honors to be announced. Jesse Alexander, legendary motorsport photojournalist, will be judging and presenting an award in his honor for the Outstanding Sports Car in the concours field.

Ideal for car and motorcycle aficionados as well as lovers of luxury items, architecture and Southern California history, the Greystone Mansion Concours d’Elegance has something for everyone.  A high-end marketplace located inside the mansion will feature fine art, jewelry, automobilia, and accessories. Tours of the Greystone Estate will take place throughout the day; and, food stations catered by Lawry’s Restaurants as well as beer and wine gardens, margarita and espresso bars will be conveniently situated throughout the estate grounds.

A portion of proceeds from Greystone Mansion Concours d’Elegance ticket sales will benefit the non-profit Friends of Greystone, and their ongoing restoration efforts of the Estate.  Tickets are $108 per person when purchased in advance and $133 at the door.  Ticket sales are limited to 3000 and ticket purchase includes unlimited food and drink, program book and poster, access to the estate grounds and mansion, as well as a two for one admission to the Peterson Automotive Museum.

The Greystone Concours d’Elegance takes place Sunday, May 6, 2012 from 10:00am-4:00pm at Greystone Estate, Beverly Hills, CA.