Rt66 Pinup Shots -- Mr. D'z

kdog

This is from the same shoot as my previous post, Best View in Kingman . Just to recap, I got to bum around Rt66 in Kingman with my very own pin-up model for a few hours. These are some shots with a car at Mr. D'z, a Kingman landmark.

(Funny story about the car. The reason I met Cherelynn is because she needed a photographer to shoot her with a nice hot-rod car in Laughlin that she had lined-up. The photo was to be submitted with an application to an NHRA paid gig in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, the car fell through. Cherelynn decided to come to Kingman to get some shots anyway because it was about 15 degrees cooler than Laughlin (it was only 100F in Kingman). On my way to meet her, I see this oddball wreck of a jalopy parked outside of a laundromat. So I went inside, found the owner, and talked him into taking it to Mr. D'z for the shoot. The guy was a really-good-sport, and hey, the car was better than nothing. )

Here are a few shots we got.

1


2


3


4


5


6


7


8 "Get your Kicks on Rt66"


BTW, that's John on the right, the good sport who owned the car!

Thanks for looking, and Comments Appreciated!

-joel

MissB

great concept!!!! 4 and 5 are my favorites. CC time?? The variable lighting is really distracting... I definatly appreciate the back drop as this is a vintage theme.. but between BOTH the car and the back scene... it feels like a clutter competition and my attention keeps getting drawn away from the woman. Perhaps do one total scene shot... then change your focus back to the woman... and move her around the scene..from the car...to the bright wall on the building... use a shallow DOF to blur out anything that takes the main attention away from her. Over all great job!!!!!

Photog4Christ

IMHO... I find all the various elements in the photo, including her tattoos, very distracting.

Swartzy

Hey Joel....Pin ups are a blast! I'll bet you had fun. Each of these images need some PS help and pin-up styles generally are bold in color with lots of light (in the right places of course) and have a painterly feel to them. These type of shots tell a story about the location, mood, genre, etc. oftentimes. Sure, we could do pretty much anything we like but for the heck of it, here's one of my "visions" of how to process them. This was simply done with your Jpeg but should shed some light on some elegant processing: I also added catchlights to her eyes. Hope you don't mind..if so, I'll remove.

dlplumer

Great story Joel. Way to think on your feet and take action. Looks like you had a blast. :ivar I like 3 and 4 the best.

I'm hoping Nik, or maybe you now, bring some models on our trip

Dan

kdog

MissB wrote:

great concept!!!! 4 and 5 are my favorites. CC time?? The variable lighting is really distracting... I definatly appreciate the back drop as this is a vintage theme.. but between BOTH the car and the back scene... it feels like a clutter competition and my attention keeps getting drawn away from the woman. Perhaps do one total scene shot... then change your focus back to the woman... and move her around the scene..from the car...to the bright wall on the building... use a shallow DOF to blur out anything that takes the main attention away from her. Over all great job!!!!!

Thanks, MissB! Good comments. You're absolutely right that a shallower DOF would have helped these shots. That's what happens when a landscape photographer attempts portraits. I'll definitely keep this in mind next time.

-joel

kdog

Photog4Christ wrote:

IMHO... I find all the various elements in the photo, including her tattoos, very distracting.

Thanks for the comments.

Regards,
-joel

kdog

Swartzy wrote:

Hey Joel....Pin ups are a blast! I'll bet you had fun. Each of these images need some PS help and pin-up styles generally are bold in color with lots of light (in the right places of course) and have a painterly feel to them. These type of shots tell a story about the location, mood, genre, etc. oftentimes. Sure, we could do pretty much anything we like but for the heck of it, here's one of my "visions" of how to process them. This was simply done with your Jpeg but should shed some light on some elegant processing: I also added catchlights to her eyes. Hope you don't mind..if so, I'll remove.

Swartzy, your post works is amazing, as always. Thanks for the inspiration. If you ever hold a clinic on post-processing, I'm so there.

Cheers,
-joel

Art Scott

A really great set of portraits and i like seeing the tats in this set as semi hidden in the last.....but not really pin up.....to me.........when I think pin up I think .......Vargus girls............not nude.....but slathering, slinky, swimsuit or as near to nothing as possible sexy and leaving the imagination to swealter...........Betty Boop when she was in B-suits and such but not when in pant suits or dresses....now this is just me.......

I could easily use your model for what i want to shoot for the current challenge as she just has that......well ALL THAT!!!

kdog

dlplumer wrote:

Great story Joel. Way to think on your feet and take action. Looks like you had a blast. :ivar I like 3 and 4 the best.

I'm hoping Nik, or maybe you now, bring some models on our trip

Dan

Hey Dan, it really was a lot of fun. And I'm learning, so it's all good.

BTW, Nik does a little modeling himself you know.

Cheers,
-joel

Nikolai

dlplumer wrote:

I'm hoping Nik, or maybe you now, bring some models on our trip

Dan

I'm hoping to get some in St.George on Thursday... But none confirmed thus far...

dlplumer

Nikolai wrote:

I'm hoping to get some in St.George on Thursday... But none confirmed thus far...

kdog

Swartzy wrote:

Hey Joel....Pin ups are a blast! I'll bet you had fun. Each of these images need some PS help and pin-up styles generally are bold in color with lots of light (in the right places of course) and have a painterly feel to them. These type of shots tell a story about the location, mood, genre, etc. oftentimes. Sure, we could do pretty much anything we like but for the heck of it, here's one of my "visions" of how to process them. This was simply done with your Jpeg but should shed some light on some elegant processing: I also added catchlights to her eyes. Hope you don't mind..if so, I'll remove.

Ok, I used Swartzy's ideas to process I shot I hadn't done yet from that shoot (I'm way behind....) Here's what I got. Comments are welcome as always.



Thanks for the ideas, Swartzy!

-joel

dlplumer

I'm not sure if you are kidding with that last shot Joel, although I suspect not.

She looks very deformed

D'Buggs

dlplumer wrote:

She looks very deformed

But the processing is pleasing....

kdog

D'Buggs wrote:

But the processing is pleasing....

Thanks, 'Buggs. That's really what I wanted to know -- how folks like the processing. Of course she's deformed (actually the better word is distorted). You would be too if somebody stuck a super-wide angle lens about 10" from your eye.

I guess you either love wide-angle distortion, or you hate it. I happen to like it, although I probably wouldn't have processed this particular shot on my own. She remembered it through and asked me about it specifically yesterday. So I dug it up and tried out some of Swartzy's ideas on it. She really likes the results and put it on her blog. http://cherelynn.azsupermodels.com/

Cheers,
-joel

dlplumer

kdog wrote:

Thanks, 'Buggs. That's really what I wanted to know -- how folks like the processing. Of course she's deformed (actually the better word is distorted). You would be too if somebody stuck a super-wide angle lens about 10" from your eye.

I guess you either love wide-angle distortion, or you hate it. I happen to like it, although I probably wouldn't have processed this particular shot on my own. She remembered it through and asked me about it specifically yesterday. So I dug it up and tried out some of Swartzy's ideas on it. She really likes the results and put it on her blog. http://cherelynn.azsupermodels.com/

Cheers,
-joel

OK, so what do I know. I couldn't get past the "distortion", but yes the processing is good.

On my way to Vegas.