LOL - Joe. I'm not feeling insulted by our colleague Jim or anybody in the forum. It's just that, well, the theme/attitude I used seemed to be reasonably successful so making a radical departure may result in less customer satisfaction.

Me? If I'm gonna spend around $20 for a calendar the pictures better "pop!"

(Hi John Lang, I can hear you breathing...)

Wouldnt it make more sense to have the owner of this site. Put up a special section for car pics and let the group as a whole vote whos car makes it in the calender? You would sell more calenders that way. Isnt that how car shows are voted?

I agree, Scott, you did an AWESOME job. I think that FGFers will provide great photos, but I also have a forum and although some members are also FGFers, I have members that are not FGFers and have awesome cars (the T/A vert clone and the blue '68 convertible are among them). Is this an FGF calendar, or a Firebird calendar? I really don't think we need to duplicate efforts and divide loyalty. It's about the cars.

You saw the GT photo above...here it is, freed from clutter.


That cleaning took nearly an hour to do. It will take a while longer to find a suitable background and merge the images. It's much faster to start with a great photo, and it does have a bearing on the selection process.

If you want your car in the calendar, clean it up to show quality, take a few awesome, unique shots with nice backdrops and you have a great chance for inclusion.

Please don't downsize, crop, or digitally enhance your photos unless you are proficient at it. If the enhancements can be seen, the photo can't be used. The calendar creation process enlarges the photo considerably and the slightest defect will become a glaring fault.

Personally I don't support donations only to FGF for a joint effort. But I am not going to argue this point.

Scott...your mailbox is full.

Quote "Wouldnt it make more sense to have the owner of this site. Put up a special section for car pics and let the group as a whole vote whos car makes it in the calender? You would sell more calenders that way. Isnt that how car shows are voted? "

Great! Awesome!

Hehehehe...
Now all we need is a replacement for me. :-) Voting = Committee.

Vikki - Mailbox no longer full...

As for voting...

Although some car shows are popular vote, more are juried. A handful of judges are selected to use their best efforts to objectively select the best cars for each class. The panel may be one, two, or three judges, but not 3500.

OK, maybe I have a bad attitude but I enjoyed doing the calendar because I got to be creative and interact with the photographers. Let's not even talk about the hours of photo editing that Ashtray, Vikki, and I did.

So if everybody votes and I get forced to include these Xxxx pics, that takes out one aspect of "payment" that I got for doing it in the first place. "Here's 12 pics, deal with it." Yuck.

I dont know how car shows are voted from where most members in the group are from. But most cars shows up here give you a ballot when you enter their show and let their guests vote for their favorite car. That why I say why not let the group as a whole vote? And have it if you vote your commited to buy a calender.Have it that the members who cars make it in the calender get a free calender?

While I have nothing against a good "ballet", I fail to see how attending a ballet is relevant to creating a calendar of car photos. Furthermore, asking Smitty to provide said ballet is, IMHO, asking too much from him. Although I have not met Smitty, I think I speak for most of us when I say I do not care to see him in a tutu. But that's just me....


ps- no fair ruining the joke by editing your spelling!!

LMAO!!!!

Took me three attempts to type that I was laughing so hard.

I take thousands of photos a year. Most are utility photos, documenting disassembly, reassembly, parts for sale...some are family snapshots. Some are car show photos of cars that catch my eye. I also like to take landscape and nature photos. Maybe 1 out of 100 is a really good photo.

I also work as a professional photographer for a car show and club. I have taken some outstanding photos of outstanding cars, or portions of cars. Some of my favorites are just the hood ornament, grille and headlight, or other detail shots. To get a shot like this, you really need to pay attention to everything. Direct lighting, reflected lighting, shadows, cleanliness, camera, backgrounds and more. But when I spend 15 to 30 minutes on composition, setup, and shoot, the photos are keepers. It does not matter that my camera is a 6 year old 2 megapixel digital model. It does the job very well if I do my share of the work.

I'm not so bad... Wanna see?

Vikki I have some nice hood ornament shots. I'm a sucker for the Art Deco style ones from the 30s. Wanna see?

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Wouldnt it make more sense to have the owner of this site. Put up a special section for car pics and let the group as a whole vote whos car makes it in the calender? You would sell more calenders that way. Isnt that how car shows are voted? </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">thats called the "online show" and it has contest once in a while...
and just as I made the calendar on two pages , I won that contest twice...must be something about "my popularity"? :p
or is my car pretty??

anyhow, seems to me that whomever starts up the calendar ,does all the work on it ,should make the rules....

Joe thats sounds GREAT! Talked to the wife she says yes let go again. They had the most awsome food there!!!!! 1 thing tho. Since i was on last years dont want to have it affect your chances. And yes you can use some of my smoke. I just put on fresh skins awhile back. Do you have a place in mind for the shot the wife can take it. And yes Kel its a great month. Isnt it. How about we each put out our own calendar. Yeah 12 shots of YOUR fav pics. Smitty your legs need work. Im scared. Bill

I only pose for money! See(shameless advertising).
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=320016618037&ih=011&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT

C'mon Jim, you don't really want to sell Red........

Kel

Yep. Need room for another 1st gen!

Is there a ballpark date you are looking at taking photos till? Since the current calendar does not end till April 1 07

Stop the madness.....part Two!

I really liked that collage idea. If I can get my 'bird done in time I'll try to make a good collage of before and one good after picture.

Keep the 'collage' out of the 'garage' or you will get nixed like I did.

Golly Jim, please get over this hurt. This is all about getting the best photos for the calander, not the best car or the best buddy. You've posted photos of your car here and it's beautiful. And I know you worked your A$ off to get it looking perfect. Take your car, a camera, a tripod and go get a winning photo for this year.

My photo didn't make it there either.



Actually, that photo sucks. It's off center. The garage is a mess. The color is off. The only good part of the photo is the idea.

My mom used to sail. Her friend had a bag full of Nikon high end stuff. My mom had a point and shoot Nikon idiot proof camera that I gave her for Christmas. The pictures my mom took were awesome. The pictures her friend too with the professional gear sucked. Why? Because he was so preoccupied with setting bells and whitles, he fogot to look through the view finder and compose his shot. Exactly like Vikkie describes, he made photos of friends with sail boat masts sticking out of their head. People in the photos were partly cut off. He forgot to notice the sun faced the camera so he got lens flare and poor exposure. Taking photos is an art. Lighting and composure is absolutely critical to get results. Many folks don't know this, but during some lighting conditions, you get only two stops of exposure range. That makes the photo flat. Other lighting condtions have eight stops of exposure and it's impossible to capture on file or digital format. The result is black shadows and burned whites. A great photographer undertands lighting and only takes the photos when the lighting works. That is why Ansel Adams produced such impressive works in black and white. His photos not only documented a scene but they conveyed a feeling. He understood and knew how to control all these factors. In this calander, Scott is trying to get photos with emotion, not just document a fine car.

I'm sure Scott doesn't find any pleasure in having to make these hard choices. It's not fun to hurt peoples feelings, especially your friends feelings. With only twelve months of photos, a lot of people have to be excluded. It's really a thankless job. I bet Scott had many sleepless nights at the end. If we push this BS to much more, Scott may just bail out. The stress and upset just won't be worth it. Then we get no calander at all. No soup for us!

I have a proposal so that everyone who wants to participate can be included. Package a photo CD along with the calander. It would only cost a few bucks extra. I'll even volunteer to do the CD duplication; just give me the blank media. Every photo submitted can be included on the CD regardless of picture quality. That way everyone is included.

I agree with 68Bigbird abv.... I know some were upset that I ended up on two pages in the previous/current calendar....it wasnt my intent or desire...I think Scott just liked the pics....
but if you take the advise abv on how to take pics it helps....I took probably 100-150 pics, Scott picked a few of those.........and I DO have some background in architectural photography, which helps me try to avoid the watering hoses, dumpsters, signeage, chimneys, light poles etc that tend to get in pictures....when I take pics in homes I usually set the camera up, look thru it to see whats there ,then go move things out of the way until I`m happy...cant do that with these ,but the thing to do is try to look at other things than your car.,..you`re taking a pic of your car , you know that ,so try to look at surroundings NOT the car...youre already focusing on it....it will be there ,its the other stuff you need to focus on....

Here's an idea that will put you in the lead Jim. And please don't take this as a commentary about your photos because I've never seen them. Read the tutorial about histograms as they apply to digital photography at

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/understanding-histograms.shtml

If your camera doesn't have a histogram feature, borrow one that has or try to picture the histogram function in your mind. I used to do that using a spot meter for 35mm photography. I'll even loan you my spot meter if you like. If you've never used a spot meter, you will be astonished to see the differences in contrast range for the same scene morning, noon and dusk.

The idea of a histogram is to not have data clipped at the edges of the chart. The edges represent full saturated black or white. Also, the data should not be clustered in the center. That means the photo will be dull and lackluster. You can't see these things in the view finder. Well, maybe Ansel Adams can. If you don't get a nice histogram, you need to come back when lighting is suited. Make yourself a project notebook of camera settings, time of day, how the histogram looked and match that up with photos you take. When you get home, calibrate your monitor. Then review your results against your notes. Once you're getting the results you want, go back and stage the photograph. Don't forget to bring a tripod. Sometimes the best lighting situations require a steady camera to be sharp.

If you can find a cop who will help play along I have an idea for a really cool photo. Guys, this idea is for Jim, so don't copy. Find a pretty country road setting free of urban distrations. Stage your car pulled over by police or the sheriff with the bubblegum lights on. Emotion is what these photos for the calander should convey. Nothing says muscle car like trouble with the law. Get a nicely done photo of that, I guarantee you'll win. Don't forget to wash and wax the squad car first. I know you're car would already be under four coats of Zaino. It's all about the details, my friend.

On San Diegos Pontiac chapter calendar a couple of years ago, they had a front cover picture showing an MC cop giving a ticket to a blond woman ,the radar machine , on wheels , nearby saying 135 mph.....
its HIS car , staged , giving his wife the ticket....comes out great!
I bought that calendar ,think I still have it....maybe can find it and take pic of it wanted...

I was just giving advice. Pointing out that a collage of garage pics might look good to you but not everybody.

68bigbird was talking about the photo telling a story. I think this 68 GTO advertisement is my favorite example of a car advertisement telling a story. Any one out there in Michigan this may be an idea, might be cool to reproduce using a FGF.

http://www.musclecarclub.com/musclecars/general/musclecars-ads.shtml

That would be an easy one. Almost as easy as getting a picture while you are getting a ticket!

You know, Larry, if you used some tire shine to clean up those grungy tires, your picture would make the clander--hands down!

I would actually like to see a the calander get one "collage" photo of a bird with a before and after photo. One that went the furthest, maybe from scrap to trophy winner would be great. That won't be me. I'll never win a trophy and begin to wonder about ever finishing.

Yeah, I guess the ticket photo's been done before, yawn.... How about a nice photo out in front of Royal Pontiac surrounded by other classic Pontiacs? Are you nearby to them Jim?

I like Smitty's picture of the MOFO's surrounding the Goat.

This one was cool too:

Same day:


Photoshop can be helpful with the poles...

Royal Pontiac was leveled years ago.

Ooooooo Coordinating with a local Pontiac dealer to have a crapload of FGFs parked out front!

MOFOs, are you with me?

I bet that Burdette Brothers would cooperate with that. Our weather window for good picture taking is closing up soon though.

I bet that any local Pontiac dealer is happy to cooperate... when we did our first Shiner cruise a year and a half ago, we met up at a local dealer , Guzman Pontiac,...
I called the sales mgr and spoke to him ,they were elated , very friendly...when we showed up there on sat morning they had the front row clear for us , plus offered us coffee and donuts...most all of the salesmen were out the oogling our cars, some were so young they barely know what they were looking at!
at the end the dealer showed up, came out and said Hello to us all, and told old tales from his early days as a Pontiac salesman...in 1967 he drove a 67 Firebird convertible 400 from Los Angeles to Houston and back over a weekend (friday noon to monday evening),for a wedding , he said "it was fast"!

so pick a dealership, just call the General mgr or sales mgr, they will be happy to have you there,it brings attention to the dealership!

Well I went out this weekend and tried to get an action shot of my Bird. You know, using a fairly slow shutter speed and panning with the car as it goes by at 30 mph?

It's tough to do! The background is blurry (good) but the car is a little blurry too. I would expect the wheels to be blurry but hopefully not the rest of the car (which it is.) It sounds like I'll have to practice-up and take about 30 pics to get one good one.

You really want a fast shutter speed. Try 400 while panning. The motion of the car is not as fast as the motion of the wheels, so while the car will be sharp at the faster speed the wheels will still be blurred.

Panning a moving object at a medium-fast shutter speed will get results like this:


A slightly faster shutter speed or slower object will give this:


In either case, if the background had any texture, it would have been blurred.

Hey Vikki, this is a Pontiac site right? why'd ya post a pic of a Mustang? Great shot of the P-51 by the way.