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Last year I got a call from a woman named Sandy. Sandy lives in Missouri with her husband Mitch, and the tale she told me was bittersweet. She started by telling me about her first date with Mitch in his 1957 Pontiac. I'll spare you the details, but let's just say that they both have very happy memories in that car! Anyway, they were married a year and a half later and started having kids. After their second child was born, they made the tough decision to get rid of the big beautiful two door Pontiac in favor of an even bigger four door Oldsmobile station wagon (the minivan of the time). The years clicked by, the kids grew up and moved out, and Sandy and Mitch found themselves in a big empty house with more time and money than ever before. Sandy decided to go back to college and get her teaching certificate, and Mitch decided to build the workshop he'd always dreamed of. By now it was late 1992. These were good times for Sandy and Mitch. Then one day on the way home from school, Sandy saw something that made her heart skip a beat. For sale along the side of the road was a beautiful '57 Pontiac, just like the one Mitch had when they were dating! Sandy admitted to me that she didn't know much about cars, and she knew this one needed some work, but she felt confident that Mitch could fix it up in his new workshop. Besides, he had been looking around for a good winter project. She called the number on the windshield, and put a deposit on the car the very same day. Sandy bought the car the next day (she wouldn't tell me how much she gave for it) and had it towed to a friend's house. Then, early on Christmas morning, her friend brought it over to the house on his trailer, and she gave Mitch the surprise of his life! I wish you could have heard Sandy describe his reaction! Anyway, Mitch enthusiastically jumped into the project, and by early August of 1993, the restoration job was complete. By the time he was done, this '57 Pontiac looked just like the one he had before, with the same silver and crimson paint scheme and trim package. The car looked original, but Mitch had taken the time to make a few important modifications including a better motor, improved exhaust system, and modern safety belts. This last modification came into play on the night of Friday, September 3rd, 1993. It was about 9:45 on a balmy late summer evening, and Mitch and Sandy were driving back from the local Sonic Drive-In. They had enjoyed tooling around in the Pontiac for over a month now, and they always attracted a lot of attention no matter where they went, but this was especially true at the Sonic, a favorite hang out of classic car lovers. Anyway, they were only two miles from home when a drunk man ran a red light, and plowed into them at nearly 50 miles per hour. The
heavy Pontiac spun around, ran off the road,
rolled over three times, and came to rest at
the bottom of a 20 foot ditch. As quickly as
it had happened, it was over. The car came to
rest in an upright position. Steam hissed out
of the crushed radiator, and tiny shards of
glass were everywhere. Mitch looked at Sandy,
and Sandy looked at Mitch. "Get out now!"
shouted Mitch, fearing that the vehicle might
catch fire. Within seconds, both had undone
their safety belts, scrambled out (Mitch through
the window) and hiked quickly to a safe distance.
The '57 Pontiac that Mitch had taken such great
care to lovingly restore was a total loss, but,
thanks to the modern safety belts and heavy
metal of this old Detroit classic, they were
both still alive with only minor injuries. For
as thankful as they were to be alive, the whole
incident really broke their hearts. They really
loved that car and the OK, fast forward nine years. This is where I enter the story. Sandy explained to me that they never really got any great photos of the car. They had plenty of OK photos, but most were simply snapshots of the restoration. She explained that by now enough time had passed since the accident that the Pontiac was no longer a painful subject around the house, but they both lamented the fact that they didn't have any really good professional photos of it. She described one photo that she had that was pretty good, but still not great. "Can you work magic?" she asked me. I smiled. "I sure hope so." About
three days later, a FedEx envelope arrived with
several photos of the car. The best one was
a snapshot of the car sitting in a grassy field.
The photo wasn't that great, but it wasn't too
bad either. The first step was to get a high
quality scan. I always scan photos at a high
resolution so I can produce a very detailed
and high-quality image. This high resolution
"mother file" is the one I digitally
manipulate and use to create smaller "daughter
files"- the actual files used to reproduce
the image. Once I reviewed the photos, Sandy and I spoke again to discuss her options. She explained that what she really wanted was for the car to look like it was on one of those classic car calendars- the kind that has photos of classic cars in dramatic settings. With that in mind, I went to work. First,
I had to isolate the image of the car so I could
create a brand new background. With that done,
I applied some careful color corrections to
the car to bring out the deep crimson One of the challenges of creating brand new surroundings for an object in a photo is to make it look like it's all a single integrated scene. Often when new backgrounds are added, objects appear to be hovering unrealistically above the new background. It was also important for the car to appear that it was reflecting the colors of its new background, which in this case, was blue. If you look carefully, you'll observe blue reflections on the chrome and windshield of the new image. The most important
component of our new image, however, is the reflection. Reflections can
be tricky because most of the time, the geometry of the reflected image
is totally different from that of the original image. Plus, much of what
we see in the reflection- the underside of the car and bumper, didn't
actually exist in the original photo. Creating realistic reflections is
a fun challenge, and the final results are always very g Most satisfying to
me, of course, was Sandy's reaction. Upon seeing the final product, she
called me immediately and thanked me repeatedly between sobs of joy. Now
the new photo, which has been blown up and framed, hangs proudly in Mitch's
workshop- a sentimental tribute to the car that brought them together,
gave them so much joy, and eventually saved their lives. I'm honored to
have been a part of this project. Good luck, Sandy and Mitch. Who knows?
Maybe there's another "cherry" '57 Pontiac out there somewhere
just waiting for Sandy to find it!
Do
you have any comments about this project or
questions about photo re-touching? Please contact
Nathan Hood at:
feedback@nathanhood.net |
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