Tuesday, September 6, 2011

 Jim's 1959 Austin Healy Bug Eye Sprite

I love going to the Show and Shine car shows, especially the one here in Walla Walla.  Wheelin' Walla Walla is this coming weekend.   Barring a real downpour my Bug Eye will join over 400 other classic cars.  Why would rain interfere?  The Bug Eye was designed as a poor man's sports car.  It had a rag top, yet to be added to mine.  There was no boot lid (trunk lid to us Yanks).  It had no outside door handles and it had no roll-up side windows.  It did have rack and pinion steering, wishbone suspension and a hot little 948cc engine.  Mine has been restored to nearly original.  The front brakes have been replaced with disk brakes.  The engine is from a later model and has a few more ccs.  I also added a real roll bar.  I picked it up as a pile of parts and the kids and I spent years putting it back together, hammering out the dings and searching for missing parts.  I wanted a big project the kids would remember doing with their Dad.  Many, many good memories for me - and hopefully for them.

Taking pictures of cars is a lot like taking pictures of children or small animals.  I find I get my most dramatic results when I get the camera down to the car's level.  Depending upon the impact I want, different camera heights ranging from a few inches off the pavement to windshield level (and a little higher) work.  Since film is so expensive in digital cameras, I recommend taking many images.  Start at the front with a dead-on grill shot.  Try at least three different camera heights.  Move to the left and do a series of shots with the image split between the grill and the fender.  Then do a profile series, always varying the height of the camera.  Move to the back corner and split the image between the side and the boot (trunk).  Then do a series from dead-on for the boot (trunk).  Continue working about the car in this fashion.  Why so many shots?  This is a way of finding out what shots work best for you.

Because in a Show and Shine the car is not moving you can typically hand hold, maybe using an ISO between 200 and 500 with an f-stop of 5.6 to 8.  The backdrop at a Show and Shine can be very distracting, so I find it is often worth the time investment to take my best shot and eliminate the clutter in the backdrop.  I often use a polarizing filter to take out reflections.  The other big thing is to get the entire car in the same light.  In the shadows or in the sunlight is good so long as the car is in all the way in the shadows or sunlight.  You may have to come early or stay late or come back to cars of particular interest.

Of course in a little car like the Bug Eye, getting a kid behind the wheel can be a great shot.

By the way, the Brits called them an Austin Healy Frog Eye Sprite.  The Bug/Frog Eye body design was only made for a few years.  The latter models shared a body design, and much more, with the MG Midget.  Thus, many who like these agile little sports cars refer to them as Spridgets.

1 comment:

  1. Let me know about your special car or truck. You may e-mail me an image and comment at jimdotwillis@msn.com

    Also, let me know if my photo tips work for you or if you see a way to make the message clearer. Thank you, Jim

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