Malted Milk and Rock 'n Roll on Old Route 66

[John Maio]

These were in the window of a funky old neon sign shop on Central Avenue, which was Route 66 as it passed through Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Leica M7, Expired Ektar ISO 25 film, converted to B&W. Image made on November 19, 2006

 

[Asher Kelman]

Was this cropped and what lens did you use? I'd like to see more of this series!

Asher

 

[John Maio]

It was cropped slightly to get rid of the window frame. Lens was the 35mm f/2 ASPH Summicron. I have a few more worth showing from my stroll along Central Avenue on Sunday. I'll post them when I can.

 

[John Maio]

"Photographer At Work"

I'd like to see more of this series!

Asher

This is another street scene from the same Sunday morning walk. I think maybe I should crop that bit of sky out - what do you think?

 

[Jan Luursema]

You could do that, or just burn it in a little so that it doesn't draw as much attention.

 

[Asher Kelman]

I'd repair the roof and extend the wall.

That's the easiest!

Asher

 

[Eric Michelson]

Hi John,

There are some aspects of this photo I really like but I especially like groups of three. 3 is sort of a magic number for me. 3 means the possibility of depth as in 3d. 3 can also add a dynamic human quality, too. The large planes of the wall are good compositional but make the photo a challenge to print, too.

All my opinion below, take it with a grain of salt. ;-)

Challenge 1- The middle wall and the right wall have tonality to close to the clothing, therefore the photo lacks tonal depth.
Challenge 2- Is really also an opportunity, that is the backlight. Asher is right about burning in the sky. Too white, no tone, it draws the eye out of the subject area.

My quick solution to above.

I did the following.

1- Darkened the top slightly of the middle person, lightened the top of the girl on the right to draw away from the walls. I tried to play with the tonality of the large middle wall but because it has little texture it didn't take well to any manipulation. did both with levels and tweaked with dodge and burn tool
2- dodged the top of the umbrella and along the roof line of the middle wall to heighten the back light effect. Also dodged along the top left edge of the right wall to give the effect of light spilling over.
3- burned in the roof shingles and around them to corner off the picture a bit.
4- Drew levels down in sky to 240 about
4- Cropped left edge of photo to my taste.

The picture has wonderful contrast and is a great moment in the lives of these kids. The extended arm, the cross on the tee shirt add real interest. The stump on the right with the slanting light places me there.

I would be curious to see the color version because different variations of the conversion from color might make a huge difference in BW tonal rendering. Do you like Ektar 25 for BW conversions? Is it still available?

 

[Eric Michelson]

John-

Holy moley! are those bullet holes in the window shot?

 

[Kirk Thompson]

Suggest you leave the wall as it is & don't crop - the line of the roof leads the eye down toward the window & hand & is in that sense part of the composition. .

 

[scott kirkpatrick]

These were in the window of a funky old neon sign shop on Central Avenue, which was Route 66 as it passed through Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Leica M7, Expired Ektar ISO 25 film, converted to B&W. Image made on November 19, 2006

Did the expired film produce a funky color image, before you printed it as b/w? That might be a nice way to see such a classic set of signs.

scott

 

[John Maio]

Did the expired film produce a funky color image, before you printed it as b/w? That might be the right way to see such a classic set of signs.

scott

Actually, the color from the film which expired in 1998 wasn't that bad It had been kept cold, and I wanted to use it up, figuring that I could always render it in B&W. On the other hand, those signs are in a south-facing window and the real colors were a bit faded, so thats why I chose to do it in B&W.

I'm not sure if thats a bullet hole or a pellet gun hole, but you see the hole in the glass and the shadow on the sign - only one hole. I imagine that window's not been replaced, much less cleaned in 30 years or so ;-)

 

[scott kirkpatrick]

Actually, the color from the film which expired in 1998 wasn't that bad It had been kept cold, and I wanted to use it up, figuring that I could always render it in B&W. On the other hand, those signs are in a south-facing window and the real colors were a bit faded, so thats why I chose to do it in B&W.

Faded colors might be nice, although it's better to shoot them in soft light, not full sun as you had.

I have some Ektachrome 100 which expired in 1996. I think I'll see what it produces. It has not been kept cold.

scott