# Old Ford Trucks...



## Mel (May 26, 2009)

I just got back from a little vacation in Oklahoma City.  I took 850 pics, so I got lots of material to post the next few days...or weeks, haha.

I'd heard about this place before going out there and of course had to check it out.  Guy has a few trucks sitting out behind his shop and he let us look around.  I tried to take some artsy-fartsy type shots, haha.  

I don't know why, but I really like abandoned and old stuff, it lets my imagination run wild on where these trucks were in their former life.  The roads they traveled and things they carried in their old pickup beds.

Anyhow, here's some pics, and be on the lookout for more from me as I get around to uploading and going through and writing about my trip.


----------



## Redbow (May 27, 2009)

Sure would be nice if someone would step up and restore the old trucks ! Someone that can afford it of course !

Nice pictures !


----------



## Smokey (May 27, 2009)

Cool shots Mel.
I look forward to seeing the rest of the pics from out there.


----------



## SkeeterEater (May 27, 2009)

Here's my "79"


----------



## Browtine (May 27, 2009)

I share your attraction to old and abandoned objects. I love old abandoned industrial sites, and especially old cars and trucks like this. Wish I had more time to find and photograph things like this myself. 

And here's something to look into since you like this sort of subject matter. A program called Photomatix. It's a program designed to create High Dynamic Range photographs ranging from realistic to surreal, illustrative style renderings. It can really make photos of things like this, with all the colors and textures, pop. It does way better on large, original files, but I ran one of your smaller submitted files through it to give you somewhat of an example. If I had the original file and some time to play with it, I could get much better results, but this is interesting for a quickie with a small file. You can do a google search on HDR imaging and see what's possible with good files and time. 

Here's your photo that I played with just now. Hope you don't mind.


----------



## LOVEMYLABXS (May 27, 2009)

Sure wish i could see your shots Mel 

Skeeter nice lookin 79 

Funny that you posted this cause just this past weekend I decided to go out and take a few shots of my 70 F250. Hopefully I plan on getting it running again and maybe when i retire do the body work but iffin I do that I'll have to find a new storage spot for some stuff stuck up in the cab 

Anyways a couple of ole brown


----------



## LOVEMYLABXS (May 27, 2009)

From the front 

352 ci out of a 66 4 speed and posi tract all the way around when you kick him into 4 wheel if you get stuck you'll need help cause you are really STUCK !!!!


----------



## Mel (May 27, 2009)

Redbow said:


> Sure would be nice if someone would step up and restore the old trucks ! Someone that can afford it of course !


Most of them were pretty far gone, but still had some good parts.  One of them, the bed floor was completely gone.  The guy was super nice and we stood around talking trucks for a long time.  One of the highlights of my trip.  




Browtine said:


> I share your attraction to old and abandoned objects. I love old abandoned industrial sites, and especially old cars and trucks like this. Wish I had more time to find and photograph things like this myself.


Cool, glad it's not just me, haha.  I got to see a photography exhibit once where the guy went out west and traveled all over and had photographed all these old abandoned houses and schools.  And most of them still had items laying around inside, chairs, books, coffee cups.  It was really cool to me because it makes me think, where did those folks go and why did they leave in such a hurry to leave their things?  

Anyhow, I like that thing you did with the picture.  If you want, I can upload the fullsize version and also some pics I got of some buildings in OKC.  I'm so overwhelmed trying to show all these pics and talk about the things we saw, it'll be awhile before I take time to "play" with doing anything with them, haha.  Thanks though, it looks good.


----------



## Mel (May 27, 2009)

LOVEMYLABXS said:


> Sure wish i could see your shots Mel


Ok Mike, I changed them from links to attachments.


----------



## LOVEMYLABXS (May 27, 2009)

Mel said:


> Ok Mike, I changed them from links to attachments.



Thanks Mel those are some GREAT shots and yepper some of those trucks would look COOL fixed back up for sure


----------



## Fishin & Hunting (May 27, 2009)

*Old Ford*

Great pictures Mel.  There sure are a lot of old trucks out on the prairie.

Here is an old Ford (I think) on the family farm out in SD.


----------



## huntin_dobbs (May 27, 2009)

Those are awesome Mel! I love old trucks, barns, etc. I really like the 1st two, you nailed the "artsy-fartsy"! Cool treatment Browtine did too!


----------



## Browtine (May 27, 2009)

Mel said:


> Cool, glad it's not just me, haha.  I got to see a photography exhibit once where the guy went out west and traveled all over and had photographed all these old abandoned houses and schools.  And most of them still had items laying around inside, chairs, books, coffee cups.  It was really cool to me because it makes me think, where did those folks go and why did they leave in such a hurry to leave their things?
> 
> Anyhow, I like that thing you did with the picture.  If you want, I can upload the fullsize version and also some pics I got of some buildings in OKC.  I'm so overwhelmed trying to show all these pics and talk about the things we saw, it'll be awhile before I take time to "play" with doing anything with them, haha.  Thanks though, it looks good.



There's a guy on photoSIG that has a whole portfolio under his account of an old abandoned hospital. He has some AWESOME shots in there that perfectly capture the "feel" of an old abandoned vehicle. I spent an hour or more going through them and enjoying his work. Do you ever go there?

And as for the full size files, if you want to PM me links to them I'd be glad to play around with a few of them and see what comes of it. Some of the HDR photos work even better as black & whites, too. I'll see what shakes out if you want to link me to them.


----------



## 7 point (May 27, 2009)

man thouse are some nice photos I like that kinda stuff I really old farm tractors if you ever take pics of any id love to see them


----------



## trophy-1 (May 27, 2009)

*ford truck*



Mel said:


> I just got back from a little vacation in Oklahoma City.  I took 850 pics, so I got lots of material to post the next few days...or weeks, haha.
> 
> I'd heard about this place before going out there and of course had to check it out.  Guy has a few trucks sitting out behind his shop and he let us look around.  I tried to take some artsy-fartsy type shots, haha.
> 
> ...



ive dad many this is my latest!


----------



## Browtine (May 27, 2009)

Fishin & Hunting said:


> Great pictures Mel.  There sure are a lot of old trucks out on the prairie.
> 
> Here is an old Ford (I think) on the family farm out in SD.



Here's another example of what HDR can do for old car shots. I went to a little more trouble in Photoshop to clone out an area and make local adjustments to compensate for the extra noise gained in HDR conversion due to the shadow noise in the small original. I also made final tonal and saturation adjustments and done some selective dodging and burning. I resized the original (no other changes) for side by side comparison...

Again, I hope I'm not out of line. I just enjoy playing with the HDR process and photoshop. 

Before & After...


----------



## Hoss (May 27, 2009)

Mel, those are some great shots.  You go ahead and get artsy on us anytime you want.

Hoss


----------



## Freddy (May 27, 2009)

Unbelievable photos, I love what Browtine did with that old Ford on the praire.


----------



## Browtine (May 27, 2009)

Couple more versions of one of the trucks. I filtered them in Neat Image to remove some of the noise, then converted them in HDR. Came out better I think. The possibilities are endless with HDR. Oh, and the first one I posted in this thread went blue on me and I couldn't figure out why. I keep forgetting that Photomatix doesn't go back to default settings after each conversion. It retains the settings from the last tone mapping session and I had done a cooler toned image. 

Edited to add the filtered, resized original for comparison...


----------



## Crickett (May 27, 2009)

Mel, those are some great shots. I like the angle on the 1st & 3rd. I think those close ups like that are really cool.


----------



## JasonF (May 27, 2009)

Nice set of shots Mel !!
I like the creative angles you used to capture some of them.
Thanks for sharin!


----------

