Panamint Cars, a photo from California, West

Photographer's Note

About 4 km south-east of the Panamint dunes,
just before sunset. It's not uncommon to find old abandoned cars in the California desert, these appear to be from the 1940's or 1950's. Always makes me want to know the story behind them.
My favorite part of this photo is the ground -- the long shadows of the rocks remind me of the photos from Mars (more so with the higher resolution original which is much sharper).

kolesn has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

nmess (2301) 2004-12-14 22:53

Hi David and welcome to TE. I like shot's of abandoned things such as these cars. I can't help but wonder how old cars can be left far from any sign of habitation. Haming visited this area, I think you've caugtht the essense of the place, but think you should keep in mind the rule of thirds when composing or cropping. I would suggest cropping this one off the bottom and left to eliminate distracting elements and better frame the cars. But overall, not a bad first posting.

alainh (33209) 2004-12-15 2:58

hello David
first: Welcome to TE !!!
an astonisched first one. but a good one
the car a too at the middle.
regards
alain

olli (2091) 2004-12-15 3:14

I like how those great old abandoned cars work with the landscape.
I agree with comments written above: the cars are too centered in the image. I think the image needs some adjustments in PS, too. Well found and captured in any case.

I posted another version to WS...

kirbster (10) 2005-01-15 14:25

I'm usually a stickler about the thirds rule, but it doesn't bother me here. I think the foreground works so well and the lower-left to upper right diagonals of the cars and shadows is so appealing that the "centerness" isn't a big deal. Just my two cents - rules are made to be broken.

joseelias (0) 2005-01-27 15:00

This is a fantastic motive for photographs. And I think you should explore them more, especially with these long shadows. Look for more daring angles, like a high POV placing one car, or just part of it in the low right corner and explore the wide landscape at the back. The rust also can give you fantastic textures to explore.

In this case I think you should have uncentered the main motive (an important rule of photography) for a dynamic and dramatic feeling. Also some more sharpness would work well.