El Camino, Not for Sale

Blog by: Russo Mutuc

September 24, 2012 - I did my usual walkabout in the streets of L.A. and hunting for stories. Every little chance I get, even for just an hour, or two, I will take it. The wife had an appointment on this morning, so I took this chance to try and look for stories.

I ended up in Echo Park where I came across some stories which I could've easily missed. To start off, the light was becoming already a challenge, it was around 11AM and really harsh. I just had to make sure to set my ISO to its lowest setting, and try to avoid overexposing the image.

What drew me to the subject is the texture, placement, and supporting sign to add to the story. The car looked like it has been parked there for many years, and was there was a fading sign on the window, "Not for sale". The flat tire which sunk into the ground really made this location an ideal story for me to capture, in just a few minutes. 


The image below I will share with you how I originally captured it, and what I did in post.

Before

After

I decided to change the color tone in the image, and turned it into a night look. The combination of light and shadows gave it more depth in the image. It feels more edgy with a "badass" look to it.

Equipment: Nikon D80 w/ 18-135 kit lens.