"Miss April, The Lady in Red" (AKA The Alfatross) is this month's "centerfold model" for The Alfa Owner magazine! Six months ago I responded to a notice in Alfa Owner soliciting images for (I thought) the cover photo. I sent the Editor several images taken by Richard Coberly during the 2016 Santa Fe Concorso, then forgot about it. Imagine my surprise when my April issue of Alfa Owner fell open an 11 X 17 inch centerfold image of one of Richard's photos! Apparently it was chosen as the first example of the Alfa Owner's "feature spread".
How do you get an image like this? Where does it come from? A fancy studio in a New York ad agency? No, just a carefully composed original photo taken on an overcast Fall morning last September on the Las Campanas golf course during the 2016 Santa Fe Concorso--and a few minutes of Photoshop time on a desktop computer. But don't waste your time trying this at home folks, unless you have the right equipment and decades of experience with film and digital photography!
Fortunately for The Alfatross, one of her paramours is just such a person: Richard Coberly of Windward Media in Seabrook, Texas. Here's how he did it:
It's all about vision. You see what something is, but can you see what it could be? Vision is what Ugo Zagato had when he transformed the Alfa 1900C SS chassis into the car it could be. Vision is what Richard had when he transformed a photo taken under difficult show field conditions into an art object. And vision is what the Alfa Owner had when it decided to make his photo the inaugural image for its new centerfold spread!
For more information about the photographer, Richard Coberly of
Windward Media, visit http://www.windwardmedia.net/pages/fine_art_intro.htm.
How do you get an image like this? Where does it come from? A fancy studio in a New York ad agency? No, just a carefully composed original photo taken on an overcast Fall morning last September on the Las Campanas golf course during the 2016 Santa Fe Concorso--and a few minutes of Photoshop time on a desktop computer. But don't waste your time trying this at home folks, unless you have the right equipment and decades of experience with film and digital photography!
Fortunately for The Alfatross, one of her paramours is just such a person: Richard Coberly of Windward Media in Seabrook, Texas. Here's how he did it:
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| 1. Original photo on the lawn at the Santa Fe Concorso. Nice shot, but the overcast lighting was problematic. The background is cluttered, the bottom of the car is in strong shadow, and the colors aren't very vibrant. There are probably 100 other photos of The Alfatross like this taken that day by various attendees, but Richard saw that this one had potential. Richard Coberly. |
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| 2. Here Richard has cleared up the cluttered background and diminished the strong shadow beneath the car. Details of the sky above are revealed and the car's color is more vibrant. It's a much nicer photo now, but Richard saw other potential. Richard Coberly. |
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| 3, Aren't computer graphics wonderful? The basic image is still here. but simplified and abstracted. Pretty eye-catching, but not yet really what we're looking for. Richard Coberly. |
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| 4. Yeah! The version of the original image that the Alfa Owner liked the best and the result of decades of experience. Richard L. Coberly. |
For more information about the photographer, Richard Coberly of
Windward Media, visit http://www.windwardmedia.net/pages/fine_art_intro.htm.
