autofantasia's photos

I had so much fun with this week's Sunday Challenge , which had the theme of selective colouring , that I ended up with several possibles. Here's one of those that didn't get used. This is a detail shot of a beautifully restored Morris Minor Traveller I spotted out and about last summer.

I had so much fun with this week's Sunday Challenge , which had the theme of selective colouring , that I ended up with several possibles. Here's one of those that didn't get used. This is the interior of the little red fire engine I spotted at the Classics On Show event back in 2013.

This is my entry for this week's Sunday Challenge which had the theme of selective colouring . For anyone that likes to know about such matters, I use PaintShop Pro whenever I'm doing this kind of exercise: although I know there are loads of other options available. I start by getting the original image tweaked to the point where I'm happiest with it and then create a duplicate layer, which I sit above the original image. I then convert the duplicate layer to mono/greyscale before deleting out the area I want to highlight, which then lets the coloured original underneath show through. Finally, all I need to do is merge down the two layers to form one single image ... job done! This particular shot was taken a while back, but I'd never gotten around to posting it online and I felt it leant itself well to this week's challenge. Mr Smiley always makes me smile when I see him and hopefully he'll have the same effect on anyone visiting my photostream.

I'm pleased to say that I've now finished uploading photos to my Classics On Show 2013 album and it can be viewed by clicking the link. Over 60 photos in this one and all taken at this great little show, which is held in Stokesley, North Yorkshire, each year.

Last in this particular album is yet another Austin, which I believe to be an Austin Ten. This one was manufactured in 1934, but for some reason no longer shows up on the DVLA records.

I've always loved the lines of the Volvo P1800 ever since seeing the white one driven by Simon Templar, played by Roger Moore, in the TV series "The Saint". This particular one though is the much rarer 1800ES, a coupé station wagon with an all-glass tailgate, which was introduced in 1972. Only around 8,000 of these were actually produced.

Loved the rustic authentic feel that this old timer had, but I hate to admit I'm not sure what it is. Can't read that plate in full to check the records and I can't put a name to that logo on the radiator!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=apJWThQalts Original image in Notes.

The Mk2 Jaguar arrived in 1959 and went on to become one of the motoring icons of the Sixties before being replaced by the sensational XJ6.

Apparently the same age as me, but wearing much better!

You don't need to have spent a great deal of time browsing my photostream to know I'm daft about cars, especially when you see my username. The fascination really kicked off in the late Seventies when I bought the first ever issue of 'Street Machine' magazine, which was all about the hot rod and custom scene here in the UK. Ever since that day I've dreamt of having my own custom car or hot rod and for a while I hoped I might even become a mechanic, which would have made that dream easier to achieve. Sadly, I've never been able to afford to buy that hot rod and I never did get the opportunity to become a mechanic. These days the closest I get to achieving either dream is working on my old Scirocco, but it's far from being a hot rod and my mechanical skills fall far short of what I'd like them to be. Still, what is they say ... when life gives you lemons, make lemonade! I took this photo for the latest Sunday Challenge which had the theme Tools of the Trade ... using manual focus . I found this week particularly challenging as being a short-sighted spectacle wearer I nearly always have to rely on the automatic focussing capabilities of my Nikon D90. Although there is a dial on it which you can set to allow for eyesight deficiencies, I'm afraid the adjustments are only minor and not sufficient to compensate for my own shortcomings in that area. So for this challenge I had to use the live View screen mode, which meant I could supposedly wear my glasses and focus the image as seen on the screen instead of through the viewfinder. However, I have to say I still found this rather difficult and had to discard lots of shots, but I'm fairly happy with this one. I resisted the temptation to do any sharpening or clarifying in PP as I thought that would kind of defeat the object of the exercise. All I really did in the way of processing was to tweak the Brightness/Contrast levels, before converting it to Black & White and then resizing it for uploading.

Parce que le monde est devenu fou.

Just messing around trying to get the hang of orbs and the possibilities they offer. Original image from which this all came about is in the Notes.

Not quite sure what type of dog this was, but it caught my eye lying there surveying all that was going on around it. Some kind of Wolfhound perhaps?

Spotted these two guys shooting and old Rolls-Royce at the show. Not sure if they were together or if the guy standing was just waiting his turn to get the 'killer' shot of the car head on.

Here's another one of the shots I took of The Northern Echo Arena, which is home of Darlington Mowden Park RFC and situated on the outskirts of the town, a few months back. I was going to use it for The Sunday Challenge when the theme was grey . This time I've done some post-processing on it, just for a bit of fun. www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaOC9danxNo

The AC Cobra, sold as the Ford/Shelby AC Cobra in the United States and often known colloquially as the Shelby Cobra in that country, was an American-engined British sports car produced intermittently since 1962. Over the years there have been many replicas and although I can't find any official records to confirm this isn't original, I think it's highly unlikely. In fact, I've seen other photos of it online which refer to it as an AK 427 so I'm going with that unless anyone out there knows any different. www.aksportscars.co.uk

The AC Cobra, sold as the Ford/Shelby AC Cobra in the United States and often known colloquially as the Shelby Cobra in that country, was an American-engined British sports car produced intermittently since 1962. Over the years there have been many replicas and although I can't find any official records to confirm this isn't original, I think it's highly unlikely. In fact, I've seen other photos of it online which refer to it as an AK 427 so I'm going with that unless anyone out there knows any different. www.aksportscars.co.uk