It's not the size that matter....

[Seb]

Passing by a Mini dealer this afternoon, I couldn't help myself but stopping and take a few shots (these little things drive me crazy, they are so charismatic!). I havent shot anything very special but back home, I realized that the camera was set at ISO 1600 thus the noise level was higher than I wanted. Considering that, I tought that the best way to save these pictures probably was to convert them into B&W.

So here is my very first attempt ever. I am clueless about the real sophisticated way to do it so I simply removed color and boosted contrast in order to get the black not to be washed out. What do you guy's think about it??

F/8 1/2500sec ISO 1600 60mm

Seb

[barmy101]

IMHO, I think the Rover Mini's were much better looking than the BMW Mini's. Anyway, I think you might have had better results if you had used a polarizer to cut the reflections on the glass. Otherwise I like it.

[adina]

I like it, reflections and all. Looks all shiny and new.

adina

[Seb]

Hello guy's.

Thank you for commenting!

Barmy, I agree with you. A polarizer would have lead to a more pleasing result... I just need to get one. My old trusty (well not so old) Cokin (58mm) don't fit on my new lense (67mm). I should get a new one by this summer. Ultimately, I think that you are right about the original Mini being nicer than the BMW reissue. However, I feel that BMW did an excellent job here. To me, this car is by far more appealing than say, the VW New Bettle or a Chrysler PT Cruiser.

Adina, thank you for the kind words. In the end, I am happy to have forgoten to set the ISO value to a ''normal'' value. I guess that B&W give more charisma to the picture than the original color version.

I might post two more. I'll work on my cropping to see if I can come up with something decent.

Seb

[Yoyo Szeto]

Hi Seb,
I have another suggestion: include only part of the Mini and emphasize on the details.
All the best.
yoyo

[barmy101]

Seb,

Actually, the original Mini was made by Austin. Then in the 80's and 90's Rover (as in Land Rover) updated it and now we have the BMW.

[Yoyo Szeto]

Hi,
I had a used Mini (bought at USD 350) when I was a student in the 80s. The design is great but the handling is very bad. The design of the original Mini has a serious fault in the location of the petrol tank. In fact, it can catch fire easily when the car is overturned and this has caused many serious casualties in the past.
All the best.
yoyo

[Seb]

Seb,

Actually, the original Mini was made by Austin. Then in the 80's and 90's Rover (as in Land Rover) updated it and now we have the BMW.

Hello Barmy,

Reissue was not the word that I should have used. Actually, I am perectly aware that the original Mini was a 100% British car made by the 100% British Austin and that BMW bought the rights somewhere in the 90's to design the car that we now have.

My father owned the original model (his first car ever I think) in the early 70's and an uncle of mine owned a Mini Cooper (the sport version) at the same time.

Thanks for pointing out these facts though.

Seb

[Seb]

Hi Seb,
I have another suggestion: include only part of the Mini and emphasize on the details.
All the best.
yoyo

Hello Yoyo,

This is exactly what I am going for.
Please comment the pictures to come.

regards

Seb

[gahspidy]

Looks good in B&W. I like the style of this car as well. They are quite popular here in N.Y.
In this particuliar shot I think I would like to see the front tires with a bit of ground under them. A tight crop works well , but in this shot I would say just cropped a bit tight on the bottom. Looking forward to your next shots, with some focusing closely on details as Yoyo suggested.