"2013 Woodward Ave Dream Cruise V" Corel PSP Pro X3

Ford Fairlane 500

Vintage Custom DeSoto

I have two more photographs I wanted to share with you from the Detroit Metro Woodward Ave Dream Cruise of 2013.

I shot a Red Ford Fairlane 500 Convertible as well as a Vintage Custom Blue DeSoto. I opened the photographs in Corel PSP Pro X3 and made a few adjustments.

1. Digital Camera Noise Removal
2. Smart Photo Fix
3. Saturation Vibrancy for punch to the color
4. Sharpen High Pass Sharpen Soft Light
5. Backlighting light setting
6. Image Information - Title and Copyright information
7. Visible Watermark for my signature

This is the basic workflow I used on both photographs for enhancing them in PSP Pro X3. I have been relying on PSP more for my basic adjustments and try to keep them to a flow that works to make the photographs appear better. Sometimes the original exposures need a little help.

I hope you have enjoyed the photographs of the 2013 Dream Cruise.We saw many cars speeding and peeling out and the noise was amazingly loud as they did. We took a little trip a further down South on Woodward but hit a huge back up of cars and decided not to wait in the jam of it all. So we did not make it down to the MoPar section of the Cruise.

"2013 Woodward Ave Dream Cruise IV" Picasa HDR - Corel PSP Pro X3

Vintage Convertible with Leather Boot

For today's images I return to my selection of Custom Car photographs from the Dream Cruise. Using Picasa 3.9 I selected a Convertible Hot Rod with a Leather Fender Boot on the front.

I Cropped the image to focus on the Convertible. Then I used Picasa's HDR tool lowering the Radius and Strength. I then used the Punch tool and adjusted the colors for the punch. I saved that iteration and opened with Corel PSP Pro X3. Here I increased Saturation only a bit and applied the Sharpen High Pass Sharpen tool. I added my signature using the Visible Watermark and saved again. Then I resized for the blog posting.

Short on time today I only did one image, and I have only a few more to select from, I hope you are enjoying these posts about the Dream Cruise and the Custom Cars. Click on the image for a larger view.

"More 2013 Dream Cruise Custom Cars III" Corel PSP Pro X3

55 or 56 Custom Chevrolet

Vintage Lafayette

Custom Pinstriping

Lastnight I used Corel PSP Pro X3 to enhance these photographs from the Detroit Metro Woodward Ave 2013 Dream Cruise. I used a number of similar steps on each image:

• Digital Camera Noise Removal
• 
  
• Smart Photo Fix
• 
  
• Saturation adjustments
• 
  
• Sharpen High Pass Sharpen
• 
  
• Backlighting

These were the basics I used with some other adjustments on each. I used PSP Pro X3 exclusively for these images adding EXIF copyright info and titles and using the Visible Watermark for my signature. Each image was saved as a large iteration then resized for display here. Click on each image for the larger view. Enjoy!

"Post Metro Detroit Woodward Ave Dream Cruise"

Red 57 Chevy

Pontiac

White 57 Bel Air

I took a number of Photographs of cars at the Metro Detroit Woodward Ave Dream Cruise 2012. These images I created using Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and Corel PSP Pro X3 for processing.

In Essentials I used the Watercolor Sketch basic auto paint feature. I used PSP to add Vibrance and my signature. I kept the workflow simple saving iterations as I went and then resampling for display here.

The Dream Cruise had Hundreds of vehicles, many of whom would burn rubber as they passed our viewing point. I took only a few photographs this year in the area right around us. We had family and friends around us and it made for a great time.

My son Keir M. Gatzka also took some night photographs which I may share here, with his permission in another post.

"Woodward Dream Cruise Build-up" Paint.NET - Plus

Custom Hot Rod

The Detroit Woodward Avenue Dream Cruise 2012, is this weekend, unofficially starting on Friday. Here I have another photograph of a Custom Car from the AutoRama 2012.

I browsed to the folder with the AutoRama photographs and selected this Custom Hot Rod. I opened with Paint.NET and applied the Ink Sketch feature for the black detail, boosting the color all the way up. I took the Ink down just a tad to show more color.

I saved that iteration and opened with Corel PhotoPaint where I used the plugin KPT Collection's Lens Flare for a blue and red flare. I saved that file and opened with Corel PSP Pro X3.

In PSP I used the Hue and Saturation Vibrancy for some punch to the colors. I applied the Depth of Field to the photograph to focus on the car as much as I could, blurring the background a bit.

I added my signature with the Visible Watermark tool. Then finished the image off with a 25 pixel black border. I saved that iteration as well then resized it for display.

Thus far the weather reports look good for the Dream Cruise Saturday and Sunday this weekend. We hope to be there for capturing some new photographs of great cars.

Listening --- The Beach Boys --- Fun, Fun, Fun

"Blue Custom Convertible" Paint.NET - Plus

Blue Custom Convertible

This years Detroit Woodward Dream Cruise 2012 is coming up this Month, August, so was thinking custom cars. I used Picasa 3.9 to browse my folder from the 2012 AutoRama for an automobile photograph.

I found this Florida Custom Convertible. This beauty is loaded with chrome and a great hood piece. A convertible that many would enjoy owning and cruising with. I opened in Paint.NET and applied the Ink Sketch tool. I kept the color up and only adjusted the Ink a tad. Saving this file I opened with Corel PhotoPaint.

I cropped the photograph and applied KPT Collection's Lens Flare, giving it a gleaming look and feel. I then applied the Tone Curve to add some depth to the colors.

I saved the file and opened with Corel PSP Pro X3. I used the Hue and Saturation tool for Vibrancy adding punch to the colors. I added my signature with Visible watermark and finished off with a 25 pixel black border. I save this iteration and resized for display.

Listening to Peace and Quiet

"Bubble Mobile" 2012 AutoRama - Corel PhotoPaint - Corel PSP Pro X3

Bubble Mobile 2012 AutoRama

A short post today. I elected to create another High Contrast image from a photograph taken at the 2012 AutoRama. I used Corel PhotoPaint to make the image High Contrast. Then I used Corel PSP Pro X3 to apply the Depth of Field tool. I also added my signature and a colorful frame to the image there.

Listening --- Beach Boys --- Fun, Fun, Fun

"Competition - Plymouth" Paint.NET - Corel PhotoPaint - Corel PSP Pro X3

Competition - Plymouth

I have so many of these photographs from the 2012 AutoRama that it is hard to choose from them. Here is one I call, "Competition - Plymouth," because of the sign in the background. It is a Custom Plymouth.

I opened Picasa 3.9 and browsed to my Rust folder to open a texture in Corel PhotoPaint. I selected a close up of the textured rusty, scratched image and copied to the clipboard and made a new background with New from Clipboard. I set that image.

I then browsed to the Plymouth and opened with Paint.NET and used the Artistic; Ink Sketch on it without color, just the ink. I selected all and copied to the clipboard and pasted it into PhotoPaint upon the textured background.

I closed Paint.NET. Then in PhotoPaint I applied the property Color Burn for the ink sketch to allow for transparency. I merged them and saved the first iteration.

I opened that in Corel PSP Pro X3 and used the Fit to Screen for viewing. Then I added my signature using the Visible Watermark and my PNG file.

I applied the Saturation Vibrancy to the image for a little color punch. I added a 25 pixel border then the film like border using Picture Frames and added a second 25 pixel black border. I then added the gold frame.

I saved that large sized piece and resized for display here.

Listening --- Aimee Mann --- Its Not Going to Stop

"Grunge Custom Coupe" Paint.NET - Corel PhotoPaint - Corel PSP Pro X3

Grunge Custom Coupe

This photograph was taken by my Son, Keir M. Gatzka with our Canon Rebel XTi, at the 2012 AutoRama in Detroit, Michigan. I opened with Paint.NET and applied the Ink Sketch tool. I opened with Corel PhotoPaint a Mayang's Texture and cropped it. I copied and pasted the Custom Coupe into PhotoPaint.

I cropped it there and adjusted the Tone Curve for depth and increased the saturation. I used the font type WC Rhesus B Bta for paint splatters. I applied the Effects; Distort; Wet Paint to these and the title for the dripping paint effect. I saved the large file and opened with Corel PSP Pro X3.

There I added Vibrancy to the colors and added my signature using the Visible Watermark. In addition I added a Polaroid type frame and a 25 pixel black border. Then I saved and resized for display.

I recently finished another song that I have placed on My Page at Acoustic Guitar Community entitled "Play This Game." Recorded with my Shure PG58 mic through a Line 6 Toneport UX1 and lead guitar using an "Aerosmith 4" setting in Gearbox software. I used the open source program Audacity to record and mix the vocal and guitar playing then the voice overs and lead guitar. I saved this as an Audacity Project and exported as a MP3 for AGC.

If you want to visit My Page go to my links on the left and go to the Acoustic Guitar Community link. Select the song and have a listen. It was tricky production for me.

Listening --- Kenneth Brodie --- Open Secret

"2012 AutoRama One" High Contrast Photographs - Corel PhotoPaint - Corel PSP Pro X3

Green Custom

Red Blue Custom

Red One Custom

Yellow Custom

My son, Keir M. Gatzka, borrowed my Canon Rebel XTi and went, with my Brother to the 2012 AutoRama in Detroit. It was held at Cobo Hall. He got about 180+ photographs, I selected just four today to do some photo manipulation on them.

I browsed in Picasa 3.9 and opened each with Corel PhotoPaint. I used the Local Equalization on them and then the Tone Curve for depth. I added some lens flares from KPT's Collection, I added my signature there and saved the large files.

These I opened with Corel PSP Pro X3 and added some Image Information, and a black border of 25 pixels each. I resized in PSP for display and uploaded them to gatzkART!. I had cropped only one photograph and lost the EXIF data on it, but the others are intact.


Listening --- Dishwalla --- Counting Blue Cars

A Custom Corvette - A Technicolor Sunset

Another two images to share today. The first is a custom Corvette Wagon at the Woodward Dream Cruise a few years back. And the second a Sunset near some railroad tracks in Waterford, Michigan.

Both of these photographs were film processed scanned in at 300 dpi and resized for display here. On the Corvette I opened the scan in PhotoPaint and used Alien Skins Exposure 3 Trial Color Processing on it. Then I brought it into Paint.NET and applied the Ink Sketch filter, also a painterly filter. Back in PhotoPaint I used KPT Collections LensFlare on the image. I boosted the saturation by fifteen and added a film frame with Filter Forge's Freepack 3.

For the Sunset photo-
graph I used Alien Skins Exposure 3 trial and applied the Technicolor-Vibrant filter which boosted the color dramatically. I did not have to increase the saturation at all for this photograph.

Still in PhotoPaint I applied the film frame to the piece. Then added both a white ten pixel and a black ten pixel border to the framing.

All in all two good images to share with you.

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Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - I Walked Along the Lakes Song
via FoxyTunes

Badcuda - PhotoPaint - Paint.NET

We caught up with this car, driver and passenger after following him for a short while. At first from a distance I thought it was a Charger, but my wife said she thought it was a Barracuda. Now since these cars are among my brother Kent's favorites we followed, trying to keep up until he stopped for gas, only a short way along.

We approached him and got permission to photograph the car. I got a couple of differing angle shots, with this one being my favorite one.

I used Paint.NET's Effects> Ink Sketch> on it with the color turned all the way up and the ink lines down. As it is a black and dark purple car, at twilight I did not want to make the image too dark.

In PhotoPaint I resampled for the web, added Filter Forge's film frame. And I added a KPT's Collection Lens Flare to the image.

I sent all five photographs to my brother along with a couple of new ones of our Grandson. I know he will enjoy them.

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Now playing: BB King - Three O'clock Blues
via FoxyTunes

Rained Out at the Frankenmuth, Michigan Auto Fest 2010

It has been difficult to get good photo-
graphs at this years Custom Car show. Rained out at the Woodward Dream Cruise 2010 and the same happened earlier today at the Frankenmuth, Michigan Auto Fest 2010, rain! We watched as a few die hard car buffs drove by us on Main Street in Frankenmuth, but it was raining too hard to expose my camera without protection of some kind, which I don't have.

This image you see is from the 2009 Woodward Avenue Dream Cruise in Metro Detroit. I used PhotoPaint to crop and adjust the Tone Curve to deepen the image and saved that file. Opening it in Paint.NET I applied the Effects> Artistic> Ink Sketch> for the line work. I used that file in PhotoPaint again and applied a Grunge frame to it from Filter Forge's frames. Then I added the lens flare with KPT's Collection for the flash of brilliant light on the image. I used Filter Forge's frames a second time adding a film frame to the piece. I upped the saturation by 15 to enhance color.

So I have this image for you to enjoy and apologize for no new car photographs from the shows this year. If I had protected equipment that was waterproof and a rain coat we would have gotten some photographs. I imagine it will be sunny and nice tomorrow for the rest of the Auto Fest. Unfortunately I have other plans! The blame goes on the rain.

Woodward Avenue Dream Cruise - Metro Detroit, Michigan

The Annual Woodward Avenue Dream Cruise is on! Every third weekend in August the Dream Cruise is held in Metro Detroit, Michigan. And this year is no exception. The Local News on Channel WXYZ is covering it [click here] as are other Television channels in the area.

The two images I have posted today were done today from Photographs by my brother Kent M. Gatzka at last years (2009) Dream Cruise.

I cropped them in PhotoPaint and saved them opening them in Paint.NET for the Ink Sketch style. Then I reopened them in PhotoPaint and used KPT's Collection Lens Flare to add some sparkle! This year my son and his wife are attending and will get more photographs for me to add to my collection of custom car photographs and share with my brother Kent who can not attend this year.

I am looking forward too using the best of those photographs to manipulate and enhance for your viewing pleasure. It's one of my favorite Digital Visual Art projects, and I like to share them here.

Listening --- Laughing At Me DADGAD --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka

Building an Appetite - Vector Floral - Paint.NET - CorelDRAW

I am currently being featured as a Digital Artist in the August 2010 Issue of Digital Paint Magazine [click here for their Blog and their link to the Free Issue]

Hemi - All Dressed Up - Paint.NET - Photoshop 7 - PhotoPaint

A photograph taken by my brother Kent M. Gatzka at the Franken-
muth Auto Fest is today's first subject.

I cropped this image to focus on the Hemi being displayed. I cloned out a date on the image and two figures at the top of the trunk in PhotoPaint. Saving that file I opened in Paint.NET 2.5.5 version.


Once there I used the Effects> Artistic> Ink Sketch filter with the color turned all the way up, which gave the white car a aqua tint and deepened the shadows. I saved it again and reopened it in PhotoPaint. Here I used the Tone Curves to add depth and increased the saturation by 7. I added a frame using Filter Forge's Freepack - Frames.



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Listening to: After Midnight Cover - Kirk Mathew Gatzka
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Custom Hot Rod Pick up Truck - ArtRage - Lightroom Trial

While I am testing out the Adobe Lightroom 2 Trial version (full version sells for around $299.00) I am trying it on several differing images.

This image was first of all painted in the Free ArtRage with oil brushes. I added back in just enough detail using PhotoPaint to overlay the original photograph with transparency. I added the frame using Filter Forges' Freepack Frames. Then I saved the image.

I opened the piece in Adobe's Lightroom 2 Trial version and adjusted the Tone Curve, Saturation, and gave it some depth increasing the Shadows a bit.

I really like this program and would like to own it, but it doesn't fit the budget for now, maybe somewhat later. I love the way it brings out details and deepens the coloring and effects the lighting. Makes the image really POP!

I don't have the credits for the original photographer, so if you recognize it let me know so I can give full credit to them.

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Listening to: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Mischief Maker Makeshift Taker
via FoxyTunes

Old Ford Sedan - Lightroom 2 Trial

Still trying out my 30 day trial of Adobe's Lightroom 2. I garnered this photograph from FontPlay.com as a freebie. As you can see it is an Old Ford Sedan taken slightly at an angle.

I applied many adjustments including Tone Curve and Shadows and Saturation and tried the Vignette as well. All of this deepened the colors and focused the viewer on the car, getting rid of too much white on the right hand side of the image.

I also saved the file and opened it in PhotoPaint to add a Photo Frame using Filter Forge's Frames. A narrow addition to the photograph.

I am enjoying using Lightroom 2 and will continue to experiment with it's features during the trail period. Buying it is another thing as we had car trouble this month that cost us a pretty penny to get it back on the road. It's always something!

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Listening to: Eric Clapton - White Room
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Milestone 300th Post - 1955-56 Chevy

Three hundredth blog post! It is my pleasure to have been able to have this blog. And I hope you have enjoyed it thus far. I have done my best to provide an interesting and informative narrative, with high quality images.

I plan on continuing to bring you more informative content and images.

Today's image is a 1955-56 Chevy Convertible. I used similar graphic techniques as other recent images. The photograph was taken at the Frankenmuth, Michigan Auto Festival 2009 by Kent M. Gatzka.

I used Paint.NET for the Ink Sketch look and KPT's Collection Lens Flare for the highlighting the gleam of the sunlight. In PhotoPaint I re-sampled the image and added a small black frame. I also used the Tone Curve to give more depth to the colors.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Polly Come Home Cover
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Blast from The Past - Twin Pines Milk Truck

Those of you who grew up in Southeast Michigan may remember this gem from your youth. This "Twin Pines Farms" milk truck reminds me of the days of milk delivery to our home as I grew up. That's when milk came in glass bottles and had cream at the top of the bottle when you opened it.

This photograph was taken by my brother Kent M. Gatzka at the Frankenmuth, Michigan Auto Festival 2009. I opened the photograph in PhotoPaint and heavily cropped it to show the details of this memory. I saved the file and reopened it in Paint.NET to apply the Effects> Artistic> Ink Sketch filter, boosting the color and keeping the ink outlines clear.

Saving that I opened it in PhotoPaint again and using KPT's Collection's Lens Flare I added a yellow-orange lens flare to the image. I used the Adjust> Tone Curve> to bring depth of color to the image which was slightly over exposed due to the bright sunlit day. This placed the emphasis on the focal points of the lens flare across the image and the bright yellow and green's of the truck.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble - Love Struck Baby
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