Kirsti Näntö-Salonen  


Ghost Truck by Kirsti Näntö-Salonen

February 2025 - Ghost Truck

February 2025 - Kirsti Näntö-Salonen

Original

About the Image(s)

This is one of my crazier experiments. One evening, I came across a solitary truck that was in park in the empty yard in an industrial area, with a background of fir trees and pines and a lonely star in the dark sky. Some light was coming from the surrounding buildings. It came to my mind to see if I could achieve a motion effect by zooming to the truck during the long exposure. I set the camera on tripod in a low angle in front of the truck, focused on the bumper, and turned the 18-300 mm zoom maybe half the way during the 2 s exposure. Fuji X-T4 , f/7.1, 18-150 (?) mm, 2 s, ISO 160. I thought that the reflections and lens flares created rather interesting effects. I turned the image into BW and used the NIK Silver Efex Low Key 1 preset as a starting point to make the most of the surreal mood. What do you think? Any ideas for improvements?


3 comments posted




Barbara Gore   Barbara Gore
Hi Kirsti. I like your crazy experiments! Turning the zoom ring during exposure has some wonderful creative effects. Your idea of using the Mack truck as the subject and creating a ghostly effect is very cool. The trees exhibit a nice ghosting effect, and the white fog-like light compliments the truck. Additionally, the front grill of the truck has good texture. Some potential adjustments to consider include removing the very bright heptagon-shaped flare as it tends to draw my attention away from the rest of the image. Compositionally, the dark negative space on the left side of the frame seems to overwhelm the subject for me - possibly consider a square crop to place more emphasis on the subject. Also, consider enhancing the midtones of the truck as it could help to create more separation from the background.   Posted: 02/05/2025 14:16:02



Kirsti Näntö-Salonen   Kirsti Näntö-Salonen
Thank you, Barbara, very good ideas! I'll try all of them out. - I quite like the darkness in the left side myself, as something mysterious for the truck to move in. Also, I got so fond of those narrow oblique stripes that come from the fence in the darkness that I just could not let them go, and then there is the tiny star above the forest in the left upper corner, too…   Posted: 02/05/2025 17:53:47
Barbara Gore   Barbara Gore
I fully understand a connection to those elements! Most importantly your vision and artistic choices reflect your perspective and that matters most when creating a photograph.   Posted: 02/05/2025 21:18:16



 

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