Saturday, April 23, 2011

Fiat Abarth 1000 in action

I'm starting to get the hang of working in Photoshop to create dioramas of my models. Here's my latest attempt at a diorama using Photoshop. It's a Fiat Abarth 1000 in action.

The model itself is a Brumm 1:43 of the Fiat Abarth 1000 which Gustav Edelhof drove to a
class win at the 1967 Nurburgring 1000. It really looks like it means business!
The basics of creating an 'action' shot with a blurred background are as simple as finding an existing action shot with a blurred background, and replacing the original car with a photo of my model. My first action shot of the Peugeot 403 at Phillip Island is still the one I like the most, as the background is accurate – it is Phillip Island – and much more atmospheric, with the tell-tale whitecaps of Bass Strait in the background telling you immediately where you are. I don't have a clue where my little Abarth is hurtling around.

However, this little action dio has a 'first' to its name. I've just figured out how to blur the wheels in Photoshop, to enhance the action feeling. I only started on using Photoshop last December, and the learning curve since then has been both interesting, sometimes exciting, and always steep.

I won't pretend that I know a lot about all the Abarths, beyond saying Carlo Abarth is to Italian tuning as Amedee Gordini is to French tuning, and both gentlemen are legends. I have half a dozen Gordinis in my diecast cabinets so far, I'm catching up with four Abarths now, and so the race is on!


2 comments:

  1. I just watched a video of Philip Island (I learned about it from Bolly Blog). Is that a storied track in Australia? I'm totally, well 99%, ignorant of Australian motorsports.

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  2. The Phillip Island circuit has a strange history of decay and revival. The circuit was built by a consortium of businessmen in the 1950s, and it was where the original Armstrong 500 long distance sedan races were held 1960-62. These races then transferred to Bathurst to become the famous Bathurst 1000. The last Armstrong 500 race caused a lot of wear and tear on the track, breaking it up in places, and it was too expensive to maintain. It fell into disrepair and only was revived in the 1980s, as a track for motorcycle GPs. If Wayne Gardener wasn't such a local hero in bike GPs then, I doubt whether the funding to revive the track could have been raisedat the time. Fortunately it was, and since then Phillip Island has become the Australian bike GP circuit, but it stages a lot of other car and bike events during the year. Many Aussies will tell you that it's our best track, in terms of layout, but of course Bathurst's Mt Panorama circuit is still the best known Australian track in the world, and always will be.

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