What is this site about? Art Mechanica centers on creating original fine artwork and photographic images of select American and European vehicles. These images reveal the best-executed areas of automobiles and other vehicles in such a way as to convey their excellence in form, color, and visual power - qualities that the vehicle itself still contains.
Are the artworks printed copies of paintings, or what? These are digitally-created works, meaning that the final image exists only in electronic form, ready to print on paper or canvas. They are not scans of paintings or sketches, reproduced on paper. In that sense, Art Mechanica artwork is not a copy or reproduction of some other form of traditional-media work. They are the original work in first-generation print form.
You took pictures of my car when it was at an event. Can I see what you got? Sure, but keep in mind that only a small percentage of my images turn out to be "keepers" in an artsy-fartsy sense, so don't be disappointed if you do not see your car's photo posted here. I obviously felt that your vehicle was worth photographing, but my effort to capture it may not have resulted in what I had hoped. These are where-is, as-is photos, after all. Light is everything. It's also a matter of time constraints - too many images, too little time. You may feel otherwise about the image(s), however. Just contact me. I'll see if I can locate the shots of your vehicle and place them where you can view them.
How is the artwork made? My medium usually begins with a digital image or camera film scanned to become a digital image. When photographs are used as the basis for my artwork, they are transformed in software and/or created manually using a big 12"x12" SummaSketch Plus drawing tablet. The end result is an original 100% digital work, which is then biased for final display on premium quality commercial-grade paper or canvas media.
Are the photographs "real", or as originally shot? Yes and no. Even the simple transfer from film to digital file distorts such things as color balance and brightness, so these must be corrected to give a pleasing appearance. I use high contrast, vivid color film, and it is not unusual for me to dampen or enhance those effects. Most vehicles are not staged - they are shot "where-is, as-is" and require selective editing to remove extraneous visual distractions. In all cases I adjust the image as needed to reflect precisely what I want to express with it as an artistic statement. That is the key goal. This may also involve deliberately leaving in elements that would usually be airbrushed out if the goal was to present the vehicle as perfect - or in other words as it doesn't exist and never did. If rain streaks or rusty tailpipes add to the visual expression, they stay. I find that perfection is usually boring. However, no Art Mechanica photographs are ever composites - creations that graft in new backgrounds or other elements to form a hybrid image.
What camera equipment do you use? When I began Art Mechanica in 2004, I had a wide-open choice about what device/media to use. I use digital, 35mm film, and 6x7cm medium format film concurrently today. I'm of the opinion that you can get impressive images from nearly any equipment. The potential "best results" always come from my medium format camera, however. That's because the Mamiya RZ67 is a professional-level camera with superb lenses (normally used in fashion photography studios), and its 6x7cm film slides contain far more information than any other medium. So they also contain more detail and flexibility in how they can be used later. That hardware has innate usage limitations though, so it sometimes makes more sense to switch to another camera type and not miss the shot completely. Digital is quick and easy to process, and will one day compare to 6x7 medium format film, but I'm shooting automobiles right now, not someday. More detail on this is at the bottom of the page. Who takes the photographs and makes the artwork shown on the Art Mechanica website? Just one guy - Doug Begley. See my bio for additional information.
Are Art Mechanica images endorsed by or somehow affiliated with each vehicle's manufacturer? No, they are not. Unlike logo-carrying key fobs, T-shirts, or baseball caps, Art Mechanica prints carry no added manufacturer brand, model identification or logos. I do not want you to be confused or deceived into thinking that any Art Mechanica image you see is somehow produced or endorsed by the manufacturer of the particular vehicle in the image. These are privately owned vehicles. Trademarked brands and model names are used only on the website as a guide to help you locate and identify images that you may enjoy. Virtually all vehicles shown are no longer in their originally manufactured state; they have been altered, reconditioned, or modified in some way by their owners. Every Art Mechanica production image is a "found object" creatively photographed. Art Mechanica images are not a manufacturer-produced, sponsored, licensed or endorsed products. Art Mechanica is a non-commercial art and photography studio, and does not compete with manufacturers or trademark owners. These images are not offered for sale, therefore there is no conflict.
I saw you at an event, and was curious what you were seeing in the viewfinder, but I didn't think I should bother you... Oh go ahead, bother me. When I'm setting up a shot with the camera on a tripod, it's not unusual to be asked to have a peek. I may or may not be happy with the setup so far, but you're always welcome to have a look. Since I may be concentrating on photographing, it might appear to be a bad time to interrupt. But despite appearances, it probably isn't. The brief break away from the viewfinder may be just what I need to be able to return for a fresh, more objective look. Give me an excuse to step away for a minute.
Can I produce the same images and get good prints with my own camera?
Yes, if you know the technicals of how to get the shot you want to see, and your camera allows such adjustment. Even if not, beautiful images can come from any camera, film or digital, old or new. You don't need a big fancy camera to produce fine art photography. Try to get the sun on the area you're shooting, rather than shooting the shaded side. Most pocket digitals and even consumer-level DSLRs will fight you tooth-and-nail to prevent you from controlling what is in or out of focus, however. They are built to record what is in front of the lens with everything in sharp focus, with the result being technically perfect but unexpressive images. They are oriented for vacation and people snapshots, and there's nothing wrong with that per se.
But automotive shots are often a different animal, and your equipment's potential can become critical whenever you want to get expressive and/or maintain visual impact and detail, especially in larger print sizes. 35mm film and digital are now roughly equivalent, allowing print sizes up to 18" with many images. Forget the gigantic demo shots supplied by camera manufacturers for a moment. Those subjects have been carefully chosen, and the images intensively reworked in software and printed at resolutions lower than standard. If your goal is to capture some automotive images and make some big, visually strong prints without spending long hours facing a computer screen, your camera's potential can make all the difference.
Ever notice the huge print size claims advertised for today's digital cameras? That's because they compromise on resolution and use a "it's good enough for who it's for" outlook. But forget about prints for the moment, and fudged numbers. What does each type of camera give you for innate image size as measured in pixels? More pixels results in finer detail and less pixellation (rough edges) in images. A pixel comparison is fairly close to an "apples to apples" comparison. The Megapixel rating (MP) of digitals is simply the result of multiplying the height times width of the largest possible image that the camera can produce. For example, a 1200x1600 pixel image results in a 1.92 MP image. Naturally, film can't be measured in pixels until it's scanned, and the scanner determines just how large that scan can be. Art Mechanica's 4,000 DPI is considered a practical limit: beyond that, scans can begin to reveal even the best film's grain. Second, each camera type has a certain aperture or lens opening which gives sharpest results at the center. Straying much from this optimum setting rapidly affects sharpness. This is why two shots taken with different apertures may result in two very different acceptable print sizes.
Let's look at what we have to work with from each camera type:
Typical high-end digital
A modern high-end digital SLR camera like the Nikon D200 is advertised at 10.2 Megapixels. That's big, probably twice the rating of your pocket camera. It can actually produce a 3872x2592 image. Multiplied together, that's 10,036,224 pixels or 10MP. Basically, 10MP is the amount of visual information you have to work with. Print it at 300 DPI on your printer, and you'd get a 8.64" x 12.9" print. Not bad! Like any other image, you can print larger - by sacrificing sharpness and color intensity. That's how digital manufacturers get their huge advertised print sizes, and there is no objective guide for their numbers. At some point, the colors fade and the image begins to look pixelated (rough). Digitals also have problems with highlights on paint and chrome which make them unsuitable for fine art automotive work. There are ways around these problems, but the workarounds complicate the process and compromise the image's integrity. On the good side, digital images usually have good edges or visual detail for their size. That detail will vary with subject, lens settings, and lens quality as well as in-camera sharpening that occurs automatically, but better digital cameras are considered to approach 35mm film in capturing detail despite the lower pixel count.
35mm Film
Art Mechanica's pro-level scanner allows 35mm film to natively create a 6920x4696 scan, which translates to a 32.4MP image. Printed at 300 DPI, that results in a 15.65" x 23.1" print. Now I'm not going to claim that all 35mm shots can reach that. 8" x 12" is considered a very reliablelimit. Based on subject, lens settings, and lens quality, 14" x 18" is common too. Like digital though, you're shooting through a small lens with 35mm, and lens quality and settings become very important. When enlarging, rough or pixellated edges are not a particular problem with 35mm film. Instead, the edges simply get softer until they look unacceptibly fuzzy for the print size when viewed closely. Many landscape photographers derisively refer to 35mm film as an "amateur format" because it began life as a low-cost alternative for hobbyists' use, and it pales in detail capability compared to medium and especially large format films. But for automotive photography, it's fine. Not too many people care to lug anything bigger than a 35mm camera or DSLR across acres of cars in humid 95-degree heat.
6x7cm medium format film
The medium format Mamiya's 6x7cm color slide natively creates a 12936x10452 scan, or 135,207,072 pixels, or 135.2MP. "Holy mackerel!", you say? Printed at 300 DPI, that's a 43.1" x 34.8" print! Mamiya's big lenses are considered at the top of the heap, so lens quality is not an issue here. Now, 24" x 30" prints are considered the reliable standard by some, but given an optimum lens aperture, 30" x 40" is usually fine, in my experience. This 135MP rating gives me the freedom to use one small detail area of the original scan and still get a sharp, intense image at larger print sizes. Optimum flexibility. Like 35mm film, edges don't pixellate on enlargements, either. Frankly, I have no idea what the real enlargement limit is for 6x7cm, since truly gigantic prints force you to back away from the print to see it, which in turn lowers print resolution requirements. Billboards become easy work. You won't see any difference in small prints up to 8x10, though. Snapshot usage for 6x7cm is like using a bazooka on a squirrel hunt - it's just excess capability.
Comparative Physical Film Sizes
35mm film
6x7cm film
Quite a difference! But note that both film sizes (and digital) will look identical in small print sizes. The 6x7's extra capabilities come out in medium and large prints, where the extra sharpness and color intensity can be put to work. In other words, once digital and 35mm images begin to fade and blur, medium format 6x7cm is just beginning to hit its stride. I use digital and 35mm for informal shots at car shows and for later reference in creating artwork. When I want to capture rare opportunities, or those that would make a glorious framed print suitable for hanging in a study or office, I use medium format film. It's hard to convey the visual impact that large automotive prints have when treated seriously. You almost have to see one first, because everything always looks sharp on a crippled 72DPI computer monitor. Once you see big, sharp, vivid prints, posters just don't cut it anymore. It's like listening to someone else's high-end stereo - suddenly you can notice the shortcomings in your own player at home.
All trademarks revealed or depicted in Art Mechanica images, and all brand names used to identify vehicles depicted are the property of their respective owners. Art Mechanica and its images are nor affiliated with nor endorsed by any vehicle manufacturer.
All images and content in this website are copyrighted by Art Mechanica and may not be used without written permission. Certain stories as noted are also licensed under the Creative Commons License, and are restricted to unmodified non-commercial use with attribution to Art Mechanica.
