The Cal-look Lounge

how come one of the best cover shots were blurry? was it just simply a mistake that was to late for a fix? always bugged me and always wanted to know

Joe Rusz' image isn't the least-bit blurry. It's a multiple exposure to make the image appear more dynamic. The blobs in the foreground are the tree lights. They and the background are blown out because he was using a really short depth of field to isolate the car.

Technology makes us take graphic effects for granted but that was a really out-there shot 42 years ago. 

What you are seeing is a creative use of "depth of field", forcing your eye to go to the sharp object in the photo. This was his desired effect as it would be more than possible even back then, to make both the car and the christmas tree lights all in focus. By selecting a different f stop, and/or lens, you can achieve both in sharp focus. Joe knew exactly what he was doing!

Hmm that's cool! I'm clearly not a camera guy and would have never thought it was a trick!

for peoples who never seen that cover  ;)

....I always assumed it was a double exposure mistake.
I prefer the sharper image myself.

By using a telephoto lens (300mm perhaps?), and focusing in on Deano, the christmas tree is way to close to the camera to be in focus, thus, is appears to be blurry and out of focus.

I own that issue and like the cover shot, it's much more dynamic than the "normal" version picture Gibber posted.

The green blob in the lower right is scary, I thought I was having some sort of flashback from days gone by.   :o

Oh, and by the way, Deano is heading the wrong way on the OCIR track... shades of Roger Crawford and the orange smoke.

i wanted to ask where it was , but with the "bridge" in the background ,  i was thinking about ocir in wrong way  , my thoughts were right  ;)

No, it is/was the Freeway overpass for the 5 northbound.... So, you are looking down the track towards the finish line and beyond.

To add to what Dean wrote, if you look at the tree lights you can see that Joe used a larger aperture on the cover image than he used on the non-cover image. Larger apertures reduce the depth of field (the distance that remains in focus) and vise-versa. I'm guessing he used about F8 to F11 on the non-cover shot and maybe F4 or even F2 on the cover shot. And bein' an old-school shooter I bet he wrote it down.  ;)

Camera geeks nowadays use the Japanese term bokeh to describe the blur that develops in areas that are beyond the DOF. The bokeh on those tree lights is great. I'd like to see the full image. I like the cover shot better than the straight one too. I've seen a bug a million times. I don't need to know precisely how that one looks. To use the quote, whaddaya want, good grammar or good taste?

Joe indeed knew exactly what he was doing. He did a LOT of sporty-car stuff and last I saw still works for Road & Track (probably others). Capable writer too.




 

I believe Joe is the original owner of a 67 911S, also