"It's got good lines"
The Lot La Jolla / Cars and Coffee
Like most art forms photography has a certain science to it. The main ingredient in this recipe is F-stops, aperture, and shutter speed. You then have to take into consideration intersecting lines, composition and how they work together. What sets a good photo apart from a great one is how these pieces tip the scale. Automotive design is a lot like that. Most mid size family cars have the same formula but work out in very diverse ways. Change a few lines on a Ford Fusion and you get a Lincoln MKZ.
Tomei USA Boss Rocket Bunny Nissan S14 / 2016 NissFest
Even after a car has rolled out on to the show room floor, it's design isn't finished. The manufacturer has really only released a raw file that tuners and builders plan to drag into Photoshop to make their own improvements. White balance off? No problem, fix it in post. You want your car to sit lower but you still need to clear speed bumps? No worries, add air suspension. Not everything can be fixed in post though. A Pontiac Aztek will forever be a Pontiac Aztek.
1969 Chevrolet Impala / Pimpala
Some cars may not find their calling until many years later. Chevy's Impala was advertised as a muscle car/cruiser, the gentleman's hotrod. It's legacy is that of the poster child for what a low low is. The impala is to lowriders what the Civic is to the import scene. The civic was birth to be a gas friendly commuter car but the B series motor changed all of that. The aftermarket embraced these cars so much that they influenced future design.
1989 Nissan Skyline GT-R / Godzilla
Nissan's '89 Skyline made 276hp from the factory. Then the aftermarket churned out 500hp from the same power plant. Today the Nissan GT-R produces 600hp. The aftermarket finds double that. In the next ten years what will nissan's RAW file GT-R look like?
Nissan GT-R Autoclub Speedway
I feel like my photography has evolved in the same way. I'm always shooting to out do the last edited images I've made. I rarely go back and look at my RAW images. A few years ago I joined the cult of Fujifilm and it has only made me switch to the dark side of the JPEG. I now only shoot RAW on paid assignments and even then I +JPEG. This method has allowed me to focus more on the scale of the nice lines and composition.
1974 240z Autoclub Speedway.