Summer Days

Tony Yang August 25, 2015 0 Comments Automotive, Photography

One of the best days this summer was going on a top-down spirited drive on windy mountain roads in perfect weather with your buddies, enjoying multiple scenic and food stops along the way. Imagine your own Top Gear challenge not without the close calls with police that usually comes with a car chase as you can see in the video screenshot below. The photos taken are one of my favorites with just the right lighting, ND filters on an Olympus OMD E-M1 camera at low shutter speeds and a steady hand.

Our destination was Perkins Memorial Observatory in Bear Mountain, followed by a hearty brunch at Billy Joe’s Ribworks. Our mid-day dessert for some extra driving boost was amazing pie from my favorite place, Pie Lady & Son. That was only our first half of the day, as we later carpooled to Brooklyn for the evening to enjoy the amazing weather.

Nothing puts a smile on my face like the freedom of being on the road with good music, good company, and speed! Like I always said, who else can buy bliss at $2.22 per gallon?

Ferrari 458

Tony Yang August 17, 2015 1 Comment Automotive, Photography

It was a beautiful Saturday morning driving in various formations with Greg in a Ferrari 458 with my BMW Z4 M Roadster as the chase camera car. Maintained speed, a steady hand, and low shutter speed makes for some great car photography that helps make the car pop, but a little extra filter and editing makes it polished. I just wish we could close down the entire highway for my own photo projects.

Skye Under the Sky

Tony Yang July 8, 2015 3 Comments Automotive, Photography

The unusual east coast weather this summer has caused some amazing skies lately. I took the opportunity to snap a few photos with my Olympus OMD E-M1 with ND filters, and did some post processing through Lightroom 5, then Photoshop CS6. Shooting in RAW helped enhance the shadow details from the car, and highlight details from the sky. It’s always safer to shoot a slightly darker exposure since you can always retrieve more shadow detail than you can from blown highlights.

It’s normal to get all kinds of ambient color reflections from the environment onto the car, so I desaturated the car and pavement to a neutral gray (don’t forget to keep the turn signal colors intact), but left the windows slightly tinted from the sky. The final steps included sharpening, more Shadow/Highlights to bring out some more details, and final highlight dodging of the car to make it pop.

Focus Stacking Tutorial

Tony Yang May 21, 2015 0 Comments Automotive, Photography

Most of us love the 3D pop effect of a shallow depth of field photo. It’s practically impossible to get these effects with a phone camera, so it’s crucial to use a DSLR or a higher end compact camera to achieve these effects. Even with a prime lens at the widest for the best bokeh, it means you may not get the entire subject from front to back in focus either. Focus stacking technique lets you keep the beautiful bokeh background while having full control of what objects to keep in focus.

Meet Skye and her 1,700 Mile Review

Tony Yang March 17, 2015 12 Comments Automotive

Just over two weeks and 1,700 miles with my new ride, I couldn’t be happier with my new investment. Here is a personal review of what I love about waiting a decade to upgrade a daily driver.

MORR VS52 Competition Wheels

Tony Yang October 31, 2014 0 Comments Automotive

I got beautiful new shoes for Mila. 19 inch MORR VS52 Competition wheels, powder coated in Bronze Chrome. The amazing work was done by The Alloy Artists.

Breaking Expectations

Tony Yang September 29, 2014 1 Comment Automotive

I am proud to show off one of my pride and joys in life, my 2005 BMW 330xi that has just hit 200,000 miles this weekend. This was my first purchased car when I was 23, a proud moment in my life – a new premium luxury car with my own hard earned money only a year after graduating from college. It was a status symbol, but by no means the main reason why I have such passion and pleasure for driving, it’s just in my soul. I admit I wasn’t nearly as knowledgeable about cars back then as I am now, thanks to the fact that German performance cars are high maintenance, I almost feel like a mechanic.

Classic Meets Modern

Tony Yang September 30, 2013 0 Comments Automotive

I bet you can guess which part is the classic, and which part is the modern part of this series. I took a weekend road trip with a beautiful classy dame, in my modern sexy red roadster, both dolled up in a lustful red. Yes, we really did use the map during our trip when reception was unavailable, so don’t take map reading skills for granted. What better way to end the night than with a kiss?

Top Drives Around the World

Tony Yang September 6, 2013 0 Comments Automotive, Vacation

My best vacations require a long scenic drive, whether my own car or a rental car (manual preferred), with lots of random side stops along the undetermined route to explore deeper and get a more authentic experience of the town, state, or country. It’s important to try the local roads over the highways, because you’ll just miss all the architecture, local shops, food and people. The trick is not to have a set itinerary, be flexible with your time and what activities you want to do, this will open up plenty of options when you discover them on the road, with no time restrictions.

What makes a great drive? I am always looking for well paved roads that have a lot of twists and bends with elevation changes, either along the coast line, a cliff, or a mountain side. Being able to scale a mountain and look down 3,000 feet is awe inspiring, while driving along a cliff knowing if you don’t pay attention, you could easily be at the bottom of the cliff in a mangled wreckage, will keep your heart at a high pace. The speed of the drive is relative to the contours of the landscape. It’s more fun to take a slower car and pushing it to the limit, than having to take a fast sports car and idling around a bend. If you really want to experience full control, either drive your own manual car or rent a manual car outside the States.

I will try my best to describe my top favorite drives around the world in order starting from the best. I will be available for hire as an international driver if anyone is interested!

El Bob Races in Germany

Tony Yang January 15, 2013 2 Comments Automotive, El Bob

El Bob had the privilege to take the journey of every car enthusiast’s dream and step hooves on the motherland of German cars sacred ground of the Nordschleife. His first stop was Munich to enjoy a few days of Oktoberfest which was overhwhelmed by an insane number of drunken Germans. After a tour around the city including BMW World, El Bob took a 5 hour drive on the infamous Autobahn to Nurburg to get a taste of the Nurburgring. It was heaven. El Bob thinks this is one of the best trips he’s ever taken, and would surely like to visit the Ring again.

El Bob thinks Germany looks just like Switzerland.