Buisness poster project

[CanadianRocky]

I am making a poster for my business. It will be something that I will be sending out to 100 or so private and government agencies. Attached is an idea I am working on. The two top and bottom areas are for different text and the tractor/trailer is in the middle. This is a test shot and I would like your input on how to shoot the unit for its best effect.

In our industry, the equipment is a very significant drawing card for customers. I believe a picture of it that best sets it off will do a lot to draw attention to our company.

I need the blue sky above the trees for text. I put in an image of the basic idea of the text when it is added in.

I shot the picture in the morning looking east, so the sun is on the other side of the equipment, I am pretty sure I need to change that to a late afternoon shot. One problem with that is that we usually have a cloud buildup in the afternoon and I would like to keep a clear sky for the text.

The tractor is silver in colour.

I did a bit of work in Photoshop to get rid of some debris that was behind and beside the unit.

Thanks for your input.

[Gregg Jacob]

Like the layout..works for me. Is the truck silver?? Seems like there's alot of refection fron the sky. Just went back and read your post..duh,silver. All the silver and chrome will be hard to keep the sky from reflecting off it. In product work youwant to keep your product true to form, just a thought.
Gregg

[CanadianRocky]

Originally Posted by Gregg Jacob

Like the layout..works for me. Is the truck silver?? Seems like there's alot of refection fron the sky. Just went back and read your post..duh,silver. All the silver and chrome will be hard to keep the sky from reflecting off it. In product work youwant to keep your product true to form, just a thought.
Gregg

Thanks for the input Gregg.

I like the layout also, and it works with the top and bottom text areas of the Poster. to me it pulls the eyes down to the truck and to the right. My biggest issue is the quality of the photo itself. I think I can do better with the light, just not sure the best way to approach it. If I can get the light right, then I can bracket it and try different camera settings. I am thinking same setting, different time of day.

What do you think?

[Gregg Jacob]

If you're goin to shoot in same location get the sun on the left. That way you'll get reflection of the chrome and also try it with a pol.filter with the sun 45deg from the left.
Oh by the way I've in in trucking management for 15yrs, just feel into it.
Gregg

[Nikonfreak]

Nice job! Looks good.

I'm glad it's not rocky mountain oysters.

[CanadianRocky]

Originally Posted by Nikonfreak

Nice job! Looks good.

I'm glad it's not rocky mountain oysters.

Thanks.

And the second comment would require a completely different type of school.

[AG34]

This looks great! Nice work.
That's a fab truck too.
Best Wishes
Al

[CanadianRocky]

Originally Posted by AG34

This looks great! Nice work.
That's a fab truck too.
Best Wishes
Al

Thanks Al, I still have a bit of work to do on the project.

[Songman45]

Originally Posted by Gregg Jacob

If you're goin to shoot in same location get the sun on the left. That way you'll get reflection of the chrome and also try it with a pol.filter with the sun 45deg from the left.

I agree with the sun position. Here you are shooting into a shadow side. Effectively you have a brighter background than subject. It may seem like a very old school, out of date notion but try putting the sun more to your back so its lighting the facing side of your subject. You will also be elliminating leading with a shadow.

Nice layout. I like the notion of the text bars above and below. I also like the front-to-rear of the truck being opposite of the left-to-right direction we read in. This makes the eye "Z" across the poster as a whole and gets some attention back to the big truck.

Steve

[CanadianRocky]

Originally Posted by Songman45

I agree with the sun position. Here you are shooting into a shadow side. Effectively you have a brighter background than subject. It may seem like a very old school, out of date notion but try putting the sun more to your back so its lighting the facing side of your subject. You will also be elliminating leading with a shadow.

Nice layout. I like the notion of the text bars above and below. I also like the front-to-rear of the truck being opposite of the left-to-right direction we read in. This makes the eye "Z" across the poster as a whole and gets some attention back to the big truck.

Steve

Thanks Steve,

One of the objects of the text bars was darker ones at the top and bottom and lighter ones closer to the truck which would draw the eye to the truck. The front to rear Z thingy was just luck with no planning on my part.

In the commercial driver training business, the truck is everything when it comes to image and advertising, not the training. ( of course it doesn't hurt to have a good reputation either)

You would think it would be the training, but the most visible thing we have is the equipment.

Once the students start training, they understand that the truck is nothing and the training is everything. If you are taught correctly, no matter what truck you train in, you can drive anything.

But I got to get them in the front door and get their money or I am just a guy with a truck and trailer and not a driving school.

I am going to re-shoot this in a couple of weeks with the suggestions I am getting above.

Rocky

[fossil fox]

Very nice poster. Great layout.

[J.C.]

looks real cool

[Nu2this]

I also like the angle of the truck, plus the fact that the enitre truck is in front of the darker trees, that helps separate your truck. When you re-shoot try to keep that same angle, and try shots at 30 minute intervals if you possibly can. That will help give you several sun angles to choose from for the best color rendition of the truck. Good luck.

[Rense]

maybe nitpicking, but why is air-brakes in the list of courses? If it needs to be there, you should place it above Safety courses.
If the truck is silvergrey, shouldn't be the image like:

[Joves]

Hell I like it and, I already have a CDL though. But a question. If I wanted just enough time to upgrade my CDL from a B to an A class, do you have programs for that? It seems most here in the US want you to go through their whole programs to do that which is stupid to me. When all an experienced driver needs is some practice with trailers and, windsheild time with an instructor. I have been driving for 10 years and, vehicles that weigh up to 120,000lbs.

[CanadianRocky]

Originally Posted by Rense

maybe nitpicking, but why is air-brakes in the list of courses? If it needs to be there, you should place it above Safety courses.
If the truck is silvergrey, shouldn't be the image like:

In British Columbia, our Commercial drivers licenses have a separate endorsement for Air Brakes. Class one (tractor/trailer) and Class three (tandem axle trucks) all have air brakes, but Class five (single axel trucks) can have either air or hydraulic brakes.

We offer the air brakes course to our students and to others who need it. We have to offer it every month for the students in our school that need it for their license as it must be completed before they can take their road test. With the courses we offer under contract to community colleges in other cities we do between 15 and 20 air brake courses a year. Each course takes 20 hours over three days.

We use Air Brakes as a selling tool for our big courses, so it is a very important part of our marketing, even though it is not a big money maker. I am happy to just break even with it most times. It is like milk at the grocery store, no one makes money on it, but you have to offer it to be in business.

That is is why it is placed high in the list.

The tractor is actually mostly silver. I sampled the tractor to get the lighter band of color for the text area. I am still not satisfied with the image and I am going to reshoot it.

[CanadianRocky]

Originally Posted by Joves

Hell I like it and, I already have a CDL though. But a question. If I wanted just enough time to upgrade my CDL from a B to an A class, do you have programs for that? It seems most here in the US want you to go through their whole programs to do that which is stupid to me. When all an experienced driver needs is some practice with trailers and, windsheild time with an instructor. I have been driving for 10 years and, vehicles that weigh up to 120,000lbs.

We offer what is called a 3 to 1 upgrade. It assumes that a person knows how to shift (using a double clutch action) a non-synchronized transmission.

It takes 22 hours to get ready for a road test which lasts 2 hours if the driver has no less than a few months of driving time. If we have to teach them to shift, it takes longer. Our regular class 1 is 48 hours of training, and our Class 1 with advanced mountain training is 72. Those are in-vehicle hours, add 40 hours for air brakes and other classroom courses.

[JDArt]

I think you did a terrific job on that poster. I like it quite a lot.

[Joves]

Thanx I was just curious if it was a problem with the US schools. We only have the Class A&B for OTR driving and, alot of endorsements for, multiples, tankers, Hazmat ect.
Well you could try to set up a refector to lighten up the darkside and a polarizer to kill the brightness on the roof. That is about all I can think of to improve it.

[Brooks]

Rocky,

This might be nitpicking but, if you're going to re-shoot anyway, why not put a driver in the truck. You are teaching driving, not parking.

I'd be inclined to find a scenic, curvy road in the mountains and photograph the truck with a long lens as it comes around the corner. Or even a wide angle lens from close to the ground looking up as the truck rolled past. With a little location scouting you should be able to find a fantastic, scenic stretch of road where you're located and that would be more interesting than a parking lot shot. Sometimes you have to put the viewer in the photo by showing the product in action.