Pinewood Derby car shaped like an acoustic guitar

Pinewood Derby Guitar Car

This is a bit of a vanity post. This Pinewood Derby car is a car I built for a “Dad’s Category” in a Pinewood Derby race that my kids also raced in several years ago. I thought it was pretty innovative, though I have seen many “guitar cars” since then. However, I have mostly seen electric guitars, if I may say so. I chose the shape because the low, flat cars often have better performance in Pinewood Derbys. Of course, I like acoustic guitars, too. It did pretty well, both on the track and in feedback on the design. Since then, I’ve built many a car with my kids (no more “Dad’s Category” in our current cub scout pack), but none have approached the success of this one.

I really did not photograph this to toot my own Pinewood Derby horn, as it were, though I have enjoyed the chance to reminisce for you. I really was just searching for a subject for my One Picture a Day project. My goal here was to create a flattering studio shot. I got out the Merax One Shot Photo Studio once again. I have to say, I am really liking this Merax studio for the ease with which I can set it up and tear it down. I had my kitchen table studio up and running in minutes. The biggest challenge was that the Guitar Car has gotten a bit dusty since its glory days.

I used my handy Nikon 18-55mm VR kit lens again, as well. I was able to fill the frame on full 18mm wide angle, and still focus on this 7″ car. I don’t have any particular reason for going full wide, except I wanted to see what would happen. I did run the photograph through PTLens to correct some barrel distortion. Other than that, it was the usual Aperture post processing. I had to play with white point a little bit, because the white of the backdrop tended to render in camera more yellow than I wanted. The camera itself is on auto white point. I suppose I could adjust that in camera. But, lately I have been shooting raw so that can be readily adjusted in post-processing if desired.