People find many ways to express their personality, whether it is through sports, music, art, or another outlet. In any case the creative nature that we have comes to the surface once we have the tools and developed ability to accomplish this. One area that has continued to grow as a result of technological advancement is with computer enhanced graphics. Faster home computers coupled with programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator have taken the high end graphics work once limited to corporations to smaller businesses. The most basic photo manipulation is to correct flaws in the picture, which can be expanded to the more advanced creation of fantasy scenes, such as overlaying multiple images and the addition of special effects.

These changes have enabled businesses to start in the areas of custom portrait and pet photography, to wildlife and even automotive areas. For those of you who are familiar with the classic and collector automotive areas, this level of photography is a natural fit. I have traveled to many car show events over the past 20 years, learning a lot about how car owners add that personal touch to their car. As with an artist holding a paint brush, these owners look at their vehicles as the canvas, and leaving nothing overlooked. Attention is taken by these owners to ensure that there is a blinding shine on the chrome and paint, and every component, even the underside is perfect. As with the painter, they are expressing their personality and creativity.

For the serious owner, most have a theme garage or office with pictures and posters of their car and similar cars. Often these pictures were done in the traditional style of "point-shoot-develop-print-frame". The custom graphics companies that specialize in the automotive industry have now taken the "develop" stage to the next level with custom image enhancements. These enhancements could be as simple as a picture of your car overlaid on the engine compartment, or a key element such as the gas cap of that Mustang GT. By combining this level of graphics, a plain photograph is transformed from just a photograph to an expression of personality.

These are the few examples that i have shown, but you can get great ideas by visiting some of the automotive stores.