There is a lot of old farm implements and old cars strewn around. Many historical parks would love for you to visit. These old, rusted, and broken items present a shooting opportunity. They make for some interesting viewing. Sometimes they can be part of a landscape or wider view. Other times the surroundings do not lend themselves to wider scenes. Both tight and wide shots work really well with these objects. Here are some examples:

Old vintage truck

Locked Chain, Hollister, California

Rust and texture are important parts of these images. Make sure to bring these elements out in your post processing. You can do that by warming up your image (increase your color temperature). The Nik filters (I have a blog on them) also have a preset to bring out texture. Side lighting also helps to show texture. In the shot above I used my trusted little black blanket as a backdrop. Spraying these items with water also helps to saturate the color a bit. As you can see from the shot above; you don't need much to make a shot.

          Remember the look room concept in composition. There always needs to be more space in front than behind things that move or when there is implied motion. I have broken that rule in the top shot because the eye does go back and up to the steering wheel and door. However, here is a shot where you can see the principle of look room:

Old Timer's Eye

The light needs room to shine into. Your eye wants to have room to see where the light will be pointing.  Make sure to have a strong center point of interest. You can create that by introducing anything that is different in your scene, by only have your center point of interest in focus, by choosing a bright object, and by placing things on lines of thirds (see my blog on composition).

          The nice thing about these objects is that they do not move. They are all over the country. They are easy to shoot, yet can be very interesting to look at. How about shooting some old objects from yesteryear?