Autogeek Portfolio: Cars I've worked on since coming to Autogeek
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It's been 3 1/2 years since I ...
It's been 3 1/2 years since I left Meguiar's to move to Florida and work for Max here at Autogeek and in this short time a lot of cool cars have been in and out of Autogeek's garage. Some of these I've buffed out by myself but many I've invited others to join in and help out to share the fun...
In no particular order, just as I search and snag pictures...
Framing the shot, I had Chris drive around the parking lot till I could get a shot of the sun reflecting off the hood.
You can see the tale-tale signs of light swirls and scratches in the paint...
Next we tried using the Brinkmann Swirl Finder Light and the overhead florescent lights but again, we could see the light swirls in the paint but it was difficult to capture them on camera.
Here's Chris, using the Brinkmann Swirl Finder Light to inspect the finish on his car while Steve, the owner of the 1969 Camaro Pace Car looks for swirls too...
There are actually more swirls throughout the finish plus a few RIDS here and there but this is the best I could capture with my trusty, dusty Canon Rebel...
Inspecting the paint
After wiping the exterior down using Detailer's Pro Series Waterless Wash it was time to inspect the paint for swirls using artificial lights...
Before
Before we moved the Fiat into the studio I took a few shots of the paint outside in bright sunlight. Louie and his wife have only owned the car for 5 months so the paint is in really good shape. That said, I did my best to photograph metallic, white pearl in full sun and I'll have to say, this is one of the hardest colors to photograph in full sun as it blinds you to look at with your eyes or through the lens of a camera.
When you know how to truly inspect the finish on a Special Interest Car then you know there's a little room for improvement and if you think this car looks good in the above pictures wait till we warm it over by MACHINE!
This is a full size section cropped out of the original above, no resizing.
Oxidized Single Stage Paint
The below is a reflection shot of the overhead florescent tube lights, what I want you to see is the dull, opaque look the paint has at the bottom of the reflection of the lights. This is light oxidation and even though the car looks beautiful in the pictures above, in person the paint has a dull sheen to it caused by oxidation. This is a single stage paint by the way.
Then I did my best to capture the fine or shallow swirls and scratches in the paint... hard to do with a camera but easy enough to see in person with your eyes...
After
The jar of Fuzion is out of focus because the paint on the fender is "in" focus...
Before
Rick arrived around 8:30am in his hot rod 1932 Ford Highboy with a blown 502 Big Block Chevy Engine and it sounds great!
The sun was still low in the sky but I was able to get a few pictures that show the overall dull, hazy appearance the clear coat finish has plus the zig-zag pattern of swirls inflicted by a rotary buffer usually called Rotary Buffer Swirls, Holograms or Buffer Trails.
This is the "Finger Focus Trick" for helping your camera to focus on and capture the swirls in the paint by placing your finger onto the surface close to the area you want to photograph and by doing this you'll give your camera something to focus on and as a result you'll capture the swirls too and they'll be in focus. You can also place a quarter, or a piece of tape, or piece of detailing clay on the paint and accomplish the same thing.
Linear Mode
