Lighting Techniques for Light Colored Paint

[Porsche Pilot]

There has been some recent traffic on the forums here about lighting and lighter colored paints. As the owner of three silver cars, I thought I would share a tip to find defects easier.

Disclaimer: This is what works for me. If you have a better way of operating then please, always use what works for you. :)

If you think it is hard to find defects in silver paint it's even harder to photograph but I did the best I could. These pictures have not been enhanced in any way and are straight from a Canon Rebel T2i set to auto.

1. This is the drivers door on my Arctic Silver Porsche 996 C2. I keep her in the best condition that I can. Currently she is wearing a coat of Blacklight and topped with V7. My garage is fully lit in this shot with overhead fluorescents. The tape is a focus point for the camera:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1082/full_light.jpg

Things look pretty good and the paint shines nicely.

In this shot, I have added supplemental lighting with my Infratech Color Matching Light. Things still look pretty good:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1082/infratech.jpg

Here is where I get jiggy with the whole process. I darken the garage as much as possible. Overhead lights are off and the window shades closed. I place a small, single head halogen on the floor. I place it at angle to the rear of the panel I want to inspect. In this case, the drivers door. Halogens on stands are too high to get the effect:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1082/light_set.jpg

Now, I will inspect the panel at an angle, facing the light source. Angles of the light and the angle of your view are important. You will not see anything if the light and your view is straight on.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1082/scratch_1.jpg

Wait, what is this? A scratch!! I cannot see this scratch in daylight or in any other lighting except for the sequence above. The scratch in question has been caused by magnetic track numbers. I need to wet sand it out and have now applied numbers to my windows to alleviate the problem.

Hope this helped. It works great on white paint too.

[alko]

Awesome awesome awesome post. Thanks Ed! I had planned on doing something like this but for the Brinkmann only. Thanks for taking the time to put this together. Very informative!!! I will soon have a silver RX350 in the family (I pretty much already do) and this will be very helpful when I go to do a correction on it.

Do you correct with the lights out as well? Or just for inspection?

[tw33k2514]

Tape! The missing link! Been using my finger up until now... But tape should make handling the camera much easier.

[Porsche Pilot]

Awesome awesome awesome post. Thanks Ed! I had planned on doing something like this but for the Brinkmann only. Thanks for taking the time to put this together. Very informative!!! I will soon have a silver RX350 in the family (I pretty much already do) and this will be very helpful when I go to do a correction on it.

Do you correct with the lights out as well? Or just for inspection?

On silver and white, I correct in the dark. The floor halogen provides enough ambient light to see what I am doing.

[Porsche Pilot]

Tape! The missing link! Been using my finger up until now... But tape should make handling the camera much easier.

I have to give Mike Phillips credit for that tip.

[LuxuryMobile]

Thanks for sharing Ed.

Working in the dark sure does make things easier to see, and particularly on light color cars as you have pointed out.

[bl3ujay07]

Awesome. I found it really hard to find scratches in my silver car. Will try out this method.

So a scratch that size would require wet sanding? I guess I have couple spots i have to hit with wet sand then! Is it generally a good idea to wet sand a scratch on the bumper and then compound it out? I've seen a lot of video's on metal panels, but not on bumpers.

[C. Charles Hahn]

Tape! The missing link! Been using my finger up until now... But tape should make handling the camera much easier.

If you have a DSLR, just learn how to manually focus the camera and you don't need any "tricks" to pick up defects :props:

[Porsche Pilot]

Awesome. I found it really hard to find scratches in my silver car. Will try out this method.

So a scratch that size would require wet sanding? I guess I have couple spots i have to hit with wet sand then! Is it generally a good idea to wet sand a scratch on the bumper and then compound it out? I've seen a lot of video's on metal panels, but not on bumpers.

That particular scratch is a bit too deep to correct without sanding. The picture doesn't really show its depth. I would tread lightly on sanding out a defect on a bumper. It is a must to measure the paint so you know if you have enough clear to work with. I would certainly try to polish it out first but you also must be careful to not wrinkle the paint with too much pressure and speed.

[Porsche Pilot]

If you have a DSLR, just learn how to manually focus the camera and you don't need any "tricks" to pick up defects :props:

I really only use the tape method when I am using a handheld light source like the Brinkmann and I want to capture a particular defect. I can't manual focus and hold the light at the same time. Maybe I should wear one of those miner lights on my head to leave my hands free.

[Old Tiger]

Awesome awesome awesome post. Thanks Ed! I had planned on doing something like this but for the Brinkmann only. Thanks for taking the time to put this together. Very informative!!! I will soon have a silver RX350 in the family (I pretty much already do) and this will be very helpful when I go to do a correction on it.

Do you correct with the lights out as well? Or just for inspection?
Ed, I cant say it better than Alex did! Fantastic post!

[Porsche Pilot]

Thanks for the kind words Jim. The only downside with my lighting technique is that I can't utilize all the lighting mods you and I did in our garages!

[Bunky]

Thanks for the tip.

The key seems to be lighting from a single direction at oblique angles so you see the shadow of the scratch. Otherwise, they get washed out when other light.

[TLMitchell]

I cannot see this scratch in daylight or in any other lighting except for the sequence above.

I highly recommend you dispense with that lighting technique and your car will be scratchless. Glad I could help. :D

TL <--- if I can't see it it isn't there

[tw33k2514]

If you have a DSLR, just learn how to manually focus the camera and you don't need any "tricks" to pick up defects :props:
I really need to pick up a photography book. I have a DSLR... I just suck at using it.