When starting out, don't get frustrated comparing your work to pix on the 'net

[A4 1.8tqm]

Tips-

The trick to getting the garage reflection shot to look like that is Lighting and Focus. If the subject (shelves, wall, etc.) is very brightly lit and your camera is focused on the reflected image of the subject, NOT focused on the car itself, you get that effect of deep, wet, flawless gloss. Simply point your lights at whatever you want to be reflected on the car. Consider the angles that the light reflects from: Light bulb--->subject, subject--->car, car--->camera lens when aiming the lights and framing the shot. Like wfedwar said, High angle and bright background (and not to discred ScottWax )

The same is true for shots intended to show flaws, focus and lighting. To get these pics the light source should be directed at the car panel itself and the camera must be focused ON the panel as well. A very low reflection angle tends to give great results, the light source behind the camera will achieve this (like the sun, or a brinkmann held next to the camera). Manual focus can really help in getting these shots, someone suggested putting your finger or piece of tape to help with auto focus, which I thought was a great idea.

PICS are fun!

[detaildave]

Frosty did a great job on explaining how things are not always what they really seem.

Now onto this picture by Scottwax, you can make ANYTHING look great in a garage. Now when someone has a straight on shot in the sun and it is defect free or 95% free and has a nice shine then you can go gaga over it, but garage shots you have to take with a grain of salt. Also when looking at pictures you should read the process carefully and that will also tell the story of how well the paint is going to come out.

He speaks & knows the TRUTH!!!

[Mirror Detailing]

Yep When I first started out and seeing other detailers post up there pictures from other forums, it made me go wow, thats awesome. But after awhile I realized that, the shots are showing nothing. Its rare to find someone who takes direct sunlight shots after, and to me when you see alot of upclose sunlight or shop light shots before, and then none after, they are trying to hide the correction outcome.

Thats why with all my pictures I ever posted, if I take a upclose shot of one panel, better dam well believe I will take the picture at the same panel upclose again after. I have no problem saying I corrected 90-95% of the paint. Because like Mike P. said, sometimes once you remove the light top layer of scratches, you have the deeper ones below that require wet sanding to remove. Which if a customer doesnt want to pay for it, then...

[frosty]

I got a basic DSLR over christmas, it was night and day.

Wow Christian, I hope I improve as good as you did with a DSLR. My T1i should be here Tues. Man that's a big difference and why I bought one.

P.S. At least for the pix I'm using to post a car for sale etc. Was there any Photoshop or anything involved with these pix or are they untouched?

[cooksnj]

this is an interesting post. i had noticed some guys will post pics of swirls at like 2 inches away and then later try to tell you it's fixed with a pic 5 feet away? i never understood that. take a close up like you did before. my car looks great at 5 feet away, but when you really look at it...bad. cant wait till spring.

[ASPHALT ROCKET]

Bunky, if you look around the rims, the top and some edges they are not completely smooth like the point and shoot pics. Look at the trrees in the background also. Also look at the asphalt and parking lines they look natural unlike the car.

[Old Pirate]

Like this ( Inside Garaged )









Outside Picture

[Mark Preus]

Frosty did a great job on explaining how things are not always what they really seem.

Now onto this picture by Scottwax, you can make ANYTHING look great in a garage. Now when someone has a straight on shot in the sun and it is defect free or 95% free and has a nice shine then you can go gaga over it, but garage shots you have to take with a grain of salt. Also when looking at pictures you should read the process carefully and that will also tell the story of how well the paint is going to come out.

Great advise Asphalt. I always look at the products they used to achieve that finish

[christian900se]

Those are nice photos Christian but they look fake with the DSLR, the point and shoot look like they are more true to what you would see in person. Like Jason(Deep Gloss) and I have talked about for sometime now people play with pictures and it is quit obvious when they do. Your last picture in the parking lot looks like it has been photo shoped because around all the edges they look tattered, not smooth. Also you can see you played with the car itself in the pic because the parking lot look is natural. This is to me and others is basically taking pictures of a car in a garage. Plus when pictures are that bright and too crisp they look un-natural.

Huh? There was no processing in any of those pictures, and do not see what you do. The only setting I changed in camera was the exposure compensation and increased in camera sharpening slightly since I was using large aperatures in some pictures and Nikon is pretty soft by default for sharpness (well know fact). I'm sorry , but there was no photoshop involved. I was simply illustrating the difference in detail and clarity which I feel is pretty clear. So no, I did not post process or doctor those in anyway and like others cannot see what you are referring to with tattered edges. The crispness when compared to my p+s is because it is not only a vastly better camera (Samsung Memoir phone vs. Nikon DSLR), but the p+s pics were uploaded on photobucket and the DSLRs were done via flickr.

Wow Christian, I hope I improve as good as you did with a DSLR. My T1i should be here Tues. Man that's a big difference and why I bought one.

P.S. At least for the pix I'm using to post a car for sale etc. Was there any Photoshop or anything involved with these pix or are they untouched?

I do take some offense in being told that the on camera results look doctored when they most certainly weren't. It is simply a matter of upgrading cameras, and the difference is clear and looks pretty natural to me since I was there and saw the car with my own eyes.

You will definately have no problems learning with your Canon since they are pretty much the most user friendly DSLRs around I think.

[ASPHALT ROCKET]

If you say they are not so be it. I am not the only one that has questioned your pics or others, not trying to give you a hard time but the car itself looks alot different than what is in the rest of the picture, once again not the only one that caught that. Anyway like I said they are nice pics.