Lighting Techniques for Light Colored Paint

[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.

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

I really need to pick up a photography book. I have a DSLR... I just suck at using it.

[Porsche Pilot]

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.

Right on Bunky! You phrased it exactly the way I should have in the first place.


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[Porsche Pilot]

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

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

Excellent idea! You think just like someone who has worked for the government for too long. : )


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[Porsche Pilot]

I forgot to mention one other point. You will notice that the one lamp halogen is sitting on the floor. When I get to the higher panel sections, eg roof, trunk and hood, I bring that one light with me. The light came with a spring clamp. I attach it to a microphone stand. I can then manipulate the light to the desired angle. I love the dual halogen stands but find that I cant always move the light heads around enough to get the right light.


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[WEST SIDE]

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

+1 I found this out correcting my white F-150 about a month ago.I used every light source possible and the single halogen on the floor and viewing at an angle was the ticket,couldn't believe how much i could see doing this in a dark garage.After I was finished with correcting i still had some deep RIDS I could see with light(left them any way) but couldn't see them outside unless the sun was very bright and you looked really hard to find them.


Ken

[C. Charles Hahn]

I really need to pick up a photography book. I have a DSLR... I just suck at using it.

No worries; I was fortunate enough to have learned the basics on a 35mm SLR that didn't even have autofocus as an option. If you start forcing yourself to only use the camera on manual mode you'll learn a lot really quickly.