Hey guys im not really newb to a camera or anything by those means but when i try to take pictures of before and after i find it really hard to capture the paints imperfections like the severity of the swirls and rids and stuff. Then after i have trouble capturing how bold the paint looks. Any tips would be much appreciated. Also what type of lighting hpw to use halogens to capture it?? if it helps i have a D30 and also just a basic powershot.
Put your finger right on the surface of the car and point to a swirl. The camera will auto focus on your finger and therefore on the swirls. I'm no pro, like Scott is on here, but I've read that the best times for taking pics of a car's paint is when the sun is at an angle, like late afternoon or early morning. You now know almost all I know about photographing cars.
Maybe using a piece of painters tape would accomplish the same thing (focus point). The issue I had was getting the correct exposure especially when inside using halogens.
I find that if I put it on the recomended shutter spead by the light meter.. and then over expose it by a few stops, it makes for very good shots. Also, don't use a polarizer filter.. I found that out too
shiny metal is one of the most difficult things to photograph, shooting indoors with poor lighting, or a point-n-shoot can make it almost impossible... your best friend will be a tripod, even the slightest movement, will remove the swirls, but your image still looks relatively sharp..., the swirls are the finest details, easy to lose with the slightest movement... your next best friend will be manual focus, if not manual focus, focus lock, which many cameras have, with camera on a tripod, put your finger, the edge of your MF towel, so your camera will focus, lock the focus, and remove your finger then shoot... or you can add a seam from a fender, door, hood... exposure can be difficult, at best, depending on the color of your car, especially indoors with a halogen work lights... base your exposure for the car, and ignore the reflection of the lights... the exposure for the paint will be one exposure, but, your meter sees the bright spot of the reflection of the light, and gives you an incorrect exposure... one trick is to meter your hand, and lock the exposure. your hand is close to that of a grey card, which would be ideal, but, most people do not have. your meter tries to reproduce a grey card with every exposure, example photograph a white car, the meter reading, will make the car grey and muddy, and not the white you see... you need less exposure, than the camera wants. on the other end of the spectrum a dark car, your meter also wants to make it grey, so you need more exposure, than the camera wants... a black car with a halogen shinning on it, will be impossible, with only one exposure the perfect case for an HDR image, combining several exposures together to maintain shadows and highlights... another option is to add more light to your work area, one light pointed at the car, and another at the white wall behind you, to light-up the whole area... even in a bright photo studio, you would still be, exposing the black, to be black outdoors, the light will be more even, your exposure range will be much more manageable just take the halogen outside, as the sun's reflection maybe too small, a cloudy day will be the best, or open shade, just not direct sun... if you use a SLR/DSLR the longest lens you have will be the best choice, it allows you more space, between you and the car... this allows you to be a little off angle of the reflected light you still see the light, but, it is not reflected directly into the lens, causing flare, flare will also wash-out fine detail, like swirls... shooting a little off axis of the light is critical, to expose the car/paint correctly... whenever possible, use a lens hood... or at least block the camera lens from the light source with your hand... most newer lens allow a closer focusing, macro is not needed, and will cause more problems... depth of field, is also an issue, even the flat fender needs lots of depth of field/focus, as you want the fender, and the reflection to be sharp, the fender is easy, but the reflection is the distance from camera to fender and fender to the light source... this needs lots of depth of field... since we are already using a tripod, use the smallest aperture possible ( largest number...) and finally... have your computer nearby, so you can check your images there, and not try to make any critical judgments from the LCD or the histogram... especially when swirls are your target... hope this helps...
If I was mocking some critics or suggestors, I would say you have to buy a Canon EOS 5D Mark II if you want any chance of success. Anything less is asking for problems.
Do you have a D30 or a 30D? Either way, I'm pretty sure they're both DSLRs? Just use a DSLR in manual focus so you focus on the surface and not the reflection.
i use a tripod and a 50mm lense... lock the tripod over the area i want to photograph and manual focus with an exposure time of around a second... ive found this gets the depth of field needed to show the swirls and doesnt rely strongly on artificial light that can hide the swirls if now used correctly... i use a cheapo canon xti and a 50mm f1.8 and a tamrom 17-50 f2.8 for detailing pics on a giottos tripod with a boom and a panning ballhead...
