Quick question for all about write ups.

Premium · 07-27-09, 04:57

I do plenty of write ups and some are longer than others. Some of my write ups have fewer pictures than others.

My question to you is:

Do you prefer long picture filled write ups or short, but informative and to the point?

Thanks!

toyotaguy · 07-27-09, 05:03

about 30 pics or less will do, and descriptive information on the process.

I hate seeing 20 pictures of swirlmarks on every panel. No kidding, the next panel looks like the previous panel...??? lol. other defects deserve their own pic, not the same defect 25 times!

i forget who it was but someone had an absurd amount of before pics and even more afters, but like a 2degree camera angle change of the same panel...gets real annoying looking at the same thing all the thread long

Less · 07-27-09, 05:46

I agree with toyotaguy. Repetative and similar pictures can be a real turn off. I tend to just glance through them and skip to the full-car afters.

Here's my advice for a good write up (even if I don't follow these rules myself sometimes).

1) As mentioned, less repetition in the pictures. Just "here's some swirls, here's the 50/50, and here's the finished product under some intense light...see, I fixed it"

2) Stick to things that require skill. For example, you might take a really grimy wheel and bring it back to gorgeous, scintillating life. But if all you did was spray Megs Wheel Brightener and agitate with a brush, I'm not impressed. Yeah it looks good, but my 3-year old could do that, so who the hell cares.

3) Make the after shots GOOD. There's a sticky thread somewhere that tells how to take good pictures. How to line up a shot, how to use reflections, etc. It also gives an example of a picture that shows the reflection of a picket fence along the side of a car. it looked really good. I would like to see more of that kind of photography instead of seeing reflections of everyone's yard tools on the car's hood.

Setec Astronomy · 07-27-09, 05:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Less

But if all you did was spray Megs Wheel Brightener and agitate with a brush, I'm not impressed. Yeah it looks good, but my 3-year old could do that, so who the hell cares.

Please don't let your 3 yo use WB!!

Brandon1 · 07-27-09, 05:56

+1 on the 30 pictures of swirls. I mean DANG, we have all see a swirl mark. Show a few pics, then move on to the other areas of the car!

Less · 07-27-09, 06:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Setec Astronomy

Please don't let your 3 yo use WB!!

Good call!

Probably should have thought of that before I posted. Obviously I don't let my 3 year old play with chemicals.

But my point remains, don't post something that someone could learn to do with twelve seconds of training and $3 worth of tools and supplies. It's not impressive.

bufferbarry · 07-27-09, 07:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Less

Good call!

Probably should have thought of that before I posted. Obviously I don't let my 3 year old play with chemicals.

But my point remains, don't post something that someone could learn to do with twelve seconds of training and $3 worth of tools and supplies. It's not impressive.

so what is impressive?

Less · 07-27-09, 08:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by bufferbarry

so what is impressive?

Just taking dirt off of a surface is not impressive to me.

I'm not saying that I don't like the photo-writeups, but I do think it's a little much to show four or five pictures with a little narrative like "here's the dirty wheel....here's the wheel soaked with an aggressive chemical cleaner.....here's me agitating it with a brush.....here's the wheel after it's rinsed off....voila!"

Enhancing gloss, shine, and reflections takes some degree of skill. Any kind of serious paint correction certainly takes a lot of work and is worthy of some praise. Before/After shots that show the work involved are interesting to look at sometimes as well.

But as I said, what I really like to see in the write-ups is the finished product, presented in a stunning way. Pictures that make me say "wow, that's a sharp ride" even when it's a car I'm not that into.

When you can say "wow, that ten year old Grand Prix looks friggen sweet!!", you've really accomplished something.

bufferbarry · 07-27-09, 08:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Less

Just taking dirt off of a surface is not impressive to me.

I'm not saying that I don't like the photo-writeups, but I do think it's a little much to show four or five pictures with a little narrative like "here's the dirty wheel....here's the wheel soaked with an aggressive chemical cleaner.....here's me agitating it with a brush.....here's the wheel after it's rinsed off....voila!"

Enhancing gloss, shine, and reflections takes some degree of skill. Any kind of serious paint correction certainly takes a lot of work and is worthy of some praise. Before/After shots that show the work involved are interesting to look at sometimes as well.

But as I said, what I really like to see in the write-ups is the finished product, presented in a stunning way. Pictures that make me say "wow, that's a sharp ride" even when it's a car I'm not that into.

When you can say "wow, that ten year old Grand Prix looks friggen sweet!!", you've really accomplished something.

I agree entirely with ya. I was just curious.

Jakerooni · 07-27-09, 09:11

Yea the gajillion shots of the before are annoying but so are 500 after pics too. I like reading the processes taken (it's truely how we learn different techniques) I don;t mind seeing final results.. But some people go entierly way to far with it. Same with the swirl after swirl shot.. One or two with a good description would do just fine. I personally like to see action shot (even though I'm guilty for harldy ever taking any myself LOL I need to hire a kid just to take pics of me in action LOL) and a nice desription of how they processed the subject in the pic. How exactly did you correct that paint.. Or aggitate the carpet to get that stain out... etc etc..