How to take pictures to show imperfections?

[NorcalZ71]

I will be doing another major overall on my truck, big, big detailing session over the course of a couple of days. I would like to take some good before and afters, but I am not so great at photography. I have a Sony Cybershot DSC (the one that steven tyler was in the commercial....i think?) 5 megapixel etc etc. What angle should I be at with the sun, what time of day, etc etc? I would really like to detail (no pun intended) the work I do on each section, mostly for my own personal experience and satisfaction. Some of you guys take some gnarly pictures that really show the swirls and impurities in all their unholyness, and then some awesome shots that just show off perfectly how good the car really does look.

[ZaneO]

Just play with angles using the sun, halogen lights, and/or the camera flash. I usually take many pictures to get a few that show things well.

[imported_guapsnaman]

It`ll be easier if you have an SLR or something where you focus manually.



I noticed that if you take a picture with a point and shoot, the camera focuses on the reflection of the paint not on the paint`s surface. With and SLR you can focus manually on the surface of the paint where the defects usually are.



Hope this helps.