Mercedes SL500, C6 Corvette, my car, why you should focus on prep, not LSP

thecarguy said:
Scott - the car seems to be over-exposed from a photographic standpoint. Is that a technique you use to put it in proper perspective or am I just imagining it? Thanks.
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Which car? I have never been able to get the exposure right 100% of the time with my camera. Even with matrix metering, with dark cars and a bright background, the background is over exposed. Light cars with a dark background, the car is over exposed. Could be in the developing too or when the negatives are scanned to CD-I did use a different place this time since I was out at my brother's in Rockwall. The SL looks a lot better in person than in those pictures. The Corvette and my car, they look about right...although the digital camera I used for the pics of my car with Souveran, some of them are a bit darker than actual lighting conditions.



:nixweiss



Setec Astronomy-she's the ulimate Libertarian!



About the wheels-yeah, they aren't exactly fun but weren't as bad as you might think.
 
As always great work!



Don't you hate it when people rub their hands across the surface to feel it?? Some people are just unaware of how easily the clear coat scratches.
 
Scott,



When I posted last night, the pics of your 626 did not show up yet. Wow! Now I remember why people have black cars. :cooleek: The paint on your car looks like a pool of black ink - Deep, wet and shiny!!!



Scott, all I can say is Sweet!



Cheers,
 
Wow your Mazda 626 looks fantastic :bow :drool: and Pinnacle Souveran definately looks great on black :xyxthumbs . You sure knows how to make silver cars looks shiny and wet, love the SL500 :bigups
 
thecarguy said:
Scott - the car seems to be over-exposed from a photographic standpoint. Is that a technique you use to put it in proper perspective or am I just imagining it? Thanks.
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Interesting!!! I have had several professionals take photos of cars for ads and they all overexposed the shots. I always picked the overexposed over the more realistic shots for advertising purposes. They always made the car appear noticeably wetter and deeper, the wheels and tires pop big time. Those photo’s cost me $100hr. Taking the shot on white cement really helps the overexposed shot too. If I was a Pro Photographer like scottwax, I would be doing the same thing. As a detailer with experience, I enjoy most of all looking at the before & after or half done half not amateur photo’s close-up and magnified. Can you really judge what product looks better by a professional photo? :nixweiss Back to work I go!!!
 
Was the one baked in grease owned by Vietnamese people? We tend to do a lot of frying outside/garage to prevent the house from smelling.
 
Hah, next week I expect you to up the ante and detail a car that's been dipped in "Magic Shell!" :P



So ok, if this has been answered ignore me, but I didn't see it - how long did the Mercedes take?



Cheers.
 
nice work scott...



can i please ask for a pic of your boot.. i want to see how you keep your products in there? :)
 
twitch said:
As always great work!



Don't you hate it when people rub their hands across the surface to feel it?? Some people are just unaware of how easily the clear coat scratches.
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:wall



I really hate it when they do it to my car. I try to educate them though, the instant they start rubbing on their car to clear a spot to show me something, I let them know they are possibly damaging their paint by doing that. They are always suprised.
 
doged said:
Interesting!!! I have had several professionals take photos of cars for ads and they all overexposed the shots. I always picked the overexposed over the more realistic shots for advertising purposes. They always made the car appear noticeably wetter and deeper, the wheels and tires pop big time. Those photo’s cost me $100hr. Taking the shot on white cement really helps the overexposed shot too. If I was a Pro Photographer like scottwax, I would be doing the same thing. As a detailer with experience, I enjoy most of all looking at the before & after or half done half not amateur photo’s close-up and magnified. Can you really judge what product looks better by a professional photo? :nixweiss Back to work I go!!!
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I'm not a professional photographer. Only time I was published was for free. 7 of my customer's cars are on the back cover of the Guru Report's Wax Test.



Honestly, overexposed silver and white wash out the reflections and wetness. That SL look way better in person. If you have a white background reflected off black paint, it looks weird to me. I think you will agree:



my626_snattys1600.jpg




Reflections look good but overall, the picture looks bad to me.



Same here, the overexposed foreground ruins the picture.



2006_Dodge_Charger_front1.jpg




I am still trying to figure out how to get a more consistant exposure. Next rain day, I'm going to my local camera store and see if they can point me in the right direction. Great camera overall, but I hate the automatic stuff. My old Minolta was all manual and the exposure was a lot better.



Can you judge what looks better from a photo? No but you can spot a pattern with certain products. I can usually tell now when someone has posted a car with the Werkstatt twins. Has a pretty unique wet gloss, IMO.
 
tustah said:
Was the one baked in grease owned by Vietnamese people? We tend to do a lot of frying outside/garage to prevent the house from smelling.
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Good guess! He said it keeps the smoke detector from going off too. The food smells great (love Pho) but the frying is leaving a nasty film on his car.



evenflow-good old original shine Armor All, applied with a dressing applicator I get from a customer (they make the new one Griot's is selling, same one I use).



Picus-I spent around 5 hours on the SL.



tomee-here ya go...



My buffer and pads are in my back seat.



detail_supplies1.jpg




detail_supplies2.jpg




detail_supplies3.jpg
 
evenflow said:
Scott that are some amazing photos. what kind of camera are you using?
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Nikon N60 using Kodak HD 400 ASA film. When I get it processed, I have the negatives scanned onto a picture CD. If I could only get the exposure more consistant, I'd be a lot happier with the pics.
 
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