New(er) to the forums...just a quick detail!

[ZTS_Dude]

Hey everyone! I'm Tim. As you will see, I have a 2001 Focus ZTS Sedan in "CD Silver" and I can't get enough of driving/detailing/looking at this car. I frequent the boards quite often and look at all the beautiful work you guys do. It's really amazing. I just got a PC about two months ago, and have only been able to use it on one car so far (a friends pickup). College just seems to eat up every last waking moment of time. Although I'm sure you all feel the same way....



Anyway, it's no M5 or 911 Turbo like are portrayed on here quite often, but I love it none the less...here it is about a year ago...

As far as technique...the car has never seen anything but my elbow grease. Believe it or not, the first year or so I had this car, it got *gasp* turtle wax. I suppose it was better than nothing though! Anyway, constant washes, waxes, some hand polishing and nearly 82k miles later, this is where "Bud" is at (named after my grandpa)...anyway...a full detail is coming soon with my PC to get rid of the minimal swirls it has.

Ah forgot to mention. The spoiler was recently added and the SVT Focus suspension installed which dropped the car about an inch. Just enough to notice, but mostly in person. The new Fuzion ZRi tires were installed at the same time, which is Firestones new "tuner car" tire. Essentially it's the RE750s in a slightly cheaper form, which I had before.

Ah, the fun things you can do with exposure.

Please ignore the nasty scratch on the wheel that mysteriously appeared one day. :sosad



*continued*

 

[ZTS_Dude]

Mt. Hood in the background...

Some "Depth of Field" fun...I do photography for fun on the side.

Some decent reflections as the sun goes down over the airport. :bounce



And for fun, a reflection seen in my mirror as I got in to leave...

Thanks for the comments ahead of time guys. I hope to continue learning more from all of you!



-Tim

 

[vdog0531]

this isn't a Ford forum... but thanks for showing so many pics of your car. was there any specfic reason for showing so many pics or are ya just sayin hi? oh well, welcome to autopia. great stuff here. have fun reading!



Vernon

 

[koko_b_ware]

Those were some impressive photo skills! The car looks good too.

 

[ZTS_Dude]

this isn't a Ford forum... but thanks for showing so many pics of your car. was there any specfic reason for showing so many pics or are ya just sayin hi? oh well, welcome to autopia. great stuff here. have fun reading!



Vernon

Sorry...maybe I got carried away..



Anyway, purpose wasn't to show a Ford , although, yes, that's what this is. It's "Click and Brag" so I thought I'd show my car all cleaned up. This is kinda like like the pre-detail before I hit it with the PC for the first time. I think it still looks pretty good after 82k miles though.

 

[cwcad]

am glad that you posted. nice pics!! have never posted a picture that i felt was good enough. my vehicle looks nice after i detail it . somehow i am not able to get it to look in a picture. as it appears to me.



as soon as my wife gets over being mad at me for spending to much time detailing my truck i will post some pictures. i can get it from the camera to the computer but am having problems getting anything on the forum.

 

[Pats300zx]

Wow...great pictures. Your photoskills are awesome. Want to come shoot my car...:bow

 

[sQuashed]

Great pictures, you didnt get carried away at all. Being a photographer sure has its advantages here at Autopia.:xyxthumbs

 

[ZTS_Dude]

Thanks everyone.

Wow...great pictures. Your photoskills are awesome. Want to come shoot my car...:bow

Sure. Hmm...OR...PA...I'll let you know if I'm ever over that way.

 

[vdog0531]

Sorry...maybe I got carried away..



Anyway, purpose wasn't to show a Ford , although, yes, that's what this is. It's "Click and Brag" so I thought I'd show my car all cleaned up. This is kinda like like the pre-detail before I hit it with the PC for the first time. I think it still looks pretty good after 82k miles though.

well we woudln't know how the paint looks because all your pics are night or overcast which do not show defects

 

[qwik5o]

Damn man chill out. Are we like anti-ford or something?



He was just posting some pics of his car.



Every must have cabin-fever or something in this place lately.

 

[vdog0531]

Damn man chill out. Are we like anti-ford or something?



He was just posting some pics of his car.



Every must have cabin-fever or something in this place lately.

damn man, i didn't know i coudlnt post opinions. i am not even upset or anything but this isn't a normal car forum IMO. this is a detailing forum....



Vernon

 

[ZTS_Dude]

Sorry, didn't know we always had to prove verify with everyone that we don't have defects. The car has 82k miles. It has defects. I said it's never seen a machine buff before...there are one or two reflection shots to show the finish anyway? Other people post their brand new cars here that haven't been detailed yet or just post when they join up too.



I don't know what your problem is really? If you're just in a really bad mood or you have something against me? I've been checkin' out stuff on here for many months and I've been learning a lot, so I decided to try to join in. Thanks for the heartfelt welcome.

 

[cwcad]

just take the good with the bad. hope this is good. welcome...again! just keep on doin.. there is always something or someone who will have a bone to pick. they are allowed. as are you!!



keep the faith!!!

 

[MaThGr82]

Hey ZTS, nice pics. I feel like I have seen that very first pic on some other forum before. What other forums do you post to?

 

[ZTS_Dude]

just take the good with the bad. hope this is good. welcome...again! just keep on doin.. there is always something or someone who will have a bone to pick. they are allowed. as are you!!



keep the faith!!!

Thanks for the welcome. Glad I'm allowed. BTW, do you have any links to pictures of your truck? If your wife is upset with you over it, your truck must look really good. :lol

Hey ZTS, nice pics. I feel like I have seen that very first pic on some other forum before. What other forums do you post to?

Haha...well I post on Focaljet, but based on your avatar, I doubt you frequent that board. I've posted the first picture on here before though, in the past, when I was asking for some advice. That must be where it was. Good memory.



-Tim

 

[imported_fireberd350]

WOW! can you please quickly explain how to take good night time photos, like your 1st one for example....what kind of settings do I use on the camera?



GREAT WORK!!!!

 

[ZTS_Dude]

WOW! can you please quickly explain how to take good night time photos, like your 1st one for example....what kind of settings do I use on the camera?



GREAT WORK!!!!

First off, thanks! I appreciate the comments. Motivates me to keep doing it.



Second- I'd be curious to know what kind of camera you're using. Not all digital cameras have time-exposure capabilities, which is where the shutter is open for an extended amount of time so that the dim light can saturate the film, or in this case, the CCD sensor in your camera.



With that said, and assuming you have a camera with the ability to do time-exposure shots, you can do a few things. First thing you HAVE to do is find a tripod. Ok, you don't have to, but I strongly recommend it. You can even find cheap tripods for UNDER $20 at Wal-Mart that will work just fine. If you don't have a tripod (or something VERY steady to keep the camera on) your picture will come out blurry, as the camera needs to stay perfectly still through the duration of time that the shutter is open.



Many digital cameras are also coming with options to fully control the exposure settings, such as mine. I have a fully automatic mode, aperture-priority mode, shutter-priority mode and fully-manual mode (control over both aperture and shutter). For someone with little-to-no experience doing this, I'd play with shutter-priority mode. I believe that shot was taken at maybe 2 seconds or something. Unfortunately, most digital cameras differ here quite a bit with what 2 seconds might give you. There are many factors that make this true, and I won't get into them, but they can vary greatly. So just start playing with your camera and seeing how many seconds work for you. My friend has a Sony DSC-S85, and his 8" (" denotes seconds) is about equivalent to my 15"!



Good luck, and happy shooting! Feel free to contact me if you want any more information.



-Tim

 

[cwcad]

Thanks for the welcome. Glad I'm allowed. BTW, do you have any links to pictures of your truck? If your wife is upset with you over it, your truck must look really good. :lol



-Tim

well the wife did the taxes for us today. she was happy that we were going to get a refund. she will get most of it.

consequently i think that there will be a picture of my truck before it was detailed last saturday. iam a techno goof. will have a post in the next few days in the click and brag.

 

[ZTS_Dude]

Very cool. Are those chrome door handles?! Chrome looks great on black! Will be interested to see what it looks like after the detail, cause it looks good there, too.



What kinda camera you using there? I like the timestamp/watermark in the corner. Very subtle.