How to photograph a white car?

[danielle]

I wasn't sure where to post this.

I pulled the spoiler off my white grand prix today to prep the trunk lid for the new spoiler tomorrow.
In the sun, you can see swirls. I'd compare it to how the black G6 looked AFTER I polished it.

I backed the car under the barn overhang and got the halogen light out.
But I couldn't for the life of me get the swirls to show up.

Some sun light shots:
Rear Quarter Panel:

Trunk Lid:

Prior to anything (just clayed at this point)

After SSR2/WD/EX-P/lsp

This picture is the only one I could get swirls to show up on.
This is after I was totally done:

White Diamond: I love that stuff! It helped so much from what I could tell getting my eye almost on the paint to tell a difference. It seemed like it just really made it "pop".


I stood behind the light, in front of it and couldn't get anything to show up besides a perfect reflection.
The one picture with the swirls is facing towards the light and I could barely get them to show up then.

I used my cell which has a 8mp camera (what I use for all of my pictures).
Overall, I guess I shouldn't complain because it looks pretty good for 13yr old paint.

If anyone would like to share their infinite wisdom to help me out, that'd be great!


P.S....I think I'm getting addicted :smt030

 

[Poorboy]

it looks good Dani ... if you have to look that hard, don't worry about it .. flourescent lights tend to show more on white than halogens ... btw those are scratches in the picture not swirls ... and they look a bit deep ... with 13 yr old paint I would take it slow with soft pads.

 

[danielle]

Okay. Thanks.
I know I was probably being anal about it, but I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't being stupid about taking pictures.

I will probably follow the same process when I do the whole car and definitely inside so I can see better.
SSR2 on white
WD by hand or black/blue
EX-P by hand or black/blue
LSP

 

[sscully]

I find a few things on silver ( might work for white ).

1. Put a piece of clay on the paint by the defect and don't have the lights showing on the reflection on the paint.
This gives something for the auto focus to work on, else the camera is going to hunt and peck until it finds other than the defects to focus on.

2. Check if the camera has an outdoor / indoor type settings on it
Some cameras will read the brightness from halogen work lamps, as outdoor and switch over, but the color temp is wrong for the picture, so it seems dark.

3. See if you can get a good reflection off the ceiling instead of direct light.
This might be hard to do, don't recall from the BF's G6 if the shop is open truss or has something up there to work with.

Sure you don't want to invest in 8' HO flourescent fixtures with color corrected bulbs, just to take pictures.
Depending on ceiling height that is the best option, but I think the shop is not setup for that ( made to get a JD 85nn sized equipment in there I would guess ).

 

[danielle]

The shop where the g6 was is I think what you'd call open (insulation, beams, conduit and all that stuff is seen) with florescent fixtures. They provide a pretty good reflection shot. I had my car in once and it was a perfect mirrored image. I'll have to try the clay bar idea when i do the whole body.