..pearl effect paintwork? My missus Polo has just had some new bodyshop work done (under vw warranty . The paint colour is black magic pearl effect, however the pearl effect in the new paint is now immense -the garage did there best to try and match the original paint and this is the result! So I thought I have a go at getting this on camera, but I don't think I've done a good job. Nice pic of garage light in reflection! bit better, but not showing full pearl effect. Last pic in b&w as at final attempt! :-/ Had a go taking a pic at the local petrol station too! The last image is actually of my daily in Blue Graphite pearl effect. But still not much better than the indoor shots. So, what is your tips on getting good paintwork pics? :-) Lhasa2008
Try getting a little further away so you can actually see the difference in different panels on the car.
That's the difficulty bit! Especially in bright sunlight - pearl effect is amazing to the naked eye, which ends up being a reflection of yourself holding a camera when taken as a photo!
Down the lights, diffuse and or bounce it, get the camera on a tripod, move in real close with a wide angle and macro on, use a long exposure and use timer to trigger shutter. Use large iris / small F stop for shallow depth of field it will make a small area in focus and its visually more appealing.
Harry has it right. The problem is i think you will struggle with a compact camera. If its an SLR start playing with the settings!
Keep an eye on reflections more so than the paint... Our camera ops would give me tips on which direction the light neededto be in order to highlight rain or hide it, same applies. You want low light as not to illuminated the objects or walls that are in the line of reflection, try to hang a black sheet there if you can of shade you light to cast shadows on the background, that way the paint is lit and reflections are reduced. That's why I recommended a low light situation, otherwise you want an flat background that you can light but has no texture or edges to act as a reflector, but not have a reflection. You could also try a polarizing filter and see if that cuts out a lot of glare, try taking a few shots through a pair of polaroid sunglasses and see what it looks like. There's only so much you can do with a pocket camera, if there's not enough glass there's going to be very little depth of field, the image wont have a focal point to fix to and the whole picture looks flat. If you look at this picture, it's actually the reflection of the lights the camera is exposing the picture to, not the cobbles, so all the detail is blown out of the picture. Same is happening in the hood pics, the camera is exposing the image to the reflections, so they need to be removed or you need to move the camera.
Indeed mat... Professionals will pay a stupid amount of money for a substantial amount of glass to enjoy the fruits of a large IRIS. No matter how many megapixels you have, if the lens can't do what your eyes can, then you're in a state of what you see ISNT what you GET! So a huge lump of glass usually comes with a hefty price tags, good ones specially but the Koreans are selling 3 pack lenses for cheap nowadays and you can pick up a DSLR body for next to nothing. The Pros hate spending money, tight (_!_) bunch they are, however they don't compromise on Neutral density, clear/UV and polarizing filters, good ops won't touch them, poor filters create a lot of light artifacts, aberrations etc. Good ops then work with what natural lighting they can work with, A double polarizing filter can be used as a variable ND filter, good ones aren't cheap. I was their tech... Loved setting up a shoot, my glory days...
Have you tried taking a picture of it on a bright but overcast day, so you get the light but no reflections to bother about. And have you got a mate who has a decent DSLR and lens who might help you out for the price of a pint or two? I think you'll be extremely lucky to get good shots with a compact camera. If you were a bit closer, I'd offer to try to help. Good luck :-)
