Taking Pictures of Black or White Vehicles

If you want to get a quick meter reading, use the lid of a pringles can over the lens and that will set a good white balance. No need for a grey card. I have been using it for years.
 
truckbutt said:
My intention in posting this thread was to allow the average person with a seldom used camera to get better photos to post their masterpieces. Using an 18% Grey card would absolutely work. The reality is that most people who own cameras have never seen a Grey Card. Using one requires a good understanding of how a metering system based on 18% Grey works. The beauty of this is that you don't need one. All you have to know is that the camera wants to make whatever fills your viewfinder look grey. No grey card, no incident meter, no advanced knowledge of photography required. Besides, I'd probably spill Collinite on a perfectly good Grey Card. :)
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Well done!!

JIM
 
JoeD said:
If you want to get a quick meter reading, use the lid of a pringles can over the lens and that will set a good white balance. No need for a grey card. I have been using it for years.
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I just happen to have a can of Pringles! Thanks for the tip.
 
you always carry a "gray card" with you... simply meter the back of your hand... will work 99.999% of the time...
 
opie_7afe said:
thanks for the tips. my biggest issue is with white cars and trying to get the defects to show up on camera, almost like you need to wipe the paint in graphite powder to make the defects stand out!...any tips that you can offer for seeing defects in white paint?
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Your camera is going to have just as much difficulty seeing the defects as your eyes. Try using an external light source like one of the ones recommended on the forum. When you find the position of the light that shows them the best, have someone hold the light in that position. In this situation, I would take the exposure that the camera recommends and then based on how that test shot looks dial in + exposure compensation if it looks too dark or grey, or - exposure compensation if it looks washed out.
 
thanks for the tip! ill give that a try next time im trying to take pictures of defects on my ride...
 
opie_7afe said:
thanks for the tips. my biggest issue is with white cars and trying to get the defects to show up on camera, almost like you need to wipe the paint in graphite powder to make the defects stand out!...any tips that you can offer for seeing defects in white paint?
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white paint might be the most difficult to photograph correctly... I own one, and I am a photographer... to light correctly you want to skim the light across the surface, rather than directly at the surface... this will show any scratches, surface issues... in the digital world, you can intentionally slightly under-expose, then brighten, and increase contrast, in your processing, to make the dark scratches/swirls appear darker against the white...

white paint hides swirls easier, so you need to be as close to the surface as possible, much closer than any other color... use a tripod, if you have one... and focus manually if you can... if not, focus on a body seam, or a piece of tape, a coin, on the surface...

if you use additional lights, do not focus on the light source, that is reflected on the paint, you want the focus point on the paint surface... again, the swirls/tape/seam/edge...
just like shooting a mirror... an auto-focus camera will be easily fooled by the reflection...
 
Found my exposure setting, but am only getting a 0.0 value to adjust. Is this correct, and if so, how do i adjust for a black? Played with it a little and all i got was super dark pics.
 
courtdale said:
Found my exposure setting, but am only getting a 0.0 value to adjust. Is this correct, and if so, how do i adjust for a black? Played with it a little and all i got was super dark pics.
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When you fill the viewfinder with a black object, it thinks that it needs a lot of light and tends to overexpose black and make it look grey. Taking pictures of black usually requires negative exposure compensation. Look at the manual for your specific camera on how to input exposure compensation and dial in minus 1 to minus 2 exposure compensation: -1, -1 1/2, -2 (3 shots). Use the one that comes out best. This is known as exposure bracketing.
 
i might have found a trick for white paints to find the scratches/swirl marks. i had some powdered dry graphite so i put some on a towel and rubbed it around the paint, made a grey mess on my paint but highlighted the scratches even the smallest scratches you could see..worked great. only bad part is you need to use a polish to remove graphite from the paint surface.....even highlights finger prints! lol something random i tried i doubt i will use it again to find scratches but was a interesting experiment. my other experiment was take a 6led flashlight and i colored the lens blue with a permanent marker, made defects MUCH easier to see like it would be on a blue paint. also thought of an idea of using a black backsplash to see the defects but have not tested it yet!....
 
opie_7afe said:
i might have found a trick for white paints to find the scratches/swirl marks. i had some powdered dry graphite so i put some on a towel and rubbed it around the paint, made a grey mess on my paint but highlighted the scratches even the smallest scratches you could see..worked great. only bad part is you need to use a polish to remove graphite from the paint surface.....even highlights finger prints! lol something random i tried i doubt i will use it again to find scratches but was a interesting experiment. my other experiment was take a 6led flashlight and i colored the lens blue with a permanent marker, made defects MUCH easier to see like it would be on a blue paint. also thought of an idea of using a black backsplash to see the defects but have not tested it yet!....
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Maybe use blue cellophane
 
opie_7afe said:
i might have found a trick for white paints to find the scratches/swirl marks. i had some powdered dry graphite so i put some on a towel and rubbed it around the paint, made a grey mess on my paint but highlighted the scratches even the smallest scratches you could see..worked great. only bad part is you need to use a polish to remove graphite from the paint surface.....even highlights finger prints! lol something random i tried i doubt i will use it again to find scratches but was a interesting experiment. my other experiment was take a 6led flashlight and i colored the lens blue with a permanent marker, made defects MUCH easier to see like it would be on a blue paint. also thought of an idea of using a black backsplash to see the defects but have not tested it yet!....
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Like 'doing' fingerprints...Hmmm, really not a bad idea. Just the leftover mess from the powder.

I (really) think some of the 'dollar stores' sell a kids fingerprint kit(s) for a buck or so, might be fun to try for a $ or so.

Bill
 
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