Photographing your work: 5 tips.

6

602rwtq

New member
I've had customers tell me they chose my recon business solely because of the before and after photos on our website. Our competitors talked for days about how great they were. We SHOWED them. And they called us.



Uses for your photos.



1. Website. Have a "gallery" page where you showcase your work. Sprinkle in some before/after photos throughout the site as well.



2. "Show me" book. Keep a binder full of photos of your best work. If you've pulled out deep dents in tailgates, for example, show them to new sales managers: "can you dent guy do THIS?".



3. Cover your ***. Customers would sometimes complain about heavily soiled carpets not coming out perfect. We usually took "before" photos to remind them of our starting point.



5 tips for better photos.



1. Use your cell phone. You're too busy to get the digital camera from your van.



2. Photograph "specialty work." Customers are tired of shiny car photos. They have specific problems (creased dents, carpet stains, dog hair, stained wheels, water spots) and they want specific solutions. So when you're asking an extra $50 for water spot removal, prove your competence with a before/after photo.



3. Shoot with the sun behind you. Shadows hide detail.



4. Match your "befores" to your "afters." This is the most common mistake I see: the before and after shots are taken from different angles, and in different lighting. Before you take your "after" shot, look at the "before" shot for about 2 seconds and try to memorize what you see. With some practice, you'll be able to line up that "after" shot from a nearly identical perspective.



5. Take at least 2 photos a day. Fact is, most photos won't be useful. But if you take enough, you'll inevitably capture "jackpot" photos that you can feature on your website and your "show me" book.



More tips for pro detailers can be found on my blog.
 
Good tips.



602rwtq said:
3. Cover your ***. Customers would sometimes complain about heavily soiled carpets not coming out perfect. We usually took "before" photos to remind them of our starting point.
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Sometimes even I am amazed when I go back and look at the comparison between the before and after photos. Sometimes looking at a car that has been heavily corrected or had stains that were particularly bad don't always look all that impressive. There is still something remaining. Providing before and after photos can reinforce the amount of improvement.



602rwtq said:
2. Photograph "specialty work." Customers are tired of shiny car photos. They have specific problems (creased dents, carpet stains, dog hair, stained wheels, water spots) and they want specific solutions. So when you're asking an extra $50 for water spot removal, prove your competence with a before/after photo.
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Once you have done this a while you have a good core of photos to show your work. Nowadays I tend to take just a few specific photos of a car to highlight the results for the reason stated above. Unless it is an exotic or there is something particularly worth taking a lot of photos of it seems like a waste of time.



602rwtq said:
4. Match your "befores" to your "afters." This is the most common mistake I see: the before and after shots are taken from different angles, and in different lighting. Before you take your "after" shot, look at the "before" shot for about 2 seconds and try to memorize what you see. With some practice, you'll be able to line up that "after" shot from a nearly identical perspective.
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Sometimes it isn't possible to match the natural light since the sun will change angles. But using the same lights is important. When specifically looking to document a detail I have taken my laptop with me around the car and attempted to actually recreate the shot with the same lighting and angle. A tripod helps to make sure your height is the same.



I will add one more tip: Take a couple of the same shots for things you really want to highlight. There is nothing worse than trying to show a good before and after and realizing too late that the after shot is slightly blurry or grainy.
 
longsdetailing said:
Good spot on tips. How does camera quality play into this though?
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That all depends. Any good smartphone is likely to be good enough. Pictures out of the iphone4 are going to look good enough on the screen. More important is composition and lighting.



(In good light) The only reason you need a DSLR is if you want a shallow depth of field effect, which IMO does not work well on cars as you will end up with one part of the car being out of focus.



Your biggest impact past composition and lighting is going to be post processing.
 
Rob, your suggestion for using your cell phone should be removed from that list. That is like buffing the paint without washing it first. Just saying.
 
Thomas Dekany said:
Rob, your suggestion for using your cell phone should be removed from that list. That is like buffing the paint without washing it first. Just saying.
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Thomas, do some searches on Flickr for iPhone 4 and 4s. Both these phones as well as several others are capable of exceptional image quality, especially in the context of on screen viewing. If we are talking about making large prints, then a DSLR gets better as size goes up.



I think it's foolish for anyone to discount a good quality cellphone for daytime shooting, especially for static objects like cars.
 
Have to agree with Thomas on this one. High quality pictures are imperative to showcase your quality and separate yourself from the others (most of which are using stock images). All of the pictures I take are with a high quality Canon DSLR. However, on my website I have some customer submitted images (taken with iPhones) and some taken with my old Canon DSLR. If you go to the gallery on my website you can clearly see the differences in image quality, at least IMO. Plus when you start taking before/ after pictures during paint corrections a DSLR and the ability to manually adjust the lens is a must have.
 
I am on flicker and use an Iphone. I know what it is capable of.



But if you are a quality detailer, you want to showcase quality pictures. Just look at ANY pictures on any forums from top guys. Not one taken with cell phones.



I am into photography. I get where you are coming from and your points in general - I agree with 100% - not this one. Even a compact camera will blow away phone pictures.



M2c



PS: humid in NOVA? hahaha :D



Dan said:
Thomas, do some searches on Flickr for iPhone 4 and 4s. Both these phones as well as several others are capable of exceptional image quality, especially in the context of on screen viewing. If we are talking about making large prints, then a DSLR gets better as size goes up.



I think it's foolish for anyone to discount a good quality cellphone for daytime shooting, especially for static objects like cars.
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Its humid and wet here, otherwise I'd be out snapping some pics with a DSLR and my iphone :D



Instead I dug up some old pics:



iphonevsdslr-1-3.jpg


iphonevsdslr-1-4.jpg




Shot in different seasons, but comparable shots, nice busy scene with lots of detail. With a closeup of a car, it would be even harder to tell the two apart.



I'm not trying to be a PITA and say that an iphone is better, I'm just saying in daylight, you can get great pics with a good smartphone. 10% of the image (tops) is the actual image quality. Thomas, if you are as into photography as I am, you know that, the camera and lens don't mean anything when it comes to the complete equation, they make as much difference as your polisher does. Sure a better one helps, but its your skills and your workflow that make the biggest difference.
 
You have to tailor your photographs to your marketplace or the customers you want to attract. If you are in a remote farming area people do not care if you can polish a Ferrari, they want to know if you can wax a farm truck or clean the interior. The majority of people do not have time to look at every picture showing how much scratches you have taken out and you could turn off/intimidate a lot of consumers with projecting an image solely of high end Lambo's, Ferrari, Porsches, people want to know can you detail my old Toyota....and it is these every day consumers who make up the bulk of most detailers customers.
 
I agree Dan, but we are not talking about skilled photographer detailers we are talking about regular guys who are good at detailing, using a camera to capture the "art" they are capable of.



Plus, the light is not "cell phone" ideal most of the time anyway. That is like saying the dollar store MF is good enough to use because I didn't mar my 2012 Audi paint with it. Do you know what I mean? Phil @ Dbliss bought a D7000 and uses it in AUTO mode simply because he isn't a camera guy. But look at the quality of his pictures - they are great even inside, inside the car.



Anyway, Panasonic ZS3 pictures, all at night, untouched JPEGS:





Parque Europa at night (Brandenburg Gate) / Parque Europa de noche (Puerta de Brandenburgo) by Trensamiro, on Flickr





Hotel in Matalascañas at night/ Hotel en Matalascañas de noche by Trensamiro, on Flickr





Experimental: A night at the funfair in Madrid / Experimentos: Una noche en la feria en Madrid by Trensamiro, on Flickr





A night at the funfair (Madrid, Spain) / Una noche en la feria (Madrid) by Trensamiro, on Flickr





The Hotel Suite / La suite del hotel by Trensamiro, on Flickr





Parque Europa at night (Cybernetic fountain show)/ Parque Europa de noche (espectaculo de la fuente cibernetica) by Trensamiro, on Flickr





A night at the funfair (Madrid, Spain) / Una noche en la feria (Madrid) by Trensamiro, on Flickr
 
Great pics Thomas. Even better considering they were shot with a point and shoot camera. I hope everyone reading understands that a DSLR will help you get better pictures, but I'd hate for someone starting out end up thinking they needed to spend $1000, or even worse, rack up additional debt to get some great pictures for their website.



In fact the best idea might even be to trade a services with someone you know that is a photographer.
 
D&D Auto Detail said:
You can get great DSLR's for around $500, or even less if buying used.
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Right, you can even get a good one for $250ish with a decent kit lens. But who do you know that has an SLR has actually spent under $1000 for camera gear. Its a pandora's box!
 
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