Car Photography

[alwayslive]

What cameras would you guys recommend for car detailing? I need a camera that can capture reflections really well, and also get really close up to scratches and what not and still be focused. My oneplus one camera sucks lol. I generally work in garages that don't have super good lighting, and work outdoors in the natural sun light as well. If anyone could recommend some good lighting tools as well that'd be awesome!

[BoostedBB6]

Its more about lighting, not the camera.
A specific camera will not do better than the other in this case. Just need to learn how to shoot it to get the look you want.

Play with whatever camera you have. Try using flash to bring out the swirls.

[BoostedBB6]

Photography Basics - Part 1 (The Basics of Exposure)

Check out this thread at a Autopia. There are others that talk about processing and such but this will give you the basics. I have had good luck with cell phone cameras you just need to go into the settings and change a few things to make them work well for you. I try to use a proper camera to take the pics but in a pinch I will use my Note 4.

[alwayslive]

Awesome, thanks for the tips! I would love to stick to my cell phone, but for some reason my oneplus one does not like to focus.. at all. Some of my photographer friends have recommended that I pick up a cheap DSLR on craigslist to play around with. I see you posting on the detailing threads sometimes too, do you think natural sunlight or garage lights work better for before/after pictures?

[Urrtoast]

Check this article out. it should help.
http://www.detailedimage.com/Ask-a-P...-led-vs-xenon/
Your phone still can be used. You have camera settings for lighting conditions as well and,
Like BoostedBB6 said its about lighting and of course method.

Originally Posted by alwayslive

Awesome, thanks for the tips! I would love to stick to my cell phone, but for some reason my oneplus one does not like to focus.. at all. Some of my photographer friends have recommended that I pick up a cheap DSLR on craigslist to play around with. I see you posting on the detailing threads sometimes too, do you think natural sunlight or garage lights work better for before/after pictures?

[lowside67]

The one other spec that may be useful depending on what type of scratches/fine chips you are trying to photograph is that camera/lens' minimum focal distance. A lot of times you may be able to get very close and still fit the whole scratch in your image but you are so close to the car that your camera cannot focus on what you want to shoot. Same concept as macro photography - you want a lens that can focus very close.

Mark

[twitchyzero]

excellent tip
I didn't even know about min focal distance until I got a camera...before that I was always wondering why my close-up potato pics were so soft.