new car photos

[Kooldino]

Originally posted by ZokesPro
It's either that or new calipers. Hope the paint looks clean, I've seen some ppl who've painted theirs but you can really tell it's painted and most of the times you can still see the color of the metal.

Do you have any close-uip pics of your calipers? And the engine bay?

I can try to dig some up tonight if I can remember. One odd thing about the engine bay...if i take a pic of it in my garage (no matter what camera I use...I've tried 3), the color of the blue paint comes out WAY wrong.

I'll try to find some caliper pics. But really, they look like they were freshly painted, yet the paint is over 2 years old.

[az]

Use the flash with auto white balance. The picture will look ugly if you don't bounce the flash (try holding a paper tissue or a halved plastic white yoghurt can in front of the flash to prevent ugly flash pictures), but colors should always come out right with the flash. But of course all that bling bling metal stuff will reflect like hell if you flash directly, but the tricks above may work.

If your cameras support custom white balance (Incandescent, Flourescent, etc.), try them.

AZ

[az]

Oh, you can also try to prevent flash reflections by not photographing perpendicular to a reflecting surface, but at an angle. Angle of incidence=angle of reflection (This is of course a bit hard to do when shooting through your rims, since they would reflect in almost all directions due to their shape).

AZ

[ZokesPro]

Originally posted by Kooldino
I can try to dig some up tonight if I can remember. One odd thing about the engine bay...if i take a pic of it in my garage (no matter what camera I use...I've tried 3), the color of the blue paint comes out WAY wrong.

I'll try to find some caliper pics. But really, they look like they were freshly painted, yet the paint is over 2 years old.

If you already have pics then post those, no need to go out and take new ones, unless you really want to.

[Kooldino]

Originally posted by az
Use the flash with auto white balance.

I assume it's on auto white balance by default?

It's a Kodak DX 4330 or so.

The picture will look ugly if you don't bounce the flash (try holding a paper tissue or a halved plastic white yoghurt can in front of the flash to prevent ugly flash pictures), but colors should always come out right with the flash. But of course all that bling bling metal stuff will reflect like hell if you flash directly, but the tricks above may work.

I'll give that a go.

If your cameras support custom white balance (Incandescent, Flourescent, etc.), try them.

I'll have to check to see if it does.

Will exposure time help?

[Kooldino]

Originally posted by ZokesPro
If you already have pics then post those, no need to go out and take new ones, unless you really want to.

Here...i found one from the place I ordered from a Miata caliper...



It looks a little more "orangey" than that (but not much) in person, but you get the idea. If i clean the dust off mine, they look like that.

[az]

More exposure time won't change any color cast, it will just make the picture brighter and more susceptible to camera shake.

The cam should be on auto white balance for default, the flash should produce accurate colors. You could also try photographing outside in daylight, most cameras' AWB systems work much better in natural light than in artificial.

AZ

[Wombat]

There could be something about the paint, or the lighting, that the CCDs in your digital cameras are picking up something different.

[Kooldino]

Originally posted by az
More exposure time won't change any color cast, it will just make the picture brighter and more susceptible to camera shake.

Gotcha.

You could also try photographing outside in daylight, most cameras' AWB systems work much better in natural light than in artificial.
AZ

Tried that. Didn't make a difference. The Inaccuracy of the color is astounding.

[Kooldino]

Originally posted by Wombat
There could be something about the paint, or the lighting, that the CCDs in your digital cameras are picking up something different.

I was thinking along the same lines.

Funny thing is...in the pictures that I posted, the engine paint color is accurate. But when I tried taking pics in my garage and in my driveway, no dice.

[ZokesPro]

Looks like a very decent paint job, most painted calipers look like crap but yours actually looks nice. Would love to see the car up close though.

[az]

Most probably the lighting, though the framing might have affected WB as well. But a flash picture should almost always bring up the correct colors (and an ugly "flatness" to the picture).

AZ

[Kooldino]

Originally posted by ZokesPro
Looks like a very decent paint job, most painted calipers look like crap but yours actually looks nice. Would love to see the car up close though.

Come on down the the states.

[Kooldino]

Originally posted by az
Most probably the lighting, though the framing might have affected WB as well. But a flash picture should almost always bring up the correct colors (and an ugly "flatness" to the picture).

AZ

I'll play around and see what I can figure out.