Hi guys Long time since I started a thread to dicuss detailing, I just been enjoying myself with work and videos a little too much. Anyways I had a great opportunity working with Phil@DD and Dave@streetdreamsdetail this year. These guys always find what areas I need to work on and they been a great mentors/teachers by showing me how to get better results So this week I had a great experience with a guy name Adams + his team whos a photographer for MBUSA, thanks to Dan and Phil for making this happen. Adams is very happy with my work and help in the studio, but Im a little disappointed with myself. I had to redo the interior 5 times to get it right for a shoot. I miss tiny strain spots on the trims and dust in the vents on a beige interior MB GL. Adams was able to pick these up with his PhaseOne camera 56MP ( i can be wrong about the MP, but lets just say its very high, made to print images on billbroad). But the next day I got the exterior of a E class perfect, no redos. When I detail on my own, I didn't have people like Adams, Phil or Dave. So I asked the clients what they see that their not happy with the car and let me know, I give them a led light to check everything. I know this is not very professional, but Im always affraid that I missed something, so having an 2nd eye looking at it can benifit the quality work that they expect from a detail. So I been thinking....why do we spents hours perfecting paint but can't get the glass or the interior to look as good?? Maybe thats my problem only, and I need to work on that. Sometimes when I edit my pictures...sharpen things up, recover some highlights, or fill some light in...I start seeing what I've missed and had to fix it before the car leaves to the customer. I also notice that some detailers only do what image their camera and themselves can captured...meaning if you can't see it, your not going to bother...because you cant show before/after. like a froggy glass ( just an example ) because I never seen someone taking pictures on glass before and after including me. But I do my best to get the glass right. I hope this lead to a open discusion, no attacks please. would be awesome if you guys can share what your problem areas are too and maybe we can help each other get better. Franki
Ok, so I'm a pretty critical person, especially of myself and my own work. Even when customers may not notice some issues, I have make sure I point them out and bring them to light. This is most often when there is some sort of permanent stain or something similar that I couldn't get to without complete disassembly of the vehicle. I hate these occasions, but they happen. I digress, the area I lack most in and forget most often- is re-vacuuming after carpet extraction and streaks in the glass. I like to re-vacuum the carpet after carpets have been extracted due to the additional sand, dirt, lint, etc has been pulled to the surface or dragged across the fibers. Nothing looks worse that a freshly detailed interior with particles sitting on the fluffed carpet! And streaks in the glass are horrible. MOST of the time, I do windows 2x, once as an initial clean to remove the fogginess, with a damp glass towel and then dry with an all-purpose MF, flip to completely dry. Then repeat the process with new rags for a completely clean glass. Incredibly annoying to do this 2x and still take a photo or pull the vehicle out for delievery and find a streak horizontal across the windshield right in the drivers POV! I'm thinking best thing for me to do, since I work alone, is to make a check point list to be sure I'm going over thing the appropriate # of times, then "check my work" in the end. Just a few of my flaws I can openly and readily identify. Any advise you can provide, I'm open!
My business plan is to go through every inch of the vehicle inside and out, getting everything perfect, looking and looking again, paying total attention to what I am doing, using no distractions of any kind (Ipod, etc..), to insure that nothing is missed, and I go through 1 time and get it as perfect as the media will allow me to get it.. Yes, there are going to to be places and things that may not ever be perfect for all kinds of reasons, but I can certainly clean it and hopefully improve the look and feel of it.. I treat the vehicle as if it is mine and use appropriate tools and products that allow me to get the best from the efforts I put into it.. I never have to re-vacuum any carpeting because I spend a lot of time in the first, dry, vacuum stage to really get as much embedded stuff out, and frequently use different brushes for that particular non-flat, etc., area, or carpet type to help vacuum as much out in the first pass. The hardest media to remove from carpets is sand, because it is heavy and always sinks to the bottom...Sometimes only a good air blower from a small hand held air gun will suffice to get sand out of some carpets and this is always my worst nightmare. Then my great Extractor and sometimes, my Steamer included, get the stains, etc., removed and all the normal embedded stuff comes out the first time, leaving nothing in the fibers to require a second vacuum.. It may take a few more minutes to get this but it is sure worth it to not have to go back and bring out another piece of equipment.. Lighting can never ever be as good as direct sunlight, so I try to take advantage of this whenever possible.. You can just see so much better in the sun and if you are looking closely, you will find anything else you might have missed easier.. Be sure to look UP and note every square inch of the Headliner... I think everyone who really wants to get this really right needs to have been a Quality Control Inspector in the electronics field for a few years, to fully understand what perfection really means and how to train or be trained to achieve this.. Takes a lot of great eye skills, and an equal amount of patience and desire to look at, for example, multi-layer printed circuit boards stuffed with hundreds of tiny components, compared to an engineering drawing and giving them the go/no go.... And all the different colored stripes of the tiny resistors alone mean a different value.. Then there is polarity to make sure of; it goes on and on... I will never discuss what I missed with a Client either... I make sure there is nothing I missed so this is really a moot point for me... You just have to discipline yourself to look at every square inch of the vehicle, inside and out, giving that square inch, the go/no go, and moving on... Good luck with this ! Dan F
Good points Dan F! but I wouldn't say sunlight is end of all, for bright colors I feel more comfortable with a more control environment ( indoors with an adjustable LEd light like the Fenix TK35 ). I start working on smaller areas, focus inch by inch....its easier to say than done. but takes lots of attention to get it right. Thanks for your input Franki
I agree! First thing I do is take the car outside to go over the whole car to make sure I didn't miss anything.
After that, you take a good camera and a quality lens - take pictures - upload pictures - go back and clean up missed spots, only the lens will pick up.
