Finally painting the headlights

[stucknde]

the geek squad has it. they bullied me;)  my touch bad was acting screwy so it is getting repaired. hopefully i will get it back tomorrow and then post up some pics.

[stucknde]

so here is a pic of the headlight with the halo light in it. i havent been able to take a good night pic yet. crappy phone camera.

Any tips on how to set up the camera to take a sweet pic of these?

[DangBruhY]

so here is a pic of the headlight with the halo light in it. i havent been able to take a good night pic yet. crappy phone camera.

Any tips on how to set up the camera to take a sweet pic of these?

Yeah, don't move the camera when you press the button. 

Let me know... I can take some pics with my camera tonight, if you have time.

[Dark_Ducati]

There are 3 ways to get good exposures of a car with headlights (or halos) on.

1) shoot in the evening when the ambient light matches the light produced by the halo.
2) shoot with a good multi-flash setup to get even exposure
3) shoot 2 exposures with the camera on a tripod.  The first exposure properly lights the car (with the lights OFF), the second exposure is correct for the halos.  Overlay them in photoshop.

The shot below is option #3.  It gives you the most control over the blance between the car and the lights.  I shot it in my pitch-black garage, with one large flash bounced off the white ceiling for the first shot.  The second shot I tweaked the manual settings on the camera until I was happy with the way the halos looked (no flash).  The picture was totally black with two nice while rings and some minor light-spill on the bumper and headlight buckets.  Then overlay in photoshop and balance.

I just upped the game on my wireless flash setup, if you want to get together and make some badass photos!

Halos off:

And the final product:

[DangBruhY]

HDR

[Dark_Ducati]

That's option 4, but I find it less controllable.  With lights that have more than a couple stops of exposure difference, you have to pull the highlights WAY down and it makes the HDR look like those overdone, "look, I just did my first HDR" images.  I do like tastefully done HDRs tho... a happy Photomatix owner...

That's essentially what option #3 is doing, only it's manual and lets you choose the specific locations where you're increasing the dynamic range 

[MERRELL]

We should have a photography thread! anyways stucknde sweet lights man!!!

[stucknde]

Thanks man. I had the angel eyes working for a couple days then one of the inverters quit on me. but Caesar from lightwerkz in on it and has already shipped me another one free of charge. I will have them up and running by the meet i hope. Damn cold weather.

[Dark_Ducati]

Caesar is awesome to work with, he runs a great business.  I've had mine for almost two years, no issues what so ever.  So you must have gotten a freak dud.

[stucknde]

Yeah there is always a percentage of "duds" in any electronics.

Dark_Ducati- do your halo's come on slower when its cold outside? I have read of this being a common occurance.

[Dark_Ducati]

Yeah, they don't necessarily pop on like they do when it's warm.  The CCFLs take a bit of heat to function, not like an LED array.

[32greg44]

looks good man! one thing i might suggest is get some chrome amber bulbs for your turn signals for a even cleaner look

[stucknde]

good call, would you happen to know a local place that carries them?

[32greg44]

I got mine off eBay, but I can't remember the eBay store where I got them. I'll check for you when I get home. Unless anyone else knows where to get them?