Z28 Photoshops

[woody80z28]

So lately I've been working on my freelance site redesign and got to the point where I needed a good example of a project rendering in Photoshop. Believe it or not the worst part was trying to get the blue to look as though it wasnt 100% fake. I guess that's the tough part about working with dusk photography with good light. Anyone think there is a market for trying to sell this kind of work? I'm hoping so...

The car should look like pic #2 this spring, but pic #5 is still a while in the future. But here is the list:
General body and reflection clean up
Flat black powdercoated trim
Tinted windows
Tinted sidemarkers
Correct '80 fender vents
Lowering springs
GM dark indigo blue metallic paint
'80 Z28 stripe kit (with "Vortec" in the place of "Air Induction")
'80 Z28 grille emblem
18 & 20" TTIIs with matte gunmetal center

Original:










The current plan of action:

[WS6]

I think it'll look good when you get it done the way you want. I like the 80-82 Z28s with the stripe package and blue is my favorite color.

A suggestion for your webpage. Either enlarge the font or make it bold. The letters are really thin and it makes it hard to read. Just a thought. Maybe I need a bigger monitor or something. It is only 17"

[woody80z28]

Here's an image similar to what I've seen people get from EKD. The going rate for this type of work I've seen so far is $100-175? Does that sound about right?

[DarkBuddha]

Just to clarify, is this "rendering" for display of your work on your site or as a general guide for your own project? If it's just for your project, you can ignore the rest of this. However, if it's for your site and as a representation of the quality of your work, I think you might need to tweak it a bit before posting it. I've done quite a few photochops over the last 3 years and have become pretty critical when looking at them. Here are a few things that need attention:

* far side windows need to show tinting as well, especiall the back window.

* The wheels lack any "color" that they would normally show either by reflection or as a byproduct of the tint of the image when the photo was taken.

* There are several shading issues that should be fixed, specifically shadowing.

* There is a significant disparity between the saturation and contrast between the body and the rest of the image which makes it less believable as a real image.

Those are just the minimum of things I think a professional 'chop should take care to do correctly. Other things that I'd do are more a matter of taste, so I'll leave those out. And as for prices, I'm a horrible person to offer any insight there since I regularly do photochops and simple design stuff for free. But for if that is seriously the kind of money that can be made, I might have to start charging to help fund my own car.

Good luck with the project and the site.

[woody80z28]

Hey Wyatt,

Thank you for the critique, most people just say "cool" or "looks good", but that doesn't really help.

The pic is my car and my project plans, but also a feeler for more work.

I did tint the far side windows as well, but the back one probably should be darker. The side one is lighter than the other side window because in all the real pics I have, the window viewable through the windshield glare looks lighter.

The wheels need work, no doubt. I have a friend snapping a shot of his Coy's sometime soon and the TTII's are a placeholder for now. At full-res the wheels are also fuzzy.

It took me a while to get the blue to look even remotely believable, but maybe I should sleep on it and look again tomorrow. What about the shadowing and contrast jumps out at you as fake? Shading on the wheels probably?

For pricing I am going by EKD: http://www.eyekandydesigns.com/Portfolio.htm

I do a lot of design work for free as well, but with the amount of time I spent on this one, I'd probably have no time to actually wrench my car if I didn't charge for others!

[DarkBuddha]

Glad to offer what I can. I have to admit I envy your plans to make this part of your work. It's a ton of fun to do, but can be time consuming, so it's a guilty pleasure only for me these days.

After looking at the starting pic, it's clear the far side windows are tinted, but it lacks the uniformity I'd expect. I know the far side will appear lighter in reality but sometimes you have to go a bit darker to make a 'chop look convincing. Certainly the back window could use a bit more for sure.

The wheels are actually pretty close, and with some color tinting and shadowing, they'd look good. Better images are always the better place to start, but matching image resolution is often more important. I think these are close-ish, but if you're getting better pics, excellent.

The shadowing and shading stuff are related to the saturation/contrast issues. I think you nailed the blue pretty good, but the background doesn't match anymore, and therefor the shadows and shading doesn't look right anymore. Bring up the contrast and saturation on the background ever so slightly to match the body, and then double check the shadowing. Still, with the lowered ride height, you will probably want to darken and fatten up the under car shadows, especially around the front spoiler, which should give the car body a more grounded look (i.e. less floating).

Finally, one of the things I've noticed is that you can get away with a lot more fudging by removing the car from its original setting and putting it in some completely artificial "artsy fartsy" stylized background like you see on Foose's, Horton's and others' renderings. Since you're no longer trying to make it match reality, the viewer is more willing to suspend their disbelief. This kind of stylized rendering is what makes those things look really slick. Make sense?

[DarkBuddha]

BTW, this thread might get more feedback and views in the Multimedia forum... you might have it moved there.

[DarkBuddha]

Oh, and are you really getting rid of the original fender vents and replacing 'em? If so, let me know if you're selling 'em and how much you'd want for 'em?

[TheRoaringEagle]

man youre so critical. i am a professional artist, and while you have great tips, you're probably not as good as me. and so i must say it's unlikely that you guys can make money doing photochops, if i havenet even considered it, because of my skillz, and my money-making incentives. you guys wack!!!

[DarkBuddha]

man youre so critical. i am a professional artist, and while you have great tips, you're probably not as good as me. and so i must say it's unlikely that you guys can make money doing photochops, if i havenet even considered it, because of my skillz, and my money-making incentives. you guys wack!!!

Now who's being critical??? Granted, there is always someone better, maybe even you, but it isn't always about who is better, but rather whose work will meet the clients needs. Horton, Foose, McBride, etc. all do great work, but if I can do something for someone who has no skill and give them something useful and inspiring for cheap/free, then maybe my work is good enough. Look at it as "bang for the buck"... it may not be the fastest, best looking, or whatever, but if it gets 80% of the way there for 20%-50% of the dough, then there is some value in it.

BTW, since you're knocking other folks' work, it might be good to share of few of yours... here's a few of mine, everyone done for free and most done just for fun:









Now can we see some of your

[woody80z28]

Ok, I made some more modifications. I added the mirrors (it looks better without, but I want it to be an exact preview of my build), aligned the hood, fixed the tint, cleaned up the trim, darkened the shadow under the car and tried to make the wheels match better.

[DarkBuddha]

Ok, I made some more modifications. I added the mirrors (it looks better without, but I want it to be an exact preview of my build), aligned the hood, fixed the tint, cleaned up the trim, darkened the shadow under the car and tried to make the wheels match better.

Much improved already. The work on the matching the background to the body and the shadow work really helped a lot!

[hdesign]

man youre so critical. i am a professional artist, and while you have great tips, you're probably not as good as me. and so i must say it's unlikely that you guys can make money doing photochops, if i havenet even considered it, because of my skillz, and my money-making incentives. you guys wack!!!

Interesting post...added a lot to the discussion. Please show us some of your work. Perhaps it really is far superior and we can all learn from your vast knowledge.

Now who's being critical??? Granted, there is always someone better, maybe even you, but it isn't always about who is better, but rather whose work will meet the clients needs. Horton, Foose, McBride, etc. all do great work, but if I can do something for someone who has no skill and give them something useful and inspiring for cheap/free, then maybe my work is good enough. Look at it as "bang for the buck"... it may not be the fastest, best looking, or whatever, but if it gets 80% of the way there for 20%-50% of the dough, then there is some value in it.

BTW, since you're knocking other folks' work, it might be good to share of few of yours... here's a few of mine, everyone done for free and most done just for fun:

Totally agree. I don't charge a ton for my photoshop chop work because my concentration is on original renderings (done in photoshop). However, I'll meet my clients needs and make sure the quality of my photoshopping service is professional. Wyatt was offering CONSTRUCTIVE criticism that was offered in a polite and articulate way. Woody definitely has talent and the more he practices, the better he'll get. My only gripe was that I wasn't mentioned with the other artists...LOL (Just kidding).

[TonyHuntimer]

Nice work and nice website.


Tony~

[TonyL]

I'll go ahead and move this over to multimedia where it belongs. But before I do, I'll chime in. I've probably been doing chop work for the guys here longer than anyone, I've been offered a hundred bones for my work before but I've always turned it down. Some of my work is good. Some not so good. (I've always blamed my software. Arcsoft photostudio is no photoshop.) And that's why I don't charge. I cannot guarantee anyone's satisfaction, and until I could, I wouldn't feel right asking for someone to pay me to learn.

Wyatt makes some good criticisms, kudos to you for taking them in stride. Constructive criticism is how must of us learned and got better.

So here's mine. The rear wheel layer on your final draft is off. It's too far down and to the left of were it needs to be. It's giving the effect that be rear end has been sucked under the car. Moving it up and out will restore the original wheel's center line, and fix the problem. when pasting new wheels over old ones, make the layer semi-transparent. Line up the center cap with the one you're covering. then stretch from that center point out evenly. You'll get a much more convincing look out of it that way.

From this angle you should barely see the outide of the rear of the tire, due to the contour of the bulge. (that sounded wordy.) But here, I'll show you what I mean. See if you agree with me.

Here's the back wheel pulled up and right, and the tire widened to account for that wheel's depth.




what do you think?

oh and here's one of my favorite chops. (in the spirit of the whole show yer stuff thing)

Before:


after:

[woody80z28]

The rear wheel layer on your final draft is off. It's too far down and to the left of were it needs to be. It's giving the effect that be rear end has been sucked under the car. Moving it up and out will restore the original wheel's center line, and fix the problem. when pasting new wheels over old ones, make the layer semi-transparent. Line up the center cap with the one you're covering. then stretch from that center point out evenly. You'll get a much more convincing look out of it that way.

From this angle you should barely see the outide of the rear of the tire, due to the contour of the bulge. (that sounded wordy.) But here, I'll show you what I mean. See if you agree with me.

Here's the back wheel pulled up and right, and the tire widened to account for that wheel's depth.




what do you think?

I'll have to spend some time on that. To me it still doesn't look quite right.

I also don't plan on charging much for these. $75 is what I had in mind, once I have more practice. I'm doing a couple guys' cars for free to have more examples on the site and some more experience.

This kind of work gives me more satisfaction than my boring 9-5, and I'd like to see it grow.

[Runamok]

I'm in love.

[formula98]

You guy's are awesome!

TheRoaringEagle, I don’t get your point. Your criticism doesn’t make sense. Have you posted your work some where on this site? As I read through the suggestions I learned from the comments. I got nothing out of yours.

I think it is great what you guys are doing and that you really enjoy it! It is great to see the constructive criticism from some really talented people. I also like how well received the criticism was taken. Keep up the great work!

Ben, you’re awesome and I really hope some day to hook up with you and have you render a project for me. I have some other projects in mind.

Tony, I have seen a lot of your work through out this site and admire your work and how willing you are to help someone out.

Wyatt, Great advice! You have done some great work from what I’ve seen in this post. I thank you for your comments as it helped me to see something I would have overlooked.

Woody80z28 you have a great site and I believe you’ll do well. I really like what you are doing and that you would like to do it professionally.

My point of (Constructive) criticism would be to stay away from comments like “much cheaper than the competition.” It makes it appear that you will under cut to get business. I don’t believe that was your intent. You have some really talented people giving you great advice and some could be considered your competition. Comparisons in advertisement turn me off. Be original and be yourself. Leave the money out of it, it will come don’t force it. If it looks money driven it makes it look like the money is the goal and not your talented work. You have a great future ahead of you keep with it and listen to these guys. Your web site reads well for the most part, but you have many hints that you’re in this for the money and not as much as a creative passion. Put your work and your prices out there and let that do the work for you. Don’t tell people you’re great and cost less. Let them figure it out for them selves. I like your web site keep up the great work!

Ron

[formula]

man youre so critical. i am a professional artist, and while you have great tips, you're probably not as good as me. and so i must say it's unlikely that you guys can make money doing photochops, if i havenet even considered it, because of my skillz, and my money-making incentives. you guys wack!!!

Must be tough being a professional artist and never even considering trying to make money.

P.s. You guys wack?

[DarkBuddha]

Must be tough being a professional artist and never even considering trying to make money.

P.s. You guys wack?

You know... it just occured to me that I know several folks that work for Valpak (you know, the coupon people) as "designers" and "assmeblers" who also call themselves "professional artists". No point really, but it does show the variety in the meanings of words "professional" and "artist".