HARRINGTON CARS

Creation and processing of photos of children’s cars for ecommerce use.

A US entrepreneur named Brian, has spearheaded an exciting project; retro cars for kids! You read that right. As real as your car that takes you from A to B, both electric motors and petrol-powered cars. These cars are completely similar to the vintage cars you know like Ferrari, Mercedes, Land Rover and Jeep but they’re smaller, as they should be. This project is an amazing idea that will grab the attention of children, diverting their focus on gadgets and console games.

2020

Main problems

Photos of the cars that were sent post-production came in high resolution. However, they needed to be worked on because the cars appeared dirty and those were bloopers. The reflections on the cars needed to be edited because they did not give the right impression of the body of the car and its shape.

Body imperfection

The dirt and dust on the body of the car remains visible in the images and the reflection on the car makes it appear crumpled.

Distorted perspective gives the viewer the wrong impression. It makes the images look the same when in reality, the product has different forms. The position of the wheels also creates the impression that the car is unfit for use.

Distorted perspective

A close look at the original image will reveal that the wheels seem not to be well-aligned vertically.

It is paramount that the body and other parts of the image are painted in the colors of the real product. This is to ensure that the buyer gets exactly what he orders on the website.

Color matching

Body color variations created with provided samples.

There are vehicles that can be configured in some elements such as the wheel disks, badges, body-parts spoilers and stickers. The images must show this to enable the buyer get acquainted with it. It is important to combine the provided images of the parts with that of the cars by processing the photos. The images should look real and natural.

Missing product elements

Adding a spoiler using photo manipulation in Adobe photoshop

Work

It begins with the preparation of the images for editing. The editing involves basic color correction, noise reduction and perspective alignment. Areas that are too dark have to be lightened and areas that are overshadowed need to be worked on to get rid of any black or white spots that can create a false view of the product.

Next step is to begin the retouching of the image. I employ the frequency decomposition technique because this project requires that a high quality image is presented afterwards. Frequency decomposition enables me to get rid of unwanted elements from the image without traces of editing on the final image.

In all the images, dirt and dust are removed from the car body, bumpers and wheels with utmost care. Scratches are cleaned out from glass and chrome parts. Glare and reflections are also removed to ensure that a false impression of the shape of the car is not given.

Brightness and contrast are increased on the chrome parts and headlights to give it a shiny and fresh look. Certain colors need to be restored and highlighted such as the steering wheel or the turn signs.

The background is removed and the transparency and reflections of the windshield are superimposed. Shadows that appear real asre created. This entire work is done with utmost care and meticulousness. Every detail is paid attention to ensure that the final image post-retouching looks real and natural.

After the images have been retouched, they are prepared for a very important part of the work which is the color of the body, interior and wheels.

After the image has been thoroughly retouched, they are prepared for painting of the body and the rims.It is very necessary that the images are prepared and that masks are created for each element. This would make the work simpler and faster at later stages. It would also maintain the high quality. I don’t employ automatic selection tools because they are slower due to the adjustments.

Masks created with the Pen tool in Adobe Photoshop

After the masks have been created and grouped, I use photoshop to make layers for each element. The order in the layers makes it easy to make more adjustments to the color as well as to quickly add a new color position.
I use the body color preferences provided by the client to create the xolors. Each one needs brightness and saturation adjustments made because it is crucial that the same color schemes are used. It should all appear natural and real. I create the color positions of the interior and rims separately.
Apart from color, some cars are replaced and some have certain elements added to them like spoilers and rims.