Ready for your shoot day.
A few small things done well beforehand make a real difference in the final images. Here's everything to prep the car and get yourself to the shoot without a hitch.
Prep the Car
Do this the day before your session. It's less about a showroom finish and more about getting the details camera-sharp — badges, gaps, glass, and the panels the light hits hardest.
Exterior Wash
A proper two-bucket wash with a pH-neutral shampoo, with extra attention on the spots a quick rinse skips.
Grime sits in the recessed edges around badges, grille emblems and lettering — one of the first things a close-up lens picks up. A soft detailing brush with a little shampoo works into the gaps; rinse with a gentle stream so you're not pushing dirt back under the badge.
Same idea around door edges, the bonnet line and boot seam — a detailing brush or microfibre-wrapped trim tool clears the buildup without marking the paint.
Brake dust is stubborn. A dedicated wheel cleaner and stiff brush, into the barrels and not just the face of the rim.
A large microfibre or waffle-weave towel — pat and drag rather than scrub, especially on darker colours where drying marks show more.
Polish & Finish
Once it's clean and dry, this is what takes it from clean to camera-ready. You don't need a full correction — just enough to bring out the reflection.
Run a hand over a clean, dry panel. Gritty rather than glass-smooth means a quick clay bar pass with lubricant before polishing.
Applied by hand and buffed with a microfibre — adds gloss and beading without the risk of a heavier compound. The safest shine boost the night before.
Streak-free glass shows up in reflections and through the windscreen in interior shots. A dedicated glass cleaner, separate microfibre.
Water-based tyre dressing, satin not gloss, on clean dry tyres. Heavy greasy dressings sling onto arches and paint, and read as artificial in photos.
Interior
Interior and open-door detail shots come up in most sessions, so it's worth ten minutes even if we're not planning many cabin shots.
Rubbish, parking tickets, chargers, anything in the door pockets or console you wouldn't want in a photo.
Seats, floors, dash and console with a microfibre and interior cleaner. Skip heavy silicone dash dressings — they cause glare under lights.
Air fresheners, parking permits, dashcam cables — they pull focus in wide interior shots, easiest to remove before I arrive.
Full wash & detail
Wash, badge and gap detailing, wheels, clay bar if needed, polish or sealant. Let it dry fully overnight, ideally undercover.
Interior & final touches
Vacuum and wipe the interior, remove personal items, quick glass clean if there's dust from the drive over.
I take it from here
Bring a microfibre towel to the session for a final panel wipe and detail pass.
Day of the Shoot
A great session starts before I ever pick up the camera. Here's how the day itself should run.
Before You Leave
Sessions run back to back on shoot days, so a late arrival eats into your own shoot time. A buffer avoids that entirely.
A look at live traffic conditions around an hour out gives you enough warning to adjust if there's an accident, roadworks, or heavier traffic than usual.
Gives us a couple of minutes to say hello, confirm the plan for the shots, and get you parked in the right spot before we start.
Conditions can shift in that final hour — a second glance as you walk out the door means no surprises on the way.
On Arrival
A few small things on arrival keep the start of the shoot smooth.
If we've locked in a spot beforehand, head straight there. If not, hang back near the entrance and I'll guide you in.
We may need to reposition the car partway through, open the boot, or pop the bonnet for certain shots.
Weather & Rescheduling
Melbourne weather does its own thing — here's how we handle it if conditions turn on shoot day.
If rain or poor light looks likely, I'll reach out ahead of time so we can decide together whether to go ahead, adjust the time, or reschedule.
Watching the forecast and it's not looking good? Message me — better to sort it early than both show up to bad light.
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