What the **** am i doing wrong with these photos?

[Gary-Lew]

I am in the process of paint correction, i cannot get the bloody pics to look good, i have a point and shoot Samsung L201 10.2 meg pix, i have tried a few settings to no avail, this is taken on scene selection with the selector on close up and no flash.

I cant get the swirls in focus

the end result then is flat paint and the halogen lamps are not a sharp image, but to look at it its looks wet and glossy

 

[Clart]

tripod, or use the flash?

 

[dunganick]

Its hard to tell if they are in focus or not, however my best advice for compact cameras is to make sure macro is on. Also try different angles, quite often a lower angle is better. You may well find in artificial light, the focusing ability is not as good as in decent daylight.

 

[capturedbyjames]

try lighting from a different angle, rather than square-on.
then try and use manual focus if there is such a thing......

 

[Andy.]

put your finger on the paint, focus on that, lock focus (keep the button half pressed), remove your finger and press all the way down.

 

[Gary-Lew]

put your finger on the paint, focus on that, lock focus (keep the button half pressed), remove your finger and press all the way down.

Sounds good back in five!

 

[GaryS]

standing too close to the car? lenses have a minimum focus distance, might be too close if it doesn't have a macro feature.

 

[Jungle_Jim]

you need to use manual focus buddy, the autofocus will just focus the reflections of the lamps but you need to adjust it to capture the surface imperfections

as for the final shot try putting stuff that reflects in it to give an impression of the shine