After a year of owning the Z, I finally got around to doing an "official" photoshoot. Painted my headlights dark metallic gray last week as well as did some custom LED work while I had the lights apart for painting. One pic below will show a close-up of my design and where the LEDs have been drilled into.

I also replaced my clear-corners with a new set (thanks West Covina Nissan!) which I smoked (from behind the reflector, not above) and also installed super-bright, wide-angle LEDs in them (15 on each side). I had bought a pre-made set from a fellow member last year who had done an excellent job, but I decided to upgrade to something brighter so learned the nuances of LED work online and had a go at it!

Now the shoot. 16 photos in all out of over 200 taken.

EDIT: Pics updated/replaced. Grain is gone or reduced.

 

i love the greddy sides!.get some cool front bumpers!NICE car!

 

gotta work on using layers if you're going to desaturate (or increase saturation) that much. you can see the shadow areas on the car changing colors drastically.

 

i don't really care about the photoshop, the car is gorgeous!

 

Nice pics!!! I have a new desktop.

 

Very nice.

Set your ISO a little lower (60-200) for less grainy pictures.

 

Thank you. ISO was 80-100 for all of them, actually, for that very reason. I am trying to pinpoint what caused the grain. Some of it is our wonderfully orange peeled Nissan paint, magnified in close-ups

 

I just realized how unique the LED work you've done is! First time I looked I missed it. Outstanding work my friend! What paint did you use on your headlights?

 

nice pics

 

Yeah, learning the PS as I go! The B&W/Color hybrids weren't created in PS though; the originals were just captured that way. It causes uneven shadows but I like the effect it renders.

 

Thank you. In-headlight LEDs were never the plan. It's just that I was waiting for LEDs to arrive for my CCs and the headlights were still apart when I noticed the silver plastic shroud on the headlights and that it can be completely removed from the assembly. There was plenty of clearance behind it (once assembled) and the LEDs could be wired to the existing 4 amber LEDs in the headlights (no need to run wires out and risk moisture leakage) so I thought to give it a shot. With luck (and a new 5mm drill bit ), it worked out as planned!

I used MetalCast ('Smoke' shade) for the lights. It gives an annodized look on chrome and that's what gives the metallic effect.

 

Love it! Very different. The color adds much more depth to the surface than the satin black that I used. I might have to redo mine.

 

lookin good man!

 

Awesome!!! Where did you take these pics???

 

l.e.d is awesome.. great work

 

truly bee - you - tee - full!!!

 

That, in a pinch, is the problem I have with black as a paint choice for these lights. Black, by nature, hides curves and shapes (hence the overweight are advised to wear it!) so with these lights, from 15 feet away, the lights look like dark recesses with a silver shroud in the middle. Same is the problem with the OEM chrome as well; it shows no curves at a distance.

Thanks Robert! These were taken at mi casa of course

 

Nice car and cool pics.

 

Thanks. You know yours is a helluva lot cooler.

 

Greddy side ftw!