[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Time is never enough, I recommend you also wear old clothes!

In case people are wondering why Ajmat said this

Originally Posted by Kanthi

'The team-bhp number plates on review cars are photoshopped.' No dammit, it is freaking Merlins' magic. Are you telling us that the luminance/light-source, angle of text, color temperature, the glossiness are all worked upon to give that realistic feel.

This is kind of my guilty pleasure! It's not always that we get the chance to put a lot of time into the number plates, but occasionally we do.

Here's a few of my favourites:

Graduated lighting at dusk:


Slightly reflective plate (you can see the reflection of the road line), along with perspective and appropriate de-focus on the text:


Extreme angle:


This one was a bit of a nightmare - more so for changing the plate from white to black than adding the text


Curved plate = curved text:


Plate made slightly reflective (you can see Aditya's hand in the reflection to add some realism). Text too has a slight drop-shadow to make it feel like its a vinyl cut-out on an acrylic/plastic plate:


"Debossed" text, custom font to match the Ontario plates, and of course, lighting and shadows to match (click to zoom):


cya
R

[humyum]

Phenomenal post Rush. Although I know how things work in the media industry as I have worked with an automotive magazine, but it was such a treat to live through it with the pictorial explanation, almost like a super hit movie script.

Team-Bhp has grown up so much from when I joined first in 2008, heck the journey of seeing the growth of Team-Bhp has been excellent and not to mention being a member among the thousands then and now lakhs makes me feel proud.

The best part about Team-Bhp reviews are that there is no mirch masala, no 'I have to please these manufacturers' and most of all the reviews are something which when you drive the car which has been reviewed makes you say 'HECK THIS IS EXACTLY HOW THE REVIEWER HAD SAID IT WAS'. The reader connects to the review when he drives that car himself and connection itself shouts out loud the unbiased nature of the review.

Let me get into Neta mode and shout out loud

'Jab tak suraj chand rahega, Team-Bhp tera naam rahega'

[Dr.Suraj]

Wow!

This is probably one of the best, most informative thread on Team BHP.

This is a never seen before, never done by anybody else.

Kudos to that.
THIS - is what defines Team BHP - that you guys are willing to enlighten us, always going that extra mile - doing things, telling us things that we would not find anywhere.

Hats off guys!

[Nithesh_M]

Originally Posted by GTO

Others ask stupid stuff for the sake of making their presence known.

This is very painful to hear. Some people never let go of their college shenanigans.
Think of all the time and valuable information lost anytime anyone spends to post such questions just for the heck of it.

Originally Posted by GTO

• There is then a dinner session organised in the conference room itself, or out on the lawns / poolside. This is where you have easy access to senior management for any queries at all. While the business managers are formal in their demeanour, the technical guys are informal. They really open up once you tell them you're from Team-BHP. You can gain superb insights on the car & even the auto industry overall from these dinner conversations.

I really envy you guys now more than ever. I wish there was a forum to engage in open conversations like that with technical directors/designer/engineers for folks like us that want to gain more in-depth knowledge on what their products have to offer from a serious technical point of view, the bits and pieces brochures and magazines never point out because they seem very unimportant to the general public.

[Rudra Sen]

Originally Posted by GTO

• We're put up in standard rooms at a 5-star hotel. Suites & economy-grade accommodation are more the exception than the rule. Except for a handful of hours of sleep, we never see the room.

How true! Had only a two hours of sleep here few years ago.

Originally Posted by GTO

• I don't like wasting a lot of time searching for that 'ideal' photoshoot location. If it's close by, fine. If not, I'll find something half decent and focus on the car instead. To me, the car is more important than the backdrop.

Now with this only one point I will continue my argument with Rush. And it will be a never ending one each time.

Originally Posted by AlphaLamb

So finally "the Great TBHP Number plate" trick is revealed and I thought I was the only one with this itch to find out more about how every car reviewed carries this number plate and is there so much time during reviews to attach and remove these plates.

Get these three points and you will know:
> Number plate sizes are not standard across the board.
> One will not get time to remove plates.
> ILLEGAL to drive without proper number plate.

Originally Posted by SchumiFan

At the same time, a big thanks to the regular mods/founders of the forum. You have managed to set the bar and raise it high over a period of time that a lot of painstaking effort needs to go into each review just to emulate it, let alone better it.

Originally Posted by prabhu789

The review standard set by Team-BHP is next to impossible for anyone to match.

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

Threads like these are why team-bhp is better than all other automotive journals (both offline and online) combined. Amazing review of the review process.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Few forums on any subject are as disciplined and serious in content as Team BHP.

52 points (to cover) spread over two A4 sheets. Plus minus 85 things (what to shoot) in a separate A4 sheet. Boy, it is fun!
Reviews here are not to massage somebody’s ego but to give a clear perspective.

TBHP is a consumer’s forum and people do take call on their automobile purchases from here.

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Tanveer has a knack of clicking incredible panning shots, like the Elantra posted here. Here’s one from Rudra during the Fiat Multijet drive event:

Tanveer is a very dedicated photographer and normally goes to a great extent to get the right shots. For me it is more of a compulsion.

Few more from the same drive here. It was a complex plan to get tracking shots during Multijet drive.
Complex, because we had more than one car to shoot in one frame. Pilot car was not an Innova but a Punto with very little space to sit properly.
Results were however looked OK.

Please note that number plates were not changed to TBHP plate because it was not an official review but an official drive.

[arnabchak]

Rush

Fantastic and insightful review.
It is very detailed and humorous at the same time.

It speaks volumes of your commitment to this forum.
Kudos to the entire Mods team for stitching up beautiful unbiased reports every time, time after time!!

[sudeepg]

Originally Posted by GTO

The Smaller yet Significant Things

• Inexpensive caps, t-shirts, scale models, bags etc. are still okay, but high-priced gifts make us uncomfortable (politely refused an iPad once and a laptop another time). IMHO, sufficient time with the car is all that we

Awesome! This goes a long way to show that quality is the top priority than writing a review which may be in favour! Way to go team-bhp folks!

[S2!!!]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Time is never enough, I recommend you also wear old clothes!

I learnt this immediately after my first official drive . Especially while reviewing a car in the monsoons when it tends to get dirty far too easily - not good for a Team-BHP official photoshoot. Here is me cleaning the Elite i20 while Rehaan is clicking and sharing the picture with others on whatsapp .

[navin]

Originally Posted by avingodb

On a lighter note, I have heard from my friends who are in auto PR of the T-BHP guys being the most tough nuts during reviews

We aim to please.....BHPians.

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

52 points (to cover) spread over two A4 sheets. Plus minus 85 things (what to shoot) in a separate A4 sheet.

For some of us who are less diligent photographers, guys like Rudra and Tanveer are always around to help (as long as the images are shot in RAW there is always hope to extract more out of it).

[jamesdraj]

WOw .. so much goes in reviewing a car..many wouldn't have known GTO .thanks for in depth detailed description of the whole process!!!

[aak91]

Hats off to the TBHP crew. It really is an eye opener as to how difficult the job of reviewing a car is. Truly an amazing thread.

[Srikanthan]

Wow!!

Excellent insight into the Team-BHP official review process and the ethical professionalism it undergoes.

Kudos to the entire team and keep up the good work.

Novices like me benefit a lot.

This thread is now a mandatory recommendation to all my prospective car-buying friends outside Team-BHP.

[satan's_valet]

Kudos to all the mods for their efforts to get us the most informative and unbiased review for any car out there. I had a fair idea that this was no easy job, but never actually knew the intricacies behind it. And Rush, thanks again for this detailed article.

P.S. - I was actually under the impression that you carry multitude of number plates along with the TBHP stickers for each of the drive. Thanks for the eye-opener and the Photoshop work is brilliant.

[StarrySky]

Great thread! In true T-BHP fashion, the thread on the process behind the official reviews is as detailed as the reviews themselves (including the smaller yet significant things)!!

[Chris_Xtreme]

Appreciate the efforts taken by the fellow Bhpians in bringing the reviews to our desks. This thread helped us to get an insight of the efforts you take, enjoying every moment of what you do. Kudos team!