Paint & Body Work - Stage paint question

Hello -can a professional experienced painter explain the difference between a 2 stage and 3 stage paint please? I want to shoot the car 2010 Camaro Imperial Blue metalic or a 2012 Ford Taurus Black metallic paint (don't know the name). I don't know if these are 2 or 3 stage paints, I do know 3 stage paints are pricey from people I spoke to.

Thanks in advance

2 stage- basecoat(the color) then clear
3 stage basecoat(the color) then mid coat(could be anything from pearls to a tranparent color) then clear

Thank you-do you know which colors require 3 stage? I heard certain colors like blue shades or red.

no it all depends on the formula and the brand

There are so many diffrent 3stage colors now a days. The mid coat is basically A transparent color. Ie if your taking about a 3 stage Candy red the base would be gold the mid coat would be trans red and then clear.