A little tutorial i wrote some time ago, thought i would share......


Hey guys... i have a number of requests over the last few years for some advice and tips on properly photographing cars for best effect. I would like to share a few ideas and suggestions for those who might like to improve their skills. There are several things that are very easy and low cost that will greatly change the look of photos, and it has nothing to do with what camera you are using. Megapixels matter when you are making huge enlargements to print and frame, or for magazine covers and such. For web and forum, FB, instagram etc, your iPhone or smart phone is just as effective.

1. Lighting, lighting, lighting.......... oh, yeah, lighting. I can't emphasize this enough. Time of day matters tremendously for showing off or hiding flaws, defects in paint, swirl marks etc. The best time to photograph the car is dawn, or dusk. No full sun in the sky. When the sun slips over the horizon line, you have about 1/2 hour of perfection handed to you from your higher power. Free of charge. This will make your car look like a advertisement most of the time. Straight camera flash is never great unless you diffuse it with some material over the flash or bounce it off something. A soft fill light is nice if aimed right and not causing multiple reflections on the car.

2. Car Placement. Move the car as far away from the background that you are shooting, unless the background is super clean and free of vertical objects growing from behind. (trees, utility poles, houses)
By doing that, in combination with the next suggestion on lens choice, will make a very big difference.

3. Lens choice. Try and place a good amount of distance between you and the car. Then use a longer focal length lens, or zoom to compress your background. You will have less distortion on the car as opposed to a wider lens in close, and your background will "separate' from your foreground as well giving a more 3-D effect.

4. Exposure. Shoot in manual mode if you can. Use a wider aperture (lets in more light) but gives a softer depth of field, which is simple terms means the background in conjunction with a longer focal length lens becomes shallow and more unfocused, thereby making the car jump out from its background.

5. ASA/ISO setting will control light sensitivity on your camera, and if you shoot at the times i laid out, if you work at 800-1200 ASA, and manually open your aperture to F2.8 or F4, you can adjust exposure with your shutter speed setting as well.

6. invest in a tripod and cable release/remote for triggering your camera. Even with a very steady hand and a faster shutter speed, you will always get some shake when you hit the trigger. This will remove any shake or vibrations, and definitely give you sharper images.

7. A few other small details. Turn the front wheel closest to the lens hard to the side that shows off the rim, not the wheel well and tire. Try changing your perspective when snapping to lower angles to get rid of unwanted things growing from behind.

I hope this helps some of you, and would love to see a thread devoted to seeing the results of your efforts using these ideas and techniques to see what you have done.

Best,

David