How to take great pictures of your car.

Many people write in and ask me for advice on the best way to photograph their car so I've prepared a list of the techniques I use to minimise bad and boring photos...

1) Horizons should always be parallel to the ground unless you want the people viewing your photo to tilt their heads to be able to make sense of the image. Tilting you head places everything out of proportion and makes the photo unpleasant to many viewers (may even make them feel sick). Don't believe me? Try tilting your head while driving down the road - you'll soon see what I mean. It's a freaky and unpleasant experience. Same goes for looking at a photo. Parallel to the planet please.

2) There should be nothing growing out of your car (if possible) like power poles, trees or other people. The best and most dramatic images of cars have been against no backgrounds. For example Hot Rod magazine (and their ilk) always take magnificent shots of cars at the salt lakes. Why? No background. So if you are looking for a location try and think of a place where the background is minimal. Some (including myself) have photographed cars on large green playing fields. This satisfies the no-background rule though I'm not fond of shots of cars on grass as it covers a little of the tyre and..well...just doesn't look perfect (if you're looking for perfection). Of course this is not always possible so you'll just have to try and minimise the "busy-ness" of the background by careful composition instead.

3) There should be no movement of the camera. Use of a tripod if at all possible. At a car show you will not have your tripod so lean against the nearest pole or wall or stabilise yourself somehow. Don't just hold your camera up with one hand and 'wave' it at the subject while pressing the shutter. Digital cameras are good but they can not perform miracles. I get down on one knee and tuck my elbows in nice and tight. That gets me down to the car's height (see tip 5) and in a 'locked' position so movement is minimised. Movement equals blurry shots which equals wasted effort.

4) Try to use the "sun-to-your-back" rule as often as you can. The sun makes for excellent lighting and at sunset with a long exposure (tripod definitely required) you can capture subtle orange, yellow and blue tones that look fantastic reflected on shiny paint.

5) Never take a shot of your car at full standing height. Cars will always look better if you crouch down to just above headlight height (you should be able to see a little hood metal but not too much). Look the car in the eyes (headlights). How would you like to be photographed from someone on top of a ladder looking down at you?

6) Take what I call the "three quarter shot". That's when you photograph the front of the car with one full side visible and then go to back of the car and catch all the rear and down the other side. That way, in two shots you have captured the entire outside of the car.

7) Take a shot of the engine bay, the interior and any other detail shots.

8) Do not chop off any of the car! When photographing the entire car (not the detail shots I mentioned in tip 7) make sure that you don't chop off any fenders or rooflines. An entire car looks much better than bit's and pieces of what you think is interesting. I've lost count of the number of times people have taken a photo of a 59 Caddy's tail lights and the rest of the car just ran out of the side of the picture - I've even done it a few times myself (and regretted it).

9) With digital cameras you can afford to do what only the professional photographers used to be able to afford to do and that is to 'bracket' your photos. Bracketing is normally associated with taking several shots at different exposures to get the correct one. Now a days you don't have to worry about exposure (see tip 4) because most cameras do an excellent job of choosing exposure settings for you so I use bracketing to try different compositioning. A few inches movement to the left or right or up or down can be the difference between just another photo of a car and a photo that attracts and keeps the attention of the viewer to the point that they spend more time looking at your photo. Ever spent a little too long looking a photo? Chances are that it was composed correctly and had adequate (or interesting) lighting.

10) Unless you want to capture a 'scene' leave the backgrounds out for now. You want it (your subject) to totally dominate the image. Fill the viewfinder with the subject. Don't place a car in the middle of a playing field and then go to the top of the grandstand to photograph it. Get up close to the subject and without chopping anything off (see tip 8) fill your entire viewfinder with it.

Follow these 10 steps and I guarantee that your photos will improve to the point where you should eventually hear someone say "Now that is a great shot!" and when you hear those words I want you to email me and tell me - it'll make my day.



Special Hint:
If there a lot of people mulling around a car that you want to photograph, try this little trick. If you sit there (in your new excellent "Bill Stacy Stance") with your camera pasted to your face waiting for people to clear a path for you, your arms and face will get tired from holding the camera up and squinting (if you use the viewfinder instead of the digital LCD screen display) because people will tend to ignore you. I suppose that they must be thinking "Who do you think you are? If you think I'm going to move without you asking me to you, then you have another thing coming". I don't know, but I do know that people will not move unless you show them some respect first.

Here is what I do:
I assume the 'special' position (see tip 3) and sit there with my camera LOWERED and look around like you have all the time in the world. That way you signal to people that you are preparing to take a photo but are willing to wait until they have finished looking at the subject car. Do not 'stare' people into moving - it makes you feel bad when they don't move. When people realise that you are respecting their time then they will respect you. You will even find that some folks will act like crowd control and will raise their arms to prevent other people (who might have not seen you crouching there) from entering the shot. Sometimes I waive people through and thank them anyway (explaining that I have plenty of time) but mostly I take a few quick shots (which I previously composed - roughly), thank them and move on.

Happy snapping :TU:

Note:
I'm going to post this up around the place in several groups and forums. I hope that it helps someone to take better photos that they would have before reading this article.

 

Thanks Bill, good tips to try:TU:

 

I just hope it helps people take better shots of their car. If one person thinks of one of my tips while taking a photo then my job is done.

 

photo tips

best photo shots are also taken on cloudy or near rainy days or early morning/late evening .
no reflections from the sun .

 

You forgot tip #11........

Use Photoshop to widen your back tires for the ultimate look. :gt: :laugh:
LOL

Great suggestions Bill. :TU:
btw... I love the shot of your car in your avatar now!
(Wide tires and all) p

 

I heard it helps to clean the car first too.

Oh and take the lense cover off.

Seriously though, these are good suggestions. Since I got my digital camera and didn't have to worry about wasted money for developing film, I've experimented alot more with creative photography. Man what a little shift in angle can do.

Thanks for the tips.

 

HOW 2

Thanks for the tutorial Bill !

Just got a new digital camera, and we're just getting familiar with it. Quite a change from the old 35mm SLR !
Looking foreward to some good car pics.

:TU: :TU: :TU:

 

Bill,

Good tips.

There are two things that many people do when taking pictures of a car that drive me nuts. You know... those eBay auctions where you can't tell what color the car is.

1. Backlight - You mentioned keeping the sun at your back but didn't stress the downfalls of backlight. If the light behind your subject is bright and you use automatic exposure the car will look like a dark blob. Avoid backlight unless you know how to compensate for it. A flash can help, even in broad daylight.

2. White balance - Many digital cameras have automatic white balance that doesn't work well. Read your instructions about how to white balance the camera. If you don't you'll have pictures that look like they were shot through a tinted window. Every light source has it's own color temperature and requires a different setting for this. My Olympus digital is one of the worst cameras I've ever used for this reason alone. Otherwise I love it.

 

great advice but now i kinda want to take a bunch of jumbled nasty pictures of my car when its all dirty and ugly outsidelol. j/k. really those tips were awesome!