Car picture tips

[stevay]

Do any of you have any tips for taking pictures of cars...like stuff to do w/backrounds and certain things to focus on.
thanks.

[cricket]

Where are you taking these? Indoors or out?

I'll guess out.

I think it is always good to look first past the car and at what is in the background. Garbage cans, hoses, people, power lines, other cars, etc. Try and position yourself so you eliminate these distractions.

Try different angles, too. Squat down and get the car from a low angle, and if possible, from an angle with the front tire that is closest to you turned in to the scene. This shows off the wheels and gives a nice look to the shot.

Close-ups of the grill, wheels, hood ornaments, badges, special paint jobs/graphics, side shots, dashboard, steering wheels, special tail/headlights, any thing like that could be a nice print. Even rain drops in a close-up looks cool on a waxed body!

My boyfriend races, and we show. Don't be shy to ask the owner about special shots they want. Believe me, they usually know!

Experiment and consider DOF when doing the angled shots. You will want to get the entire car in focus for many of them.

Have fun!

[iwatkins]

As Cricket says above really.

My biggest bit of advice is if you are shooting outdoors try and do it in the magic hour, i.e. sunset. Saturation really increases here. In addition, find a good location for car shots and note it down, then you can return there again and again.

Close ups also really work, getting a stock shot of a car is easy, getting a good series of shots of the details isn't so much.

Couple of book if you are really serious are:

How to Photograph Cars - James Mann (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0760312435/202-1296888-7642241?%5Fencoding=UTF8)
How to Photograph Cars: The Enthusiast's Guide to Techniques and Equipment - Tony Baker (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1859608558/202-1296888-7642241?%5Fencoding=UTF8)

One of my random detail shots below but is simply indoor, piece of white paper on ground under car, two 500w halogen lights and tripod mounted 10D:

Cheers

Ian

http://www.asrv84.dsl.pipex.com/T25/Other/Images/20040528_1539_5617.jpg

[charlesu]

Nice shot. And Cricket's advice is awesome. I don't shoot cars. It's hard to do well. And my car shots look like crap (here is an example). But don't sweat it. Just get out and have fun.

.

http://www.runways.com/images/IMG_9502%20web.jpg

.

[EoSD30fReAk]

you havo to find an angle that not many people use!

i always get the camera on the same height as the cars headlights!

here's an example of a picture i took from my friends car. in the end there where lots of people that wanted this picture because they liked the robust look the car had on the picture.
and i didn't even like it so much because of the reflections

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v59/EoSD30fReAk/others/clio01.jpg

[Conk]

Nice shot. And Cricket's advice is awesome. I don't shoot cars. It's hard to do well. And my car shots look like crap (here is an example). But don't sweat it. Just get out and have fun.

Oh ya sure. Looks like crap. Admit it. You just wanted to show off your Porshe. ;)

Do any of you have any tips for taking pictures of cars...like stuff to do w/backrounds and certain things to focus on.
thanks.

My suggestion is polarizing filter and use flash to eliminate shadows. it was said to shoot in the twilight or in my opinion overcast. Angle is everything too. You can get everything else right. Lighting and exposure, but if the angles aren't right you wont be happy. I have some shots that I saved from a poster a while back. I do not want to post them as I did not shoot them but I merely kept them as a reference for angles to shooting cars. e-mail me if you'd like me to send them to you.

[iwatkins]

Prompted by this post, I've finally got around to uploading my new gallery dedicated to the Litchfield Imports, Subaru Impreza Type 25.

This hopefully will give you some ideas for various shots at various locations:

Type 25 Gallery (http://www.asrv84.dsl.pipex.com/T25/)

Cheers

Ian

[Conk]

Love the studio shots Ian. Thumbs up man!

[skimmilk68]

what about during night in a pretty empty supermarket parking lot or a gas station where they have those bright white lights?

my car always look squeaky clean and so smooth under those conditions

would it come out well in photo?

[iwatkins]

Yes, it would work well. However, you would probably need to tripod mount the camera for a fairly long exposure.

The only problem would be the amount of contrast between really bright spots and those parts in dark shadow, but several attempts should give you a good range of shots.

Cheers

Ian

[MattSG]

I personally am all about action shots. Depends on the car of course...but experiment with different places and what not. For still shots go long exposure on a clean car, it will look like a million bucks.

...a few examples of action shots you might be inspired by.
http://www.swspeed.com/matt/SWSSCS3/blurred.jpg
http://www.swspeed.com/matt/SWSSCS3/parisabdalla.jpg
http://www.swspeed.com/matt/SWSSCS3/xchad.jpg
http://www.swspeed.com/matt/SWSSCS3/chad.jpg
http://www.swspeed.com/matt/swsccs/sherbring.jpg

[mikesd]

Here is a shot of a friends car done last summer. Shot off of tripod about a foot off the ground, just before the sun started going down. Shooting that low allowed for an all tree background.

[skimmilk68]

here's some i took tonight
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/skimmilk68/car2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/skimmilk68/car1.jpg

i tried to do that effect like i mentioned above... night time, under those bright white lights at a gas station or a market parking lot

the ground was wet (raining) so it gave a cool effect but i dont know why it didnt come out sharp... maybe lower aperture..

anyway i looked like a jacka$$ drying my car and cleaning the wheels while its raining

[PhotosGuy]

Most of these were in a parking lot, at and after sunset:
http://img72.photobucket.com/albums/v218/PhotosGuy/Car%20Stuff/

[Sohc_mshue]

I have been having a lot of trouble taking pics of my car at nightime. I just got my canon S1 camera and the only real place i've tried taking pics were in my driveway at night. For some reason the street lights and other lights around the car cause this bubble effect and I see all kinds of light blotches in the pic. Even with a lower apature i see a bunch. Here are a couple of the pics. Don't laugh..I'm a noob :o .

Heres my car
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/sohc_mshue/1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/sohc_mshue/5.jpg

Also some of my friend's cars.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/sohc_mshue/4.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/sohc_mshue/3.jpg

You can really notice the light splotches in the second pic of my car.

[PhotosGuy]

For some reason the street lights and other lights around the car cause this bubble effect and I see all kinds of light blotches in the pic. pic 2: It's called flare. The flare from the right might be eliminated with a lens shade since it's out of the pic frame.
"Night" shots of cars don't come out very well. Best to have a broad light source like a cloudless sky that will reflect in the body & bring out the contour of the metal.
Experiment & keep at it.

[Sohc_mshue]

thanx for the tips:D

[Don Mathis]

I have a '37 Bentley and a '61 MGA all restored. Try wetting down the cars, at least where they are setting and turn on the headlights. It has a nice effect.

Don in Atlanta

[ShutteringFocus]

Get close and go angled. Car shots are never straight on and you hardly ever see the whole car. That said, of course there is no "right" way to do anything with a camera...except maybe the right way to put the lens on...but even then...do you turn the camera or the lens? :-)

Wide angles are cool too...but if you have a DSLR with a big crop factor that can be expensive...I'd love to get a really wide angle lens...but right now I only have a 28mm which translates to 44ish on my DSLR. But still, if you get really close it still gives a little distortion.

And always ask the car owners if you can take some engine shots and stuff like that...people who put that kind of money into cars love to talk about them and show them off...especially if you offer to e-mail them some pics of their ride ;-)

Sometimes you just get lucky...I attached a pic of a Mustang that I took in downtown San Antonio Texas. I was lying down on the ground with my face to the curb to get the shot of the rims...it was about 2am and I probably looked drunk or something because someone walked right infront of me right when I took the shot.

The result? I got lucky and got a cool shot of a rim with ghost legs... :-D

Just experiment.