Do you get paid for car photography?

How many of you guys in the transportation thread are receiving any kind of financial benefit for your photos?
If you are, how so? Are you meeting people at shows and passing around business cards, contracted through publications, clubs?

I'm a big car guy and know off-hand that there is no one in my area doing anything remotely great with cars, so it's something that might be fun to get into. I'd do it just for fun, but my day job and family keep me from simply playing, so I am thinking of ways to get paid to make it worth my time and effort.

I'm looking forward to reading your responses.

https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1333508

I did find this link from Google, it didn't come up for some reason when I used the forum search. It has some good insight, but I'd still like to hear from some other folks!

Very little money to be had in car photography unless your shooting big known companies.

Most of my buddy wants free car photos. I just pull out my iPhone. Lol

I met a guy that works with a lot of the SCCA big name teams. He got paid decent but usually it was by the sponsors wanting ads done or by racing organizations wanting promotional stuff. He picked up random side gigs outside of transportation as well.

I make a pretty decent living shooting cars.

lusospeed wrote in post #17824892
I make a pretty decent living shooting cars.

I took a look at your web site and I can see why you make a pretty decent living shooting cars.
Great photos!

I make some money with Automotive photography. Not enough to pay the bills but it helps pay the gear off.

Some folks want high end photos of their cars for sale. So i charge $40/hr
Others will want rigged rolling shots. I charge $80 per car.

I also print posters for them $20. I print them at Costco $9.99 for a 20x30... and profit $9 after tax.
It's a lot of work with little reward.

Links: https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?p=1117717

https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1218379

Yep I make money but not enough to live on.

I'm charging around $250-$500 for a 2 hour shoot and get fairly steady bookings in my area. Occasionally I can double-it-up and get the images in a magazine which usually is paid also.

Thanks Man, your post is really helpful.

How do you compete with the folks doing rolling shots out the car window ?

monkifoto wrote in post #17955520
Thanks Man, your post is really helpful.

How do you compete with the folks doing rolling shots out the car window ?

I don't try to compete with them. Some of our guys are pretty good at motion shots, & Quickster has some nice highlights in this post, and this one, but I don't see good highlights with a nice background here very often because the light can change fast & that great background goes by so fast, too. I'd rather deliver a series like this & let them decide what they want a print of: UBNXOUS Beast! part #2.
This is the one he picked: "Beast."

OTOH, sometimes I'll shoot something like these just because I like to see what "develops".

And these: Pre-Cruise.

turnmybassup wrote in post #17821269
https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1333508

I did find this link from Google, it didn't come up for some reason when I used the forum search. It has some good insight, but I'd still like to hear from some other folks!

The forum search is horrible. I still think we should add the google search bar to the site. It's much more usable

monkifoto wrote in post #17955520
Thanks Man, your post is really helpful.

How do you compete with the folks doing rolling shots out the car window ?

Unique (better) angles and exclusive locations.

RDG_RCR wrote in post #17956028
Unique (better) angles and exclusive locations.

Yep I think that's the key, the more prep work you can do with a unique location the better, especially if you can really work some great compositions into it.

monkifoto wrote in post #17955520
How do you compete with the folks doing rolling shots out the car window ?

If possible, and you have the resources, don't shoot out the window. Get higher, or lower, and change the angle.