Hey guys, some of you take really good shots of your cars and I was wondering if you guys can give me some tips on how to take good photo's like car positioning etc.
I have a really good (expensive) camera and it takes good photos but I can never seem to get the car to stand out. Maybe it’s just the amateur photographer LOL but yeah any tips and advice would be awesome. Thanks
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Some good tips on taking photo's of your car?
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Hey Azalea, I love taking car photos too 
Here are some general pointers off the top of my head:
1. Location is everything - hopefully you get some good Gold Coast locations suggested in your other thread. If you fancy a drive inland, the picture in my signature was taken on Numinbah Rd, just over the border.
2. You usually want the sun high in the sky, too low behind the car it will end up silhouetted and too low in front will get shadows all over the car.
3. Make sure you don't cast shadows or reflections from you or the camera. A polarising filter can be used to reduce glare and reflections from the glass.
4. Turn the front wheels so that the face of the wheel is facing out towards you.
5. Get down low so that you photograph from about headlight level
6. I never use a flash. Unless you have professional lighting and know what to do with it, just adjust your exposure to suit natural light.
7. Avoid having too much in the background. Nice simple backgrounds suit car photography.
8. If you take a wider shot than necessary, you can always adjust angles and cropping later on.
There are many websites with a list of tips like this but rules can always be broken. You need to get lucky with finding the right location at the right time of day, too.
Good luck and be sure to post up the results!
Here are some general pointers off the top of my head:
1. Location is everything - hopefully you get some good Gold Coast locations suggested in your other thread. If you fancy a drive inland, the picture in my signature was taken on Numinbah Rd, just over the border.
2. You usually want the sun high in the sky, too low behind the car it will end up silhouetted and too low in front will get shadows all over the car.
3. Make sure you don't cast shadows or reflections from you or the camera. A polarising filter can be used to reduce glare and reflections from the glass.
4. Turn the front wheels so that the face of the wheel is facing out towards you.
5. Get down low so that you photograph from about headlight level
6. I never use a flash. Unless you have professional lighting and know what to do with it, just adjust your exposure to suit natural light.
7. Avoid having too much in the background. Nice simple backgrounds suit car photography.
8. If you take a wider shot than necessary, you can always adjust angles and cropping later on.
There are many websites with a list of tips like this but rules can always be broken. You need to get lucky with finding the right location at the right time of day, too.
Good luck and be sure to post up the results!
Some tips I've been given.
-bring either on your phone or ipad or print some pics you've seen online or in magazines that stand out to you and try and copy them. Sites like flicker often show the camera settings and equipment used. Try to use the same angle, same amount of frame that the car takes up try to find a simmilar location etc. Best way to learn is by copying and being able to recreate someone elses photo. You'll learn heaps about why certain camera settings are used and what works best for what situation.
-get low or high you want something that stands out and the everyday stand and take a picture pic looks just like that, everyday.
-Get some front and rear quarter shots, focus on the front headlight or rear taillight.
-Straight front on or side on shots are tricky to get right.
-Try to get a simple background. traffic and random buildings etc can be distracting and takes the focus of your car. For starting out, the more boring the background the more exciting the subject will be.
For example compare your profile pic to Bags. The house in the background and shadow of the tress on your car and the lawn make it a bit busy. In Bags pic the car is really the only thing going on and it jumps out at you.
Another thing to look for in backgrounds is a repeating pattern like the parking poles in a few of mine or repeating lines on the warehouse doors. If those doors were open, thered be so much misc stuff distracting from the car. Underground parking lots work quite well since its typically a bland grey wall and the repeating pillars/parking lines
-You can try playing with the apature for a narrow depth of field (car in focus but background has that soft blur)
-Sometimes close ups of key features combined with the small apaerture can look quite good. For example I'd get up close so your new headlight fills most of the frame then adjust the apature so everything beyond the headlight is a blur. And one shot across the bonnet so you just see the transition from the white paint to the vinyl section
- Rule of 1/3 so your camera probably has a grid that shows up. try to align key features along these lines or at the intersections. Example: a picture of beach thats 1/3 beach and 2/3 sky looks much more appealing than one thats 1/2 and 1/2. Picture of a persons face slightly off to the side of the frame looks better than a perfectly middle passport style picture. Dunno why it just does 99% of the time
-try to get even lighting. Night shots are tricky without an off camera flash. Dusk or Dawn work well and with a white/black car you'll find either the wheels have lots of detail and the white car will be really bright and overexposed or the other way around. Photoshop/lightroom will help even out the light. You can "brush" the exposure for different areas. the camera records all the light info, it then trys to show you what it thinks its the best overall exposure but sometimes it struggles so photshop can help.
- try to leave some space around your subject, and think about the cars direction. if its pointing to the left as in your profile pic, then leave bit of space to the right right as if thats where the car was going to go
-bring either on your phone or ipad or print some pics you've seen online or in magazines that stand out to you and try and copy them. Sites like flicker often show the camera settings and equipment used. Try to use the same angle, same amount of frame that the car takes up try to find a simmilar location etc. Best way to learn is by copying and being able to recreate someone elses photo. You'll learn heaps about why certain camera settings are used and what works best for what situation.
-get low or high you want something that stands out and the everyday stand and take a picture pic looks just like that, everyday.
-Get some front and rear quarter shots, focus on the front headlight or rear taillight.
-Straight front on or side on shots are tricky to get right.
-Try to get a simple background. traffic and random buildings etc can be distracting and takes the focus of your car. For starting out, the more boring the background the more exciting the subject will be.
For example compare your profile pic to Bags. The house in the background and shadow of the tress on your car and the lawn make it a bit busy. In Bags pic the car is really the only thing going on and it jumps out at you.
Another thing to look for in backgrounds is a repeating pattern like the parking poles in a few of mine or repeating lines on the warehouse doors. If those doors were open, thered be so much misc stuff distracting from the car. Underground parking lots work quite well since its typically a bland grey wall and the repeating pillars/parking lines
-You can try playing with the apature for a narrow depth of field (car in focus but background has that soft blur)
-Sometimes close ups of key features combined with the small apaerture can look quite good. For example I'd get up close so your new headlight fills most of the frame then adjust the apature so everything beyond the headlight is a blur. And one shot across the bonnet so you just see the transition from the white paint to the vinyl section
- Rule of 1/3 so your camera probably has a grid that shows up. try to align key features along these lines or at the intersections. Example: a picture of beach thats 1/3 beach and 2/3 sky looks much more appealing than one thats 1/2 and 1/2. Picture of a persons face slightly off to the side of the frame looks better than a perfectly middle passport style picture. Dunno why it just does 99% of the time
-try to get even lighting. Night shots are tricky without an off camera flash. Dusk or Dawn work well and with a white/black car you'll find either the wheels have lots of detail and the white car will be really bright and overexposed or the other way around. Photoshop/lightroom will help even out the light. You can "brush" the exposure for different areas. the camera records all the light info, it then trys to show you what it thinks its the best overall exposure but sometimes it struggles so photshop can help.
- try to leave some space around your subject, and think about the cars direction. if its pointing to the left as in your profile pic, then leave bit of space to the right right as if thats where the car was going to go
You can write an essay or books on photography.
Probably easier to ask what you are tyring to achieve in a pa,rticular shot.
Concepts you need to understand....
Aperture, and aperture priority mode.
Lenses, dept of field, telephoto lenses to get your car and say a building in focus together, wide angle, etc
Light ( sun is a friend and enemy) easier to take a shot when overcast.
From your profile picture....get the car either 100% in sunlight or 100% in the shade. If car in the shade with sunlight around, try using your flash.
Some tips:
Too much light from flash?..try Using one or two thicknesses of kleenex over the flash, even on your phone or compact camera! Works wonders
Bright full sun... Try .using you program mode on the DSLR.
Polarising filter makes the blue sky bluer! Give it a go.
And then there is cheating.....photo editers including photoshop. Try to get the shot directly out of the camera. Red eye and cropping is all ok, more is cheating, but effective! Like air brushing Jen Hawkins, good is good, better is better!
Probably easier to ask what you are tyring to achieve in a pa,rticular shot.
Concepts you need to understand....
Aperture, and aperture priority mode.
Lenses, dept of field, telephoto lenses to get your car and say a building in focus together, wide angle, etc
Light ( sun is a friend and enemy) easier to take a shot when overcast.
From your profile picture....get the car either 100% in sunlight or 100% in the shade. If car in the shade with sunlight around, try using your flash.
Some tips:
Too much light from flash?..try Using one or two thicknesses of kleenex over the flash, even on your phone or compact camera! Works wonders
Bright full sun... Try .using you program mode on the DSLR.
Polarising filter makes the blue sky bluer! Give it a go.
And then there is cheating.....photo editers including photoshop. Try to get the shot directly out of the camera. Red eye and cropping is all ok, more is cheating, but effective! Like air brushing Jen Hawkins, good is good, better is better!
CJ RA. Stock!
Thanks guys, gone give some of these a try. I have a Nikon Coolpix P500 It's a really good camera but I haven't worked out all the settings on taking good shots, like I can't get it to take night shots without the flash (I hate using a flash)
Glenn your coming to the mini meet tomorrow, you'll have to show me some examples maybe help me figure out the right settings on my camera LOL
Glenn your coming to the mini meet tomorrow, you'll have to show me some examples maybe help me figure out the right settings on my camera LOL
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Evo_Girl wrote:Thanks guys, gone give some of these a try. I have a Nikon Coolpix P500 Its a really good camera but I havent worked out all the settings on taking good shots, like I cant get it to take night shots without the flash (I hate using a flash) Glenn your coming to the mini meet tomorrow, youll have to show me some examples maybe help me figure out the right settings on my camera LOL
I have the same camera.. its not too bad, takes awesome pics for the price during the day or anytime there is good lighting... not so good in doors... if you take some good shots post them up
goodluck
Like Glenn said 1/3 rule, just try to capture low, high, right left etc at all angles, ur bound to get something that looks good after many shots. There's no right or wrong, just trial and error. I think if u have good location, try making HDR photos, they really add a dymanic depth to colour and shadows.
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