SVT4MT
Well-known member
Heres a spot to post any tips you have for taking that drop dead perfect pic of your ride.
I'm no professional photographer, but I've done a bit of research and experimenting with varied results. Thats the beauty of using digital photography, you can take a thousand pictures and you won't have to go to the photo department at Woolco and send the film away for a week for developing, pay $20 to get the film developed with an extra set of prints and still not be sure of what you got. ( Bonus points if you've done this ) Nope, you can take a ton of pics and just delete the crap.
There are essentially two types of car pictures, the first is what I like to call the "functional" shot. Thats the quick pics of a new mod, car show pics, driveway pics etc. They do the job, but don't blow your socks off. You might have a telephone pole growing out of the roof of the car, but that's ok, thats not the intent of the pic. The second type of pic, the one we're going for here, is the glamour shot. Give some consideration to background, lighting and orientation of the car, and you'll get the great shot.
Your examples are welcome, both good and bad.
In no particular order :
- direct sun is not your friend, it creates glare and washes out colour. Early morning or evening is the best, or if you have heavy cloud cover that will eliminate glare. (see example pic for full sun washout)
- a picture of a picture you have hanging on the wall is not a good picture
- blurry, out of focus will never make a good pic
- keep your wheels straight, or turn them so the wheel faces out, not the tire tread....unless thats what you're going for
- speaking of tires....beware the floating front end....you'll see two out of four tires and the front end will appear to be floating. Look at the professional staged shots, or track shots......more often than not, you'll be able to see at least three tires.
- pure side shots are the exception
- the car should fill most of the frame, the focus is on the car, good backgrounds are awesome, but they may draw attention away from the car and leave the viewer to try to decide what the picture is really of - the background or the car.
- have a look at what reflections are in your paint - it may be an awesome shot, but a reflection in the paint of you taking the pic in Hawaiian surf shorts adds nothing lol. How do you avoid this? Use a tripod and get some distance from the car, check the background for power lines, poles and/or trees that may appear to be growing out of the car.
- shots on the grass are great, but you drive on ashphalt
- take pics in the highest resolution possible, you can always downsize to post on a forum, but if you want to blow the pic up and frame it, you'll lose definition and detail as you go bigger
- digital pics can also benefit from digital enhancement, whether its editing out minor imperfections or boosting colour
- cell phone picture quality has improved, but check the orientation of your phone, landscape or portrait, typically portrait does not make for a good pic, and its tough to put a cell phone on a tripod, a simple point and shoot camera will give you the stability with a tripod.
- goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway - wash and dry before staging pics, take your favourite detailing spray and towels for the last minute cleanup on location, maybe your California Car Duster.
Theres a start for now, remember theres no right or wrong way to take pics of your ride, and you could probably argue any of these points, but thats not the intent.
Main thing is to have fun with it, and post up any tips that you use when taking pics of your ride.
I'm no professional photographer, but I've done a bit of research and experimenting with varied results. Thats the beauty of using digital photography, you can take a thousand pictures and you won't have to go to the photo department at Woolco and send the film away for a week for developing, pay $20 to get the film developed with an extra set of prints and still not be sure of what you got. ( Bonus points if you've done this ) Nope, you can take a ton of pics and just delete the crap.
There are essentially two types of car pictures, the first is what I like to call the "functional" shot. Thats the quick pics of a new mod, car show pics, driveway pics etc. They do the job, but don't blow your socks off. You might have a telephone pole growing out of the roof of the car, but that's ok, thats not the intent of the pic. The second type of pic, the one we're going for here, is the glamour shot. Give some consideration to background, lighting and orientation of the car, and you'll get the great shot.
Your examples are welcome, both good and bad.
In no particular order :
- direct sun is not your friend, it creates glare and washes out colour. Early morning or evening is the best, or if you have heavy cloud cover that will eliminate glare. (see example pic for full sun washout)
- a picture of a picture you have hanging on the wall is not a good picture
- blurry, out of focus will never make a good pic
- keep your wheels straight, or turn them so the wheel faces out, not the tire tread....unless thats what you're going for
- speaking of tires....beware the floating front end....you'll see two out of four tires and the front end will appear to be floating. Look at the professional staged shots, or track shots......more often than not, you'll be able to see at least three tires.
- pure side shots are the exception
- the car should fill most of the frame, the focus is on the car, good backgrounds are awesome, but they may draw attention away from the car and leave the viewer to try to decide what the picture is really of - the background or the car.
- have a look at what reflections are in your paint - it may be an awesome shot, but a reflection in the paint of you taking the pic in Hawaiian surf shorts adds nothing lol. How do you avoid this? Use a tripod and get some distance from the car, check the background for power lines, poles and/or trees that may appear to be growing out of the car.
- shots on the grass are great, but you drive on ashphalt
- take pics in the highest resolution possible, you can always downsize to post on a forum, but if you want to blow the pic up and frame it, you'll lose definition and detail as you go bigger
- digital pics can also benefit from digital enhancement, whether its editing out minor imperfections or boosting colour
- cell phone picture quality has improved, but check the orientation of your phone, landscape or portrait, typically portrait does not make for a good pic, and its tough to put a cell phone on a tripod, a simple point and shoot camera will give you the stability with a tripod.
- goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway - wash and dry before staging pics, take your favourite detailing spray and towels for the last minute cleanup on location, maybe your California Car Duster.
Theres a start for now, remember theres no right or wrong way to take pics of your ride, and you could probably argue any of these points, but thats not the intent.
Main thing is to have fun with it, and post up any tips that you use when taking pics of your ride.
) but i really am jealous of great shots that are properly taken and staged. 
, but here's several different examples of how different light can affect what is essentially the same shot under different conditions, and with no editing.