tips for automotive photography !

[DKS123]

i have a canon 400d, and when i take pictures of mine and friends cars, they just dont seem to properly stand out towards me, is there any tips or settings i should use ?
here is a couple of examples:









thanks Dan

[Nick Grant]

First thing that strikes me is location is not good, too much background noise.

Have a read of this... http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=537578781...

[01101001]

Screw taking photos of it...Drive it..The 106 GTI is one of the best handeling cars I have ever driven.. When they were new I was working for Peugeot and had one as a company car...It needed new tyres after a couple of months...

[DKS123]

thanks for the info, the shots were just to show the quality of the image, they were just taken on my drive after i cleaned it lol
and it gets driven almost every day so dont worry about that

[pokethepope]

Have a search through a lot of the threads here, a simple background like a country road, industrial estate or multi-storey will really lift the picture, and then allow you to focus on getting inspiration for angles, lighting and so on.

[Alan Kee]

Your pics have the same soft lifeless quality that many of my digital pics have, no matter what I try and do in post processing or on-camera settings for jpeg. I read a post a few weeks ago about someone ditching his digital slr and going back to film for the same reasons, I know exactly how he feels! I look at stuff getcarter posts and just want to curl up and cry, his pics are always stunning! I can hear my old OM3 calling out to me ..

[jrampton]

There are a few good car photographers on here, dean, Gfwilliams etc etc

Location, try and pick a good location for your shots and move the car around until you are happy with what you see in the view finder.

Use a polarising filter, this will take out the reflections from the windows and bodywork.

Shoot from further away.

Wheels look good turned, have the face of the wheel towards the camera for example if you are shooting from the front 3/4 on the passenger side turn the wheels right hand down (wheels point right).

That should get you started, let us know how you get on.

Feel free to drop me a mail if you get stuck.

[Deluded]

Problem I see with your photos is that you have taken the photos on your drive in cramped conditions on an overcast day.

Hardly ideal.

Try taking the car out and experimenting with different angles and compositions. Don't always stand up close and fill the frame with the car. Try walking 20 meters back and zooming in etc.

[DKS123]

thanks guys, there some pics i took last week of my mates clio which il upload next time im on the pc.
is there any good photoshop tips for car pics ?

[4Lmike]

location location location. first things first, drive around and looks for some decent locations. A nice road, multi storey car park, somewhere where you have a non distracting background which compliments the type of car you are photographing, and make sure there are no other cars in shot! As already mentioned, dont let the car fill the frame. Try and get a bit of depth to your photo by having a trailing background, or a feature in the foreground etc.

Then think about what interesting angles you can get. A general rule is try not to take pics from head height as that is how everyone sees it and can be quite boring.

Then there's light! The most important thing to consider in photography (maybe)...but you can worry about this once you've got the other stuff sorted.

[RobDickinson]

Probably been covered but..

Location! hard for things to stand out in a picture if they dont stand out in front of you.


Light! Your capturing light, if it looks flat and dull infront of you it will on camera, if it looks harsh, it will on camera. You can always add light , theres a number of fun ways to do it.


Again said already but take shots from lower down. And theres a magic 70/30 (front/side) ratio that tends to make cars look good.

[mrmr96]

Try driving out to the country side and find a quiet layby with a little space. Try to get there just before sunset and take a few photos. Taking a photo isn't just about settings on the camera, location and lighting cannot be ignored!

[RobDickinson]

A red car like that is going to look lush in any predominantly green background, go find some woodland/forest or park or something!