Shooting a Dark Coloured Car?

[Job38]

Guys, I've had the CSi for a year now. I've tried shooting the car at all different times of year/day. I've tried off camera flash - everything I can think of.
I don't have a single decent shot.
What am I doing wrong?
I've given other types of photography a go (landscapes, portraits, still life, architecture) with OK results (well, potential at least) - but cars - forget it!
What advice do you guys have?

[GetCarter]

Black cars (and pets!) are notoriously difficult to get decent shots of.

You should consider spot metering, or centre weight metering, and or bracketing to get the correct exposure.

And perhaps use reflections to help define the shape.

I only 'snap' my cars - no fancy rigs or even a tripod - but here are some of my black one.

http://www.stevecarter.com/aston.htm

[Job38]

Thanks, Steve,

ah, my daughter Iona's favourite car (for two obvious reasons!)

I'll give it a try......

[nick_bbb]

Circular Polariser can really help with back cars, also get as far away as you can so you're not in any reflections. I would try and get far enough away to use 300-400mm focal length

[beano500]

I'm not a big one for taking car shots - I just know they're not going to be as good quality as I like.

But when I had a black car I managed plenty of awful shots. The most pleasing were at dusk, with lower light levels, from a distance and with some varied, but out-of-focus backgrounds. As mentioned, make sure you bracket (take RAW if possible too) and use centre-weighted or spot metering to gauge the best area for settings.

Use a tripod and spend time working out the right composition, too. Invest time in composition at the scene and have enough variety of exposures to worry about the output later when in front of the computer.