What makes a good location for a photo of your P&J?

[LeeThr]

Only just set foot in this part of the gassing station. Good few threads on here.
Just wondering what the PH Massive thought makes a good scene to snap a few of there P&J?

I should get around the welsh coast more and get some more snaps of mine. I know its only a 206 and everywhere you look there will always be one lurking. But being my first car I would like a few more snaps of it.

So I leave it to you. What location? Time of day? Direction of light? Angle? Position of car? And anything else you can think of.

[itsnotarace]

Google "golden hour". You want the sun behind you as a general rule, or at least offset to the side.

[JSS 911]

A Polarizing Filter is useful for cutting the reflections

[RobDickinson]

Goldern hour is always good.

Get down low, use the 'rules' (rule of thirds, and the 70/30 rule of the car position).

Find somewhere the car stands out, green on green etc isnt great.

Use some lighting if you can, either flashes or long exposure and torches.

[F355GTS]

Lee

I'm by no means a pro and maybe I'l lget shot down for some of my suggestions but this is how I do it. 1st off make sure the cars clean, find a spot where you think the backdrop is right, then stand back look through the lens and look beyond the car, it may have looked perfect when you 1st looked but now you see it appears there's a pylon growing out of the roof of your car or a row of grundon bins etc etc .

If shooting with the sun behind you watch for your shadow encroaching on the image or shadows of anything else behind you. There's a few below I've taken which I like that perhaps may give you some pointers

[MarvinManUK]

itsnotarace said:

Google "golden hour". You want the sun behind you as a general rule, or at least offset to the side.

A very good and rather important tip there. The essential advice has been mentioned very well already in the thread, but there's nothing better than going out there and practicing. Like with everything, practice makes perfect.

Inspiration is quite a key factor as well, as 'cheesy' as it sounds! Browse the Reader's cars forum and compare the different styles of car photographs; find yourself a photo you like and ask yourself what drew you into it, also ask yourself "what make's that photo a good one?". You don't necessarily have to own a mega camera to pick up on techniques. Photography is largely based around light and how you use it. Your eyes know how to manipulate light naturally, so I personally like to follow my eyes when I take a photo; if I think it looks 'right', and then I'll release the shutter and take the photo. This may be an odd example and apologies if it doesn't make much sense; think of the camera as your eye and you yourself as your mind. Without a good mind, you won't use your eyes to their full potential.

You should give me a shout this Tuesday to bring the DSLR to college; I'll show your around and we'll take a few quick snaps.

Here's a link to my Flickr if you fance a browse. They aren't the best photos but i'm happy with them.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10915605@N02/

[TuxMan]

Spent some time at Bruntinthorpe on saturday with my Noble , loved the empty runway and the sun was immense..!! found the "0" which gave a good border around the car . Tux





taken with my Nikon D500 on std portrate settings .

[LeeThr]

F355GTS said:

Lee

I'm by no means a pro and maybe I'l lget shot down for some of my suggestions but this is how I do it. 1st off make sure the cars clean, find a spot where you think the backdrop is right, then stand back look through the lens and look beyond the car, it may have looked perfect when you 1st looked but now you see it appears there's a pylon growing out of the roof of your car or a row of grundon bins etc etc .

If shooting with the sun behind you watch for your shadow encroaching on the image or shadows of anything else behind you. There's a few below I've taken which I like that perhaps may give you some pointers

Thanks for the advice
Those 2 pictures are the type or backgrounds I like. They are great pictures and I hope are what you wanted to achieve. But in my opinion (Not chriticism, however you spell it) I think the pictures would be better with the car on a different angle. But saying that you might have taken some from a different angle.