Photoshoot ideas
A car is a mirror shaped like a car. Almost every decision in automotive photography is about controlling what that mirror reflects, and almost every bad car photograph is a reflection problem.
In short: A car is a mirror shaped like a car. Almost every decision in automotive photography is about controlling what that mirror reflects, and almost every bad car photograph is a reflection problem.
Owners photographing a car properly for the first time, and anyone selling one who has noticed that good photographs change the price.
The standard hero angle: front wheel turned towards the lens, camera at about headlight height.
A cloudy sky is a giant softbox and is genuinely the best natural light for a car. Bright sun produces hotspots on every panel.
Twenty minutes after sunset: sky still readable, headlights and interior glowing. The most valuable car frame there is.
Car moving, camera tracking, shutter around 1/60. Wheels blurred, body sharp — the only way to make a photograph feel like motion.
Badge, wheel, stitching, exhaust, filler cap. Sharp, close, and they fill a listing or a set.
Shot through the gap between the front seats with the doors open for light.
A multi-storey for something modern, a country lane for something old. A supermarket car park suits nothing.
Only with a driver and a safe stretch of road — the most dangerous frame in the genre and the one people attempt first.
Open, uncluttered, with nothing tall and bright nearby to reflect. Multi-storey top decks, empty industrial estates on a Sunday, wide country lay-bys. Check what is behind the photographer as carefully as what is behind the car — it will be in the panels.
Shooting in bright sun. Standing too close with a wide lens, which distorts the car's proportions. Forgetting to turn the front wheel towards the camera, which is the difference between a hero shot and a snapshot. And photographing a dirty car, because no amount of editing fixes it.
Three-quarter front from about headlight height with the near front wheel turned towards the camera. It shows length, face and stance in one frame.
Overcast daylight, or blue hour with the lights on. Bright sun creates hotspots on every panel and reflects the whole sky.
Reflections, almost always: the sky, the photographer, the buildings behind. Move the car, lower the camera, and wear dark clothing.