Posing
If a person is in frame, they are scale and story rather than subject. The car is the model.
In short: If a person is in frame, they are scale and story rather than subject. The car is the model.
Weight back, one foot crossed, not draped across the paint.
Movement, and it shows the interior in the same frame.
Reflections become part of the picture rather than a problem.
Gives the car foreground presence and the person a role.
A detail frame with a person in it.
Car large, person small, location visible. Scale.
Start with leaning on the front wing — the first two minutes are warm-up and the first pose should be the one that asks least of anyone. Move to opening the door and seated inside, shot through the window once the shoulders have dropped, and keep standing back, small in frame for the end, when self-consciousness has gone. Shoot each one in bursts through the movement rather than holding it: the usable frames sit between the instructions, not on them.
Two metres back with the lens zoomed rather than close and wide — distance is what keeps facial proportions natural. Camera at or slightly above eye level for portraits, at chest height for full length. Below eye level enlarges whatever is nearest the lens, which is rarely what you want in frame.
Sitting on the bonnet or the roof — it dents, and owners notice. Also standing directly in front of the grille, which blocks the one angle the whole session is built around.
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.