Location
It's one
of the most important things as far as car photography is concerned.
You should have selected a location (or multiple locations) before the shoot
Select the location(s) depending on the background you would like to add to your shot, make sure it is as clean as possible, spend some time cleaning the location, you wouldn't want a dirty background in your photo. Electricity poles and trashcans are not ideal in a shot, try to avoid them at all costs.
When you are looking for a location remember that bright colors in the background will take the attention away from your main subject i.e. the car, unless you are going to de-saturate the bright color in post-processing.
You should have selected a location (or multiple locations) before the shoot
Select the location(s) depending on the background you would like to add to your shot, make sure it is as clean as possible, spend some time cleaning the location, you wouldn't want a dirty background in your photo. Electricity poles and trashcans are not ideal in a shot, try to avoid them at all costs.
When you are looking for a location remember that bright colors in the background will take the attention away from your main subject i.e. the car, unless you are going to de-saturate the bright color in post-processing.
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| Exotic car |
Unless you are shooting an SUV or off-road
vehicle stay away from trees, they give some very strange reflections on the
shiny bodywork, especially on a dark color you get the freakiest shades you do
not want and which are very difficult to remove in post-editing if at all
possible.
Timing
A car is best shot with diffused light, this
means that you are not shooting at noon time, try to fix the shoot in the
afternoon, sometime after 15h00 is a good time to start in the summer, you'll
have great light for hours to come. Wintertime is a different story; the light
could be very well gone by 17h00 so you better start at noon.
Shooting early in the noon will cause some serious shadows on the car, at noon when the sun is directly above your head at its brightest, you will probably overexpose the top of the car while the details on the lower side of the car will completely disappear in the shadows, the purpose of shooting a car is to have the entire car exposed just right, with enough light to bring out the shadows, but not too much light to clip the highlights into oblivion. A white car is especially difficult, as is a black car however the Chevy Camaro on this page was exposed perfectly well by shooting in the shadow at about 6 pm.
Shooting early in the noon will cause some serious shadows on the car, at noon when the sun is directly above your head at its brightest, you will probably overexpose the top of the car while the details on the lower side of the car will completely disappear in the shadows, the purpose of shooting a car is to have the entire car exposed just right, with enough light to bring out the shadows, but not too much light to clip the highlights into oblivion. A white car is especially difficult, as is a black car however the Chevy Camaro on this page was exposed perfectly well by shooting in the shadow at about 6 pm.
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| Chevrolet Camaro Dubai |
Polarizer:
The circular polarization filter is one of the
most important filters when doing an outdoor car shoot. It isn't cheap because
you'll want to get a B&W or Hoya, but trust us, the results are so much
better, especially when the sun is out in the sky.
A good polarization filter will remove (or strongly lower) any reflections from both the bodywork and the glass sections, if the windows aren't too darkly tinted you can actually see the inside of the car when using this type of filter.
A good polarization filter will remove (or strongly lower) any reflections from both the bodywork and the glass sections, if the windows aren't too darkly tinted you can actually see the inside of the car when using this type of filter.
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| polarizing filter |
Because the reflections are tempered you will
have fewer problems with the surroundings around the car, these can give some
very strange reflections on the bodywork, especially when trees are around, and
by setting the polarizing filter just right you might avoid these reflections
completely.
Stay Clean
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| Dirty tires |
Make sure the car you are photographing has
been meticulously detailed; if it's dirty it will not look great in the shot
... unless it's a 4x4 or something that people expect to be dirty. Check the
tires when you shoot the car, they should have no marks on the side, also when
the thread is in view make sure no small gravel is stuck in it, this gives a
very untidy impression to your shot.
Shoot the car with all doors closed (unless it’s a car with lambo doors) and checks the side windows, they should be completely up. If there is an aerial make sure it is retracted and double check all doors, they have to be fully closed.
Shoot the car with all doors closed (unless it’s a car with lambo doors) and checks the side windows, they should be completely up. If there is an aerial make sure it is retracted and double check all doors, they have to be fully closed.
Angles
When you finally
managed to get the car in front of your lens you would want to make sure you've
got it from all angles necessary, this means you should at least shoot the
following ones : front 3/4 view, rear 3/4 view, full side view, full front
view, full rear view, engine shot, dashboard and interior shot.
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classic car
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After you've got these you can get creative and try different angles and
altitudes, don't hesitate to get low to the ground or use a stepladder to get a
higher point of view on the car, those nice foldable ladders work very well in
this case, and you still can get relatively high.
Shots from a higher elevation work very well if the concrete isn't too badly cracked, otherwise try to move the car a bit, don't use a ladder on grass, you could end up tilting over because of the softer ground, be careful with that.
One problem with low angle shots is the fact the that your sky will get blown out quickly, resulting in a totally white area, which isn't good in a shot, you should try to underexpose the shot to get the sky in a nice blue shade, however this could cause your shadows to get too dark so perhaps two different exposures would be a good idea here.
Shots from a higher elevation work very well if the concrete isn't too badly cracked, otherwise try to move the car a bit, don't use a ladder on grass, you could end up tilting over because of the softer ground, be careful with that.
One problem with low angle shots is the fact the that your sky will get blown out quickly, resulting in a totally white area, which isn't good in a shot, you should try to underexpose the shot to get the sky in a nice blue shade, however this could cause your shadows to get too dark so perhaps two different exposures would be a good idea here.
