Auto Dealership photographer seeking tips/criticism

[Ryan_Conroy]

Hello everyone, as the title states I'm a photographer at a car dealership and I'm hoping i can find some good advice/help on how to improve the quality of my photo's. I was pulled out from being a porter to this position roughly a year ago and didn't have any knowledge of photography prior. I started out with a canon powershot P&S and just recently upgraded to a Nikon D5100. I shoot with the 18-55mm lens that came with and have a circular polarizer.

Some of the issues I feel I can't get over are getting the right white balance, shooting on bright sunny days, as well as getting the interior pictures to come out well and just overall not having super sharp images.

For exterior i usually shoot F8, matrix meter, Vivid picture control, iso 100-200 and an appropriate shutter speed for exterior pictures and also have ADL on auto as well as white balance auto.

For interior it's usually ADL off, F8,built in Flash (varying power), iso 800-1000, matrix meter. auto WB and standard picture control

Now i know it's just dealership photography and i know my photo's are enough to advertise the car, i just would like to be good at what i do and love that i get to mix my passion for cars with my new found passion for photography!

Here's the link to our website, Crystal Lake IL Used Cars | Anderson Motors of Crystal Lake I mainly focus on making our used cars look the best as well as our new bmw's.

Also if it helps, i'm pretty much forced to shoot in that area for all the cars and shoot between 9am to about 1pma and have pretty much no time for editing, another footnote, our website host's images at 4:3 aspect ratio so i have to compensate for the edges of my photo's being cut off:meh:

Thanks in advanced for any help!

 

[tirediron]

Moving to the Business District.

 

[texkam]

Sounds like there is not a lot you can do due to time constraints and location. If time permits, you can shoot in raw and adjust WB in post. If you have enough room experiment using a longer lens.

 

[tirediron]

To be honest, for what they are, they don't seem bad at all. You're doing 30, 40, 50 shots of a car in (I assume) a short time, with almost no gear... you're doing well.

Nikon's normally do quite will in WB Auto, however if you really want to fine tune it, you can either insert a WB target into the first shot and correct to it in post, OR (and I think better for your situation) set a custom white balance using one of many tools for that. My preference is for the Expo Disc.

I didn't see any images that stood out as not being sharp enough, but I didn't look at too many; for <500 pixel web-resolution, I wouldn't stress over this too much. Your setting sound reasonable, but one thing that may help, especially if you only have the built-in flash, is to diffuse it. There are a number of purpose-built diffusers that will work, but something as simple as a Tupperware contrainer (not the coloured kind!) or piece of tissue-paper dropped over the flash will help a lot.

 

[molested_cow]

I like how you make an effort to shoot the cars at the same angle ( at least on the listing page). It looks uniform and shows that you guys care about details.

If I were you I won't worry too much about these photos. Given the constrains, you can only do so much. Definitely find time to improve your technical skills in general, using other opportunities to experiment with different set ups and methods.

I would recommend you getting a telephoto lens. Something not-so-expensive, like the 70-300mm, or if you want to spend more, the 28-300mm. The distortion of the image at the far end will give you a "car magazing-look" for shooting cars. For interior, you can consider a Tokina F2.8 11-16mm for wide angle shots. Use a tripod and remote shutter to get rid of handshake. Shoot RAW and experiment with the settings. A lot of times you don't need flash if you use a tripod and fiddle with the RAW file to get the best out of it, including bringing out details in the shadow and sharpening the image where appropriate.

For shooting a shiny object like a car, the reflections on the car determines how good it looks. The simpler and abstract the better. Most of the car magazine shots have gone through heavy editing to simply the reflections. For regular peeps like us, try to find a clean big wall as the reflection source.

 

[molested_cow]

And I don't understand why is this moved to "business" section. He's asking for photography technical questions, not how to do business.

 

[Ryan_Conroy]

thanks, for the quick response, I've been looking into getting a flash diffuser, i've played around with home made one's like clear film canisters and paper like you said, i think I'll get a purpose made one since they're not to expensive and see where that gets me. Sorry for posting in the wrong section by the way aha

Texkam, I do like the way cars look with the longer lenses but the space is a bit small, aha I'm waiting for the day that i get hit by a car because that area is after a turn and customers always fly through while I'm crouched down looking through the viewfinder

 

[Ryan_Conroy]

I like how you make an effort to shoot the cars at the same angle ( at least on the listing page). It looks uniform and shows that you guys care about details.

If I were you I won't worry too much about these photos. Given the constrains, you can only do so much. Definitely find time to improve your technical skills in general, using other opportunities to experiment with different set ups and methods.

I would recommend you getting a telephoto lens. Something not-so-expensive, like the 70-300mm, or if you want to spend more, the 28-300mm. The distortion of the image at the far end will give you a "car magazing-look" for shooting cars. For interior, you can consider a Tokina F2.8 11-16mm for wide angle shots. Use a tripod and remote shutter to get rid of handshake. Shoot RAW and experiment with the settings. A lot of times you don't need flash if you use a tripod and fiddle with the RAW file to get the best out of it, including bringing out details in the shadow and sharpening the image where appropriate.

For shooting a shiny object like a car, the reflections on the car determines how good it looks. The simpler and abstract the better. Most of the car magazine shots have gone through heavy editing to simply the reflections. For regular peeps like us, try to find a clean big wall as the reflection source.

Thanks, yeah i like the uniform look of all the cars at the same angle on the listings page and a wide angle lens has been on my wish list. Maybe tomorrow I'll try and see how shooting against a wall will turn out with the reflections.

 

[orljustin]

For what they are supposed to do, I think they look great. Good job.

 

[tirediron]

And I don't understand why is this moved to "business" section. He's asking for photography technical questions, not how to do business.

Okay, okay... so I made a bad call. Do you want your money back?

 

[manaheim]

And I don't understand why is this moved to "business" section. He's asking for photography technical questions, not how to do business.

Okay, okay... so I made a bad call. Do you want your money back?

I do. I'm PISSED.

 

[Designer]

Ryan Conroy; I looked at the website, and IMO, you're doing pretty well as it is.

If you check out some of the professional setups for car photography, you will see that they use HUGE soft boxes and lots more light.

If your boss will spring for it, get a SB-910 speedlight and the SC-29 flash extension cord, and a flash bracket that holds for flash "off camera". Also, you can find a small cheap soft box attachment that will diffuse the flash. Probably the best you can do without setting up a semi-permanent area dedicated to photography.

 

[MLeeK]

Well, hello! We too own a dealership! Though professional level photos of our vehicles is not something we do there. However, if I did I think I would go for the opposite of what every other dealership in the greater My Hometown area is doing.
Vehicle photography is very equipment intensive. There is a member here who has done some vehicle photography that posts some minimal equipment shots when ever car photography comes up. Those images are what I'd go for. The shots are taken in a parking ramp at night-in the dark. With either very minimal flash work or the ambient light from the ramp lighting only. Tripod. longer exposure. I'll be off to find one of his posts to link you to. I am sure he'll pop in too.

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/lighting-hardware/305837-softbox-speedlites.html
Robin's reply to this post is one of the shots I was thinking of

 

[tirediron]

And I don't understand why is this moved to "business" section. He's asking for photography technical questions, not how to do business.

Okay, okay... so I made a bad call. Do you want your money back?

I do. I'm PISSED.

Your request has been received by our finanical centre and will be actioned in eight to twelve decades. Please ensure that you are home and available to sign for the cheque when it is delivered or you will have to forfeit.

 

[manaheim]

Lol