Car Shoot?

[mammarazzi]

Any advice on shooting cars? Tomorrow I am going to be taking some photos of my husbands car. He has a 08 Charger RT. Part of it will be my assignment for my calss and the other for poops and hahas. We live in the desert and I am hoping to get some pretty nice shots in a near by national park. Mind you I only have my camera and kit lenses at the moment. Any advice?

 

[Bad Andy]

I would recommend getting down low, turn the front tire out to see some tread, and have fun.

 

[DennyCrane]

Try shooting the car in the early morning or late afternoon. Take a lot of shots from all angles, but you're probably going to find A 45° angle off one of the front corners will be the best shot. Have all the windows rolled up and make sure the car's clean, of course. Have the sun shining on the car, but not reflecting directly at you. If you can get a small flare on one of the windows, that'll help the picture.

I shot this one recently:

The background is starkly different from the color of the car, so it makes for a good contrast. I used a tree branch to frame in the front line of the car as well. Also, you can see what I meant about the sun's reflection. This was a quick shot. I took about 5-6 pictures on a tripod in about 5 minutes... so it was kind of rushed, but the end result will be better and better the more time you spend setting things up. Take some shots, wait for the sun to rise or set some more, take more shots, etc.

 

[KmH]

Circular Polarizing Filter (CPL).

How to photograph a car.

 

[RONDAL]

Use a circular polarizer to avoid hotspots and glare off the glass
get low and use a wide angle lens (10-25mm focal length) to give the car prescence
while shooting the whole car works, dont be afraid to shoot the details. Cars have amazing lines, angles, and symmetry. play off that and use it to your advantage.
Shallow Depth of field works very well on the detail shots.
Be aware of the sun in your shots and where it is. shooting in the middle of the day is extremely hard as everything blows out. putting the car in the shade (backside of a building) can do wonders.
Be aware of your background. Cars are big objects and you cant put them anywhere you want. You are taking a photograph, not a snapshot, so choose your background wisely.

 

[mammarazzi]

Thanks guys! I don't have a the circular polarizer right now but its coming in Wed. Ill probably see how it goes today and maybe next weekend do a reshoot.

 

[RONDAL]

if you dont have a polarizer avoid direct sunlight like the plague, and chimp with the highlights feature turned on, on your camera so that you can see what is blowing out, and try to fix it while shooting.

 

[bigtwinky]

Be aware of your background. Cars are big objects and you cant put them anywhere you want. You are taking a photograph, not a snapshot, so choose your background wisely.

This is probably one of the biggest issues I see in car photos. People park the car on a street or in a field and find a nice angle and so on,but dont bother looking around to see what else is in the back. A fence, a post, other cars,...

 

[dtzitko]

I disagree with the post about turning the wheel. If done ever so slightly, it can look good from viewing from the rear. But if you do it too much, it looks kind of awkward in my opinion. Here's a thread I started with a few shots of my car, maybe it'll give you some ideas. Somebody mentioned in my thread to pay attention to the reflections coming off the car too.

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/photography-beginners-forum-photo-gallery/177195-few-my-car.html

 

[mammarazzi]

Thanks guys! We weren't able to get it done tonight so maybe sometime this week. Hubby was pretty dissapointed.

 

[stierzy34]

I've always heard and personally liked the wheel being turned to see rim and not the tread.

But I agree 100% with the background comment. Little things like power lines or posts can totally take away from a good picture!

 

[dtzitko]

Also, shooting from down low tends to look better and using a wide lens can look cool as well.

 

[RONDAL]

I disagree with the post about turning the wheel. If done ever so slightly, it can look good from viewing from the rear. But if you do it too much, it looks kind of awkward in my opinion. Here's a thread I started with a few shots of my car, maybe it'll give you some ideas. Somebody mentioned in my thread to pay attention to the reflections coming off the car too.

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/photography-beginners-forum-photo-gallery/177195-few-my-car.html

angling the front wheels away from the camera allows you to do the front corner on view that car magazines (and everyone else) love to take. it squares the face of the rim to the camera and you get the nicely filled out wheels well look. Otherwise you wind up seeing tire tread and it just looks awkward.

As an example.....

You can get the very good dead on front/rear/side views in which you'd want to keep your wheels straight, but for the off angle ones, angling the wheels helps pose the car a little more.


This would look like garbage with a wheel poking out..

 

[Eyetattoo]

I disagree with the post about turning the wheel. If done ever so slightly, it can look good from viewing from the rear. But if you do it too much, it looks kind of awkward in my opinion. Here's a thread I started with a few shots of my car, maybe it'll give you some ideas. Somebody mentioned in my thread to pay attention to the reflections coming off the car too.

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/photography-beginners-forum-photo-gallery/177195-few-my-car.html

angling the front wheels away from the camera allows you to do the front corner on view that car magazines (and everyone else) love to take. it squares the face of the rim to the camera and you get the nicely filled out wheels well look. Otherwise you wind up seeing tire tread and it just looks awkward.

As an example.....

You can get the very good dead on front/rear/side views in which you'd want to keep your wheels straight, but for the off angle ones, angling the wheels helps pose the car a little more.


This would look like garbage with a wheel poking out..

Love that picture of the Skyline!

 

[dtzitko]

angling the front wheels away from the camera allows you to do the front corner on view that car magazines (and everyone else) love to take. it squares the face of the rim to the camera and you get the nicely filled out wheels well look. Otherwise you wind up seeing tire tread and it just looks awkward.

I meant from an angle behind the car. Not directly behind. Simply my opinion, I think the wheel turned in on that VW looks awful. This is what I meant, and I personally think this is the only time it be done. Not the best example, but I think it gets the point across.