Car Show

Rampage · Mar 23, 2011

Next month I plan on going to the International Car Show at the Javits Center in NYC and i plan on taking a bunch of pictures. Any tips from experienced photographers out there is more than welcomed and appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Juice · Mar 23, 2011

Car shows are tough... The cars are really close together, there are people everywhere, it's tough to get good shots.

- If it's indoor, take a tripod and a flash. Show cars aren't going anywhere, you can afford to use slower shutter speeds.

- If it's outdoor, take a CPL to get rid of reflections. Shoot early in the morning or later in the afternoon, shooting at high noon makes for very harsh lighting. Plus, getting there super early is better since there won't be as many people there yet. Taking a flash for outdoor shooting is also good for fill flash, since the cars aren't always in the perfect position relative to the sun.

- Be mindful of your backdrop. If you can manage it, avoid having things like trees or light poles directly behind the car so that it appears that they are "growing" out of the car.

That's off the top of my head, I'll revisit this when I get back from work. Have fun with the show!

FattyMcJ · Mar 23, 2011

Exactly what Juice said. Most car shows suck for getting good shots.

The few that are on grass in a field, the cars are usually spaced further apart, which is better, but then you have the issue of a nice vintage car, or a modern import...sitting in grass. Looks goofy.

IMO...just go, bring the camera, and don't expect anything more than Facebook shots. Have fun looking at the cars and only take photos that YOU will want to look at again. Or, you could take the approach of documenting EVERY car in the show...inside and out. Makes it an interesting day, but you end up missing the overall experience of a car show with having a camera in your face all day.

Either way, good luck, and...being a car guy, I'd like to see the photos you get

lyonsroar · Mar 23, 2011

I just went to the O'Reilley's World of Wheels last weekend and it's really hard to get good shots. Just like he already said, the cars are way close together and the people often don't really care that you are trying to get a shot and will just walk right in front of you. Sometimes you get a nice person that realizes it and stops or walks around, but more often than not they'll go right in front of you. I purposely underexposed and brought it up in post rather than use a slower shutter speed and get blurry shots.

Just in case you wanted to see, all of the pictures are in this thread on FocusFanatics. I won't hog your thread and post them up unless you want me to.
O'Reilly's World of Wheels auto show (seriously nice cars) - Focus Fanatics

KmH · Mar 23, 2011

You need this kind of a set up to shoot vehicles well:

Rampage · Mar 23, 2011

I appreciate the heads up from u guys, i'm mainly going just for the whole love of cars. I just wanted to attempt to get some good shots of the cars while i was the there. Its gonna be inside i think for the most part. I'll prolly take my tripod with me just in case if anything. I hope i do see some tuner cars though.

Ginu · Mar 23, 2011

Pretty much what others said, its really hard to get good shots at car shows. I will be going to the Vancouver car show in a week and I'm actually contemplating if I should even bother bringing the camera along... usually its crowded with people and cars are extremely close along with the 20-30 people roaming around a car at any given time.

I got very few usable photos from the last car show so my experience has been quite grim unfortunately.

Stryker · Mar 23, 2011

Be there early and bring 2 lenses - a wide angle lens and a tele zoom. Install the wide angle lens and shoot cars. Experiment on long exposures to erase the people around the cars, triple exposures for those HDR effect, low perspectives, car details (you can do details at 20mm). After taking the car photos, make sure you still have enogh memory card space because you need to install the tele zoom lens, switch to sniper mode, and shoot the pretty models. Oooohhhh, the models. I just love car show models. They all have special places in my heart :drool:

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g-fi · Mar 23, 2011

Get low. Shooting from standing height often doesn't showcase the best details of what are usually highly customized cars. If you're outside, shoot from the "lit" side of the car rather than the shadow side, unless you're using a fill flash. Take some business cards, you never know when a potential client will approach you!

KmH · Mar 24, 2011

There is a strong possibility they won't let you take a tripod into the show.

Juice · Mar 24, 2011

Stryker said:
Be there early and bring 2 lenses - a wide angle lens and a tele zoom. Install the wide angle lens and shoot cars. Experiment on long exposures to erase the people around the cars, triple exposures for those HDR effect, low perspectives, car details (you can do details at 20mm). After taking the car photos, make sure you still have enogh memory card space because you need to install the tele zoom lens, switch to sniper mode, and shoot the pretty models. Oooohhhh, the models. I just love car show models. They all have special places in my heart...

Sniper mode sounds like creeper mode, I like to get up nice and close so they look at me. Being closer also gets people to move out of the way so you can get your shots. Yeah, every now and then you get a tard with no situational awareness that walks right in front of you, but if you keep a commanding presence people will generally cooperate.

g-fi said:
Get low. Shooting from standing height often doesn't showcase the best details of what are usually highly customized cars. If you're outside, shoot from the "lit" side of the car rather than the shadow side, unless you're using a fill flash. Take some business cards, you never know when a potential client will approach you!

Too true, I'd actually be surprised if you didn't get approached. It happens to me every time, almost makes me wish I actually sold my pictures.

KmH said:
There is a strong possibility they won't let you take a tripod into the show.

I have yet to go to a show that didn't allow them, and I've been to a lot. Worst that will happen is that they won't let you in with it and you'll have to put it back in your car.