Outdoor Vehicle Photography

[sweece]

I work at a car dealership and we take photos of each vehicle that we get in stock. We don't have space indoors to create a mini studio so we are forced to take pictures of our cars outside. Obviously, we are plagued with shadows, reflections, etc. I was thinking about setting something like this up:

Mutant Vehicle Polaroid Photo Booth | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

But I don't know what equipment I would need to make it happen -- can anyone help? Or does anyone have another suggestion?

Thanks so much.

 

[Forkie]

Shopping list:

1. Millions of metal poles
2. A Crane
3. A man who knows how to build scaffolding
4. A big piece of desert
5. Some bicycles, by the looks of it.

 

[sweece]

Hey thanks for the trollin, Forkie. Obviously I'm not going to make the same exact thing.

 

[KmH]

I work at a car dealership and we take photos of each vehicle that we get in stock. We don't have space indoors to create a mini studio so we are forced to take pictures of our cars outside. Obviously, we are plagued with shadows, reflections, etc. I was thinking about setting something like this up:

Mutant Vehicle Polaroid Photo Booth | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

But I don't know what equipment I would need to make it happen -- can anyone help? Or does anyone have another suggestion?

Thanks so much.

Hey thanks for the trollin, Forkie. Obviously I'm not going to make the same exact thing.

Thank you for being a contributing forum member.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

Owen A Kelly created that for daytime/night time polaroid shots. You can google his name for web and contact info and I'm sure him or his team can tell you more about the set. Or maybe you can google the photo booth itself and find info.

Search tools are your friend

 

[Mesoam]

what kind of shots are your end goal? dealerships normally have a big blank wall you could hang a huge piece of fabric off and setup a tarp above...

a dealer selling Aston's is going to want different photos than a dealer selling Kia's

 

[gsgary]

What are you going to use instead of scaffold ? Lego and some tracing paper should be good for a Dinky toy

 

[fire1922]

since you are outside i would try and work out where the the sun is at the time and position the car so that the desired side is in the sun. watch out for your shadows since the sun will be behind you. i have found from shooting antique fire engines that the late afternoon sun works best (looks awesome). also i would try different settings, depending on what kind of camera you have try using the night time portrait setting (the flash will go off which is okay) or you can use an all automatic setting.

to make the car look bigger than it is shoot from down low shooting up. a 3/4 shot is a very common shot with vehicles which covers most of the object if you are looking for an overall shot. if you possibibly can get a solid(ish) background like trees or something like that; the main focus is the car not the background.

those are just a few suggestions that i can think of. i am always experimenting with new techniques.

 

[daarksun]

Park the car in an open space with the sun hitting the side you will photograph, turn the wheels so the rim faces the camera. eliminates the shadows, can put a nice sparkle on rims and chrome. avoid the flat one side shot, do something that's showing three sides (side, front and hood or rear, side & trunk).

 

[TordFuglstad]

daarksun? Is your last photo a toy-car from a barbie set?

 

[2WheelPhoto]

daarksun? Is your last photo a toy-car from a barbie set?

Hmmm appears same car as the other pics and Barbie cars are usually pink or highly accented with pink. You mind if i ask why you suspect that?

 

[TordFuglstad]

daarksun? Is your last photo a toy-car from a barbie set?

Hmmm appears same car as the other pics and Barbie cars are usually pink or highly accented with pink. You mind if i ask why you suspect that?

I know.. It was a joke.. The whole picture just looks very fake, and the fake tint on the windshield doesn't make it any more pretty. to me it looks like a toy car.

 

[austriker]

wow this thread is brutal. you guys are relentless..

 

[mrpink]

Park the car in an open space with the sun hitting the side you will photograph, turn the wheels so the rim faces the camera. eliminates the shadows, can put a nice sparkle on rims and chrome. avoid the flat one side shot, do something that's showing three sides (side, front and hood or rear, side & trunk).

yeah, these are all kinds of bad. I think the OP was asking how to make his photos better, not worse.





p!nK