You must be registered for see images attach
On many occasions people write and ask for some pointers on how to take better pictures of their cars. I thought I would take some time and give you some pointers from my perspective.
Let me start by giving you a disclaimer: A "good photograph" is subjective. If you take it and like it; then it's a good photograph. There may always be ways of making the photograph better, but thats up to you. The points I offer here are my own preferences developed over the years of shooting my cars and are not ment to be gospel - take what you want from it and try it out to see if it helps you. I'm not talking about "artsy" photographs here; I'm jsut talking about taking a good standard picture of your car.
There are many elements to taking a good photograph of your car, here are some things to consider when you are ready to shoot yours.
Time Of Day. I prefer the late afternoon over any other time. The sun is low and the lighting is much more consistant than during the middle of the day. Also, at noontime the sun is at its harshest; you can get flares off the fenders and you'll get alot of shadows along the sides of the car. Late afternoon is a softer time of day and will give you the best light. Keep an eye on where the shadows are on the car. If you are shooting where the sun is on one side and a shadow on the other; the two images will appear very different. Stick to the sunny side if you have to, the shade side will not give you the most flattering color.
Composition. Finding the right spot to shoot your car is the hardest thing to do. If you have obsticals in the background, that can draw your eyes away from the car. I used to take my car to this farm where the guy let me shoot all I wanted; I loved the rustic backdrop of the barns. In the example above, I airbrushed out a gas can that had been left on top of the flowerpot that I didnt catch when I took the photo. Amazing how a little gas can could be so distracting. But think of what you want the picture to be about and then think of locations where you can achieve that. I cringe when I see a good photo of a car taken in front of a garage door - not very flattering. There are, of course, exceptions - I like Sean Roe's picture of his cars in his driveway with his house in the background. Thats a nice "family" photograph. But had he backed his Viper up to his garage and taken the shot, I might not have felt the same way.
Debth Of Field. When shooting, you can increase the "presence" of the car by blurring out the background. This can be done by shooting your lens "wide open"; or at as big of an f-stop as you can. This can be confusing because the smaller the number, the bigger the shutter opens. So a f-stop of 2.8 means the shutter opens wider than an f-stop of 16. Setting the f-stop as low (or as wide) as you can will blur out the background. The lower the setting, the more important focusing on the car is - because even things a few feet back will blur out. Most cameras can be set to Aperture-Priority where you can set the f-stop and the camera will automatically set the right shutter speed. In contrast, a high f-stop will make sure everything in the background is as sharp as the car itself.
Field Of View. The closer you are to the car, the wider you need to set you lens to get the whole car in the picture. This also has the effect of taking in more of the background than you may want. You can narrow the field of view by moving further back and zooming in on the car. This is a great way of getting rid of unwanted background items in a small area. Also, getting very close and shooting with a wide angle can distort the perspective of the car (which can be creative, if you like that).
Perspective. Try different perspectives - get low to the ground and shoot up at your car. Get as high as you can and shoot down towards your car. Shoot at waist level. Finding the right angles can make all the difference in a good photograph. I find that with Vipers, I like shooting from as low to the ground as possible - this gives the car a "larger" presence in the photo. The Viper has many interested features - the headlights, the sidesills, the intake, the wing, the gas cap; all great things to take pictures of.
Digital versus Film. Many people ask about digital cameras and want to compare them to film. I could make a huge thread about this - but just ask yourself what you want to do with the photo. Are you going to enlarge it for framing? Use Film. Are you going to post it on your website for your friends to see? Use Digital. And you dont need a super expensive digital camera, either. Anything over 800x600 on the Internet will take forever to download. The main thing with digital cameras is - can they accurately reproduce the colors as you see them? Many newer cameras are better at this than the older ones. (I once rented a $15,000 Kodak camera to shoot my Blue/White Viper and the pics were horrible because they had such a BLUE cast to them!
Taking the picture. Take alot of pictures! Try different setting on your camera - try different perspective - move around; get close and enjoy the fine lines of the car. Back off and get the whole car in the picture. Do whatever you think you would like - after all, the only person that has to like the image is you.
But, most of all - have some fun. After all, cleaning the car itself is a chore! (Zaino products are Photographer Friendly and are highly recommended for getting the best shine from your car - lol!)
I hope this helps. If anyone has any questions, I will do my best to answer them. When you are done - post you pics here! We'd love to see them. I've posted hundreds of pictures of my Vipers on the EB website (along with screen savers and wallpapers) and they get thousands of downloads a month!
