Even if you only have a passing interest in cars, you’ve probably browsed the pages of luxury car magazines and looked enviously at some of the stunning car photos in an exhibition you’ve visited.
Of course, not everyone will have access to a Ferrari, for example, but you shouldn’t give up car photos for that. In this article, we’ll show you how you can get great car photos, regardless of the vehicle you own, while there are also a number of automotive events that will allow you to approach a number of awesome vehicles to compose your photography.
- Choose your background first.
- You can use a field or farm to contrast with the clean lines of the car.
- But an urban environment could work very well.
- Also remember that you have to take into account the amount of ambient light in the area.
- Which you want as little as possible.
- Otherwise you run the risk of invading the scene and ruining the image.
Once you’ve set up the location, it’s time to set up your camera. If you can, bring a friend to help you. Not only can it help with the shot, because life is so much easier with someone who fires the shutter, but it’s always good to have company if you work in the dark at night.
With the camera placed on a tripod, working in the dark can make the focus process extremely complicated, so when you turn it on, your friend turns on the car while you set the focus. Once everything is fine, lock the focus and then adjust the exposure. ISO at 100-200, then set the aperture to f/11 and exposure to 30 seconds.
Unless you’re very lucky, you won’t be able to get perfect photos of the car at once. Instead, create photo elements that can be merged later in Photoshop. Choose the items you want to work with, one could be the cab, another could be the side panel and more wheels, while you may also want to bring items from the bottom. If you want to include the front and rear lights, do it separately.
Try to keep your movements as smooth as possible and protect them from the lens. After taking a variety of photos, it’s time to pack up and come home for a aftertreatment.
To create a sense of speed and movement in car photos, the panoramic effect is priceless, this is one of the best ways to transmit movement, and you are not limited to a particular car, you can also apply this technique in motorsport events or just sitting by a suitable road.
We have already discussed this photographic effect at another time, but it is worth recapping, the bread and butter is to follow the object (car) with a slow shutter speed to blur the background, keeping the grid and the point of interest sharp in your photo. in to track your movement.
The shutter speed chosen for the panoramic effect will depend on the speed of the car, so be prepared for a bit of trial and error. A good starting point for a car traveling at 60km / h is around 1/80 of a second, although shooting in daylight conditions often means going down to ISO 100 or 200 and opening the lens all the way down. of f / 11.
If you’re having trouble getting goals for your car photos, try visiting an automotive event, they’re usually a good opportunity to replicate the panoramic effect as well as get fantastic images.
Choosing to use your camera’s AF collimators can produce mixed results. If set up correctly, you can’t criticize it, but some photographers think your camera can focus the wrong spot on the car.
An alternative is to focus on a point on the road where you know you’ll pass the car and then switch to manual focus. While shooting at a great depth of field, you can make sure your concentration is perfect and concentrate completely on your position. in relation to the car.
As far as possible, you want to stay as far away as possible from the car passing on the street at the same time, you need to make sure you have plenty of space in the frame, which can be useful later on. They are also capable of tilting the image slightly to accentuate the sense of speed. In any case, you need to know the correct location to get your car photos.
Avoid moving your feet, so place them slightly apart forward, using your torso to move from left to right and follow the vehicle. When approaching the car, follow it in a fluid motion and release the shutter only when the car is close enough. Don’t be discouraged if you can’t capture the first time, driving requires a lot of practice and patience.
While panoramic technology requires you to move your lens at the same speed as the moving vehicle in front of you, an alternative to more photos of new cars is to use a secondary moving vehicle.
As for the panoramic effect, you’ll have to photograph with a shutter speed slow enough to introduce this feeling of movement, but combining the speed of the two vehicles will bring an interesting effect to your car’s shots. However, it shouldn’t be like this, done on public roads, because it can be very dangerous.
Cars don’t always have to move to compose photos of cars successfully, a static photo can be just as impressive, but in this case, the relationship doesn’t just mean between you and the car.
The location chosen for these car photos really depends on the vehicle you own, so whether you choose an urban and industrial or rural and picturesque area, you must complement or create a contrast to the style and age of the car you are capturing. you decide to take pictures of the car, it is important to check that you are authorized to do so.
Once you have chosen the location, you should think about the lighting. You can choose to use natural light or think about injecting additional lighting, such as an off-camera flash to actually illuminate your car photo.
Although dedicated local lighting is useful, you can still do it efficiently with one or two flashes, as well as lighting mounts and modifiers. The results can be very impressive, especially if you deliberately blur the background during a few stops and start shooting directly on the car – a combination that makes car photos look eye-catching.
While you can opt for a wider view, a telephoto lens can also be a useful option. Getting images of a car on the ground, even trying to lie down, will produce a spectacular image. Try a three-quarter view of the car and think about tilting the angle to add a little more purpose to the photo.
Higher-rise car photos also work well, mainly because it’s an angle that car photographers don’t usually explore. You may be able to find a higher place to take pictures and get that perspective, but it’s not always worth using a small scale for that.
Instead of trying to put the whole vehicle in your car photos, take a different approach and focus on the interesting details, after all, they are the ones that make a unique car. Zoom in with a standard zoom if you have one and move gradually. the car in search of points of interest. Sometimes you can add photos of your car to the brand design, vehicle name, grille or just a curve in the body, but once your eyes head to a place, look for the best angle and be thorough in your car photos.
It is not necessary that the car you are going to photograph is in good condition or clean, so it will appear that it has been used faithfully and will make the photos of the car more realistic, just be careful when working near the car in relation to the reflections, especially if the car is decorated with chrome.
The weather also plays an important role in car photos, a cloudy day can work very well with soft and diffuse light, thus avoiding hard shadows. Whether the warm glow of the early morning or end of the day can add an extra element to your shooting, feel free to experiment.
As with the outside, you may want to focus on specific details, opting for quick opening, not only to record the background, but also to take pictures at viable shutter speeds.
Alternatively, you may want to get a brighter, airy look. A large piece of white cardboard (size A1 or A0 will do the job and can be found in art stores) is perfect for fighting the shadows of lighting, while some remote flashes do a good job of carving light.
Almost like modern sculptures, cars lend themselves perfectly to the work of light, after all this it really helps to reveal the shape of the body. You don’t need an expensive lighting kit, a flash will do a decent job for car photos.
However, for greater control, you can opt for an LED panel, there are a range of options for all budgets. Although different light sources will produce slightly different results, the principles for successful car shots remain the same.
A totally different perspective for car photos is to look through a camera platform temporarily attached to the car, in this way you allow the digital camera to move at the same speed as the vehicle, in addition to using a little from the point of view of the driver or the moving car itself.
You’ll find camera platforms of all shapes and sizes, but do some research to find the safest model for your camera that meets your goals. Also remember that you are shooting relatively close to the car, so you will need a fairly wide focal. distance, something like 35mm on a full-frame DSLR camera.
Camera platforms allow other types of settings to get great car photos, just find the right settings for your images. The car photos on the front or back of the vehicle work perfectly, but make sure the camera platform is not captured in your images, if this happens, you will need to delete them post-production.
One thing you can do to make life easier in Photoshop is to place the camera upside down so that the platform arm is above the camera, it’s much easier to clone a sky or background than having to reconstruct sections of the body.
This can make the composition of your car photos a little complicated, especially since it will work from unusual angles. However, this is where the live view becomes extremely useful as it makes it much easier to frame the photo. focus, it is better to lock it and switch to the manual to prevent the camera from inadvertently altering focus when shooting.
In car photos, the most important thing is to make sure the photo is perfectly flawless, however, if there’s a problem and you’re good at Photoshop, you can digitally clean a car and make any other adjustments you want.
First, select the images you want to use and convert raw files from your camera to Lightroom or Photoshop. Then start slowly mixing car photos to produce wonderful effects.
You can hide certain elements of the image, so with a selected layer, create a new mask layer and with a black brush, complete the areas you want to highlight.
Apply a full layer of black mask to reinforce the darker areas of your car photos. Continue until you are satisfied with the look and pay close attention to tires and accessories, such as the rearview mirror.
Use these mobile lenses to test as many techniques and balconies as you want; There are a multitude of tips that can help you get better results with car photos that add to our previous suggestions. If you are an automotive photographer, take the time to share your own tips in the comment field below or just leave your opinion on this article.
Discovering our evil would be:? Tips for photographing the car correctly?