Taking Pictures of Cars

[ChallengerHK]

Met an interesting guy the other day, a Swedish freelance photographer ...
So, here's what i got:

1) Be calm, take your time. Test shoot, adjust and test shoot again until you are happy. Before shooting, observe not only the car for a while. Check also the surroundings, background etc. 
He had a small magnifying glass around his neck for checking test shots on the camera display, can be hard to see the errors without it.
2) For front and rear, slightly angled shots, use a ladder. Get 1-2 steps up and the proportions of the car will improve radically.
3) As discussed in this thread earlier, distance creates depth. Especially for side shots, he likes to walk away from the car, zoom and shoot.
4) Under hood, interior and trunk shots, use fill flash. Doesn't matter how you place the car, there will always be some shadows. His flash was adjustable but if you dont have that function, step back, zoom, test shoot and move back and forth until you are happy with the result (not too dark, not over exposed).

This is all really good advice. I'm starting to wonder if one of the reasons for declining submissions to the calendar competition is that guys are thinking "I don't want to do all this stuff like carrying ladders around with me. I just want to catch a few pics and then go drive my car." If so, I don't blame them, but stuff like this is realtively easy, and really improves the shot.

[moparman82]

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Don't mean to hijack the thead, but...
Whoah, never seen one of these look this good!! I really like it!  Any other pics or I for on this car burdar?

[ChallengerHK]

Since it's calendar time, bumping this thread for visibility. Still definitely open for comments and advice.

[4406v]

This picture of my 71 Cuda was taken very early in the morning in low light. I think the lighting is perfect in the early morning. It really makes the color of the car "pop".

I also really like pictures in a natural setting. Here is my old 70 Challenger taken in a park near my house.
One of my all time favorites is to take car pictures in the fall. I have one that I took on a back country road where all of the trees are yellow and under the canopy of the trees with the sunlight peeking through the plum crazy Challenger just plain "popped" I do not have the picture loaded in photobucket but I'll try to add a copy to show what I mean.

[Devil]

If anyone is more interested in shooting cars, here is a few good posts on it.

http://www.hotrod.com/features/0506phr-get-your-car-phr/

http://www.speedhunters.com/2013/10/how-to-shoot-cars-feature-photography/

This one here is about Cobras, but the facts are really good, and it comes in a PDF.

http://www.cobracountry.com/Curt-Tips4Dipstix-intro.html

[djais1801]

This is one of my favorite pics I took of my 71 B-body...climbed up on the roof of the garage for this.

and this one I found a sick mural backdrop on a Mexican restaurant.

[ChallengerHK]

Dig the first one a lot. It's not only a great angle, but the orange and brown in the leaves contrasts nicely with the blue of the car.

[jordan]

My girlfriend took this one last spring during her first ride in the car. 

[djais1801]

That's amazing

My girlfriend took this one last spring during her first ride in the car.

[73440]

My girlfriend took this one last spring during her first ride in the car.

That's a cool photo! That works with airplanes also.

I have done that technique on the motorcycle and gotten my shadow in the photo.

[Archialfa]

Here's a shot which just happened... One of those moments you don't plan, they just happen.