Taking car photographs is both an art and a hobby for most people. Regardless of whether you are a professional photographer or not, at some point you might want to take a few shots of your car. When this happens, you should make sure that you take nice photos that you would wish to keep for long. To help you take the best photos here are ten car photography tips you should know.
1. Golden hours are the best for photography
To take great car photos, you will have to choose carefully the time of the day you shoot them. Even with the coming of advanced cameras, it is still important to take pictures when the conditions are perfect. The best time to photograph your car is a couple of minutes before sunset or a couple of minutes after sunrise. During these golden hours, the lighting is perfect, and you are more likely to take good photos.
2. Careful background selection
You should always make sure that the background suits the car and the theme of the photograph. Before taking the shots, you should ensure that there is nothing in the background that can take away the attention of anyone viewing the photo from the car. A small thing like a dustbin in the background can completely ruin your photo.
3. Proper lighting
Proper lighting is the single most important thing for excellent photography. It is always good to use natural light, but sometimes this might not be possible, especially when you are shooting at night. However, you can use artificial lighting and still get beautiful shots. Artificial light will only give you good photos if you utilize it carefully. There is probably no wrong or right way to set up light for a picture as it will depend on the type of shots you want. The best thing to do is to set up the light one by one until you get the perfect lighting.
4. Interaction with nature
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Letting your car interact with nature is a simple trick you can use to get amazing photographs. Nature has a way of making everything look fantastic and so will your car. This will also ensure that your car does not look like a randomly placed object in the photo or a misplaced object.
5. Watch out for reflection
A new or a well-polished car is like a mirror, and it will reflect anything close by – even your own reflection. Try to shoot the car in an open space where there are no trees or buildings close by to avoid reflections. You can also use a tripod to avoid having your own reflection in the shots.
6. Choose an excellent location
Many photographic car advertisements are always shot in a scenic location. It might not be possible to match this when photographing your car due to the budget involved, but you can still find an excellent location. However, when choosing a location, you should make sure that whatever you choose does not replace the car as the center of attention for the photo. The location should instead enhance the attractiveness of the car.
7. Give your car a paint job
If you want to take great photos of your car, then it might be necessary to give it a paint job. Different colors will react differently with different light, but most of them will not look nice in direct sunlight. However, there are few colors that can look fantastic in direct sunlight and so if you want to take a photo in direct sunlight then you might have to paint your car. For example, Baby blue looks fantastic in direct sunlight.
8. Angles
Once you get an excellent location for the photos and figure out the lighting the next step will be to take the photos. For this, you need to decide how you want to portray the car. Since you know your car well, this shouldn’t be a problem. You can start by shooting at eye level, but it will be important to exploit different vantage points and angles if you want to get outstanding shots.
9. Panning
Any car photography session wouldn’t be complete without taking a few shots of the car when it is motion. Using this technique, you should be able to blur the background while still keeping the car in focus. One way to do this is to stand next to a road and let the car drive by. You should then follow the car in a smooth action with the camera at a 125th of a second shutter speed.
10. Night shots
For most people, these shots might look challenging, but they are also pretty easy. Using a tripod and with the right ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed settings, you should be able to take incredible photos. A reliable source of light that you can be able to control is also a must have.
With these ten car photography tips in mind, you should try and photograph your car. Hopefully, you will be able to take breathtaking photos with little effort.
Article Submitted By Community Writer
