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Here are some tips I have compiled for how to make better car photos.
If you have other tips to add, post them up!
There are more examples of my work on my site: MotoringPhotography.com
- Read the manual that came with your camera. There is a lot of excellent information in there.
- As a photographer you're not trying to take pictures, you're trying to make them. It's not a passive thing. You want to create a scene. That means car placement, background, people, weather, mood, and timing.
- Think about photography as light management. Aperture controls how big the opening is for the light to hit the sensor. Shutter speed controls how long the light is passing through the aperture. ISO is the sensor's sensitivity to light. All three interact.
- When you shoot "wide open" (i.e. F/3.5 on the kit lens), you're letting in the most light possible, so your shutter speed will be fastest, your depth of field (amount of depth in the picture you have in focus) will be the most shallow.
- Experiment with your camera's modes (not the pre-programmed modes), but aperture priority mode (you set the aperture, and the camera picks the "most appropriate" shutter speed based on what you meter), and shutter priority mode (you set the shutter speed and the camera picks the "most appropriate" aperture), and the manual mode (you set the aperture and the shutter).
- Get a tripod!
- Get off your driveway! Nothing against your driveway, but a lot of people take pictures on there driveway and they don't tend to get the most exciting backgrounds as a result. Make a little adventure out of it, go some place interesting specifically to take pictures.
- Get yourself a Circular Polarizer (if you have a D70 and the kit lens it is a 67mm thread). This filter helps control the amount of reflected light that comes off of reflective surfaces (i.e glass, painted metal, painted plastic, chrome, all the fun materials on the outsides of cars).
- Learn to use your new Circular Polarizer. You thread it onto the end of the lens and the rotate it to change how much reflection you get off the metallic surfaces.
- Don't take pictures in the middle of the day. The harsh light does nothing good for your photos. Morning, late afternoon, evening, and night are your friends.
- Get LOW! Don't just stand up and take pictures. Get lower and shoot a little bit "up". That way you get more sky in your pictures.
- Think about what is in the frame you're trying to photography.
Pick your focus point carefully, so that what you want to be in focus, is actually in focus. - Walk around, look for interesting angles, reposition the car.
- Be careful of the background - I have seen a couple of photoshoots done by fairly experienced photographers, where they shot car pictures in a construction site. The background looked great, except in both cases they shot a picture with a bright blue porta potty reflecting off the car door.
- If you can, try to find something that communicates a sense of place or a sense of what it feels like for you to drive or own your car.
- Get out and shoot! A lot!
- Post pictures when you get home. We like to see pictures and we can't see them if they stay on your hard drive.
If you have other tips to add, post them up!
There are more examples of my work on my site: MotoringPhotography.com
It takes real thought and planning to be at the right place at the right time. You don't always know what you'll wind up with, but having a plan for what you want to shoot is a huge step towards getting better photos. Not just banging away at the shutter button.
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