Automotive Photography Tips – Considerations for Photographing Cars

Entire careers are made around photographing vehicles, so most of us will not go beyond dabbling in this genre. Still, dabbling is great fun (and could generate a profit if you get good at it).

To get started, you need a vehicle subject. Fortunately, these are plentiful and available nearly everywhere. Find something old, new, special (such as because you own it), or just for sale. The car can be yours, a friend's, a client's, or someone willing to trade car time for pictures.

Next, you need a place to put the car, and the background matters. Even with the car filling the width of the image (with some breathing room on both sides and the bottom), the background (and some foreground) is often a huge percentage of the image. A supportive background will minimally be nondistracting, especially void of strongly contrasting lines intersecting the perimeter of the vehicle that compete for attention. Even if blurred, the background should be void of clashing colors. Mow the grass and remove leaves and other distractions/detractions.

Even small cars are large, so a large space is optimal, and that option is often outdoors, including in yards, parking lots, etc. For inside shoots, find a large garage (including a commercial parking garage), warehouse, airplane hanger, etc.

Clean the car. Of course, one of Bryan's Laws of Photography is that if you wash the car, it will rain. Still, give it a go.

Show love to the wheels and tires as they are the car's soul and have a primary role to play. Tire shine will give the tires a deep, rich, better-than-new look, but understand the penalty. The tire shine I've used holds dirt and makes the tires virtually uncleanable, creating an always-dirty look. The easiest way to get them clean is to replace them.

In some locations and times of the year, insects landing on the vehicle can be problematic, and they seem to be attracted to a clean vehicle. Usually, they are easy to remove in post-processing, but when they start accumulating in greater numbers or land on features that are not easily replaced by the healing or cloning brush tools, chasing them away is a better idea.

Cars (most, at least) are reflective, so consider what is reflecting in the body and windows. A large open space often works well, leaving primarily the sky to reflect. Also, consider using a circular polarizer filter.

Lighting a large subject is challenging. The easiest high-quality lighting is a broad sky immediately after the sun sets or, for those preferring to get started early, before the sun rises. A cloudy day and a low sun at your back also work well. Light painting the exterior at night provides a different look and, potentially, a different look to every image.

Especially if shooting at dawn or dusk, turn on the car lights to add life to the vehicle. Adding a touch of interior light can work well.

Camera selection is easy. Unless the car is in motion, even entry-level cameras can perform this job well.

Lens selection is more critical, but there are many good options depending on the desired look.

The basics always apply, and perspective plays an especially big role for big subjects that are easy to get close to. 2x farther from the camera means 2x smaller in appearance. If the camera is close to the front of the car, the back of the car will be rendered considerably smaller. That size difference is OK if that is the look you want.

Shooting from a high position, such as from a ladder, enables a top view with reduced perspective distortion (and a different looks at the vehicle's shape). Shooting at car level from the front, back, or side and not too close can reduce visible perspective distortion, and moving back is always certain to reduce perspective distortion.

Select the focal length or focal length range that supports the desired perspective and composition within the working space. Select the aperture for thedesired depth of field and background blur.

This BMW image was captured just after sunset on a clear day, with the car strategically positioned to show only sky reflection in the windows. The 85mm f/1.2 combination yielded a strong background blur despite the relatively distant subject. The slightly forward of straight on camera position meant that most of the visible portion of the car was within the plane of sharp focus.


A larger version of this image is available here.

 
Camera and Lens Settings
85mm  f/1.2  1/250s
ISO 100
8192 x 5464px
Posted: 2/4/2025 9:00:00 AM ET    Posted By:
Posted to: Canon News, Sony News    Category: Photo Tips and Stories
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