How I Improved My Car Photography

I don’t consider myself much of a car photographer, but I like to take a nice picture of a car from time to time.

Updated: 10 Oct 2024

I don’t consider myself much of a car photographer, but I like to take a nice picture of a car from time to time. I’m that weird guy who’ll stop in the middle of the street and start experimenting some gymnastics positions and everybody around would ask themselves “what the hell is he doing?!”.

Right, so let’s see how my photos looked like THEN and NOW.

Then

Now

Between THEN and NOW there were some hard way self learned lessons, which were good, self learned lessons are the best, you kinda never forget them and you can share them with others too.

LOW ANGLES ALWAYS LOOK BETTER

If there’s a thing I learned the hard way this would be it, getting to do gymnastics in front of a ton of other people may seem a little bit awkward, but when you just stop caring and focus on the shot everything gets a lot better. Don’t forget you’re actually the one doing stuff they’re just lame walking around you 😉

Please don’t make me explain this one, I don’t have an answer, but for some odd reason this is a super valuable tip.

Smartphone photography is good, but DSLR photography is GOODER 😂

I’m always trying to do everything as cheap as possible and don’t get me wrong smartphone cameras are amazing these days, I’ve got an accessory set of lenses for my iPhone 6 that completely blows it out of the water.

After getting to play with my brother’s DSLR (a Samsung NX30) last summer when I did that whole #MuseumWalk thing I really saw the difference, even if you don’t have a DSLR, a camera completely dedicated to taking pictures is amazing. My latest Gumball 3000 Album was completely shot with my new Sony Alpha A5000 which is great, it basically is a compact camera with a DSLR sensor inside it.

Here's a picture I shot with my phone quite recently.

Try to integrate the car in the scenery

It adds depth to the picture, there are an awful lot of pictures that don’t stand out from the crowd, you have to! 😄 And try not to shoot the car where it always sits, the boring parking lot, but if you do try to make it interesting like I did here.

Don’t fear to get up and personal with the car

Show the car’s curves, vents, bolts, badge or whatever you feel like it’s worth showing 😄

Don’t overdo post-editing

Seriously, nobody likes a photo where you’ve got a filter over a filter. over a filter. I try to keep it as classy as possible, but it depends, you can always do that black and white thing where you let just a colour shine through, it’s a taste thing, it refines in time.

That would be about it, told you I’m not much of a car photographer… what did you expect? 😂

Follow me on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube or Snapchat at alexandrei64

Comments

Wouldn’t this be called “The Key to a Successful Picture?” Also, great photography!

Haha you can also call it that 😂 Thanks!

Noted.

Hope to see personal photos from you mate! You have great taste in vintage pics 😄

Will try to remember this for future ghetto photoshoots, thanks! :D

The amount of emojis in this post is higher than in that of a teen girl’s text message to her boyfriend.

Thanks 😘

Man, you really helped me!
But only problem is that I was at car show a month ago and took like 600 pictures and on some pictures I wasn’t using that technique. Well, I’ll admit on most of them 😂😂

You are absolutely right; lower is better. Although it’s difficult to get on your knees when it’s raining. Also, it’s a bit more difficult to get a good picture when finding cars parked on the streets as they are usually accompanied by other less desirable cars. Great article m8.

Thanks! You’re totally right, you should experiment angles or close ups in those cases :D

Some DSLR’s come with so-called flip screens.
You can bring the camera down close to the ground, and turn the screen so you can see it perfectly fine without having to lie down.
Get a small tripod (or the old beanbag-trick) to get the camera steady at low positions, and you’re fine.

Nearly 2700 pictures later,i still don’t have a real camera,hence why my pictures are s#it.I should really get a real camera.What’s the range of camera prices?

Well from the cheap 100 bucks ones to A LOT. I payed 330 Euros for mine, the Sony Alpha A5000 and it’s awesome :)

How does £50-£40,000 sound? In my opinion, a dslr for around £500 is your best bet for an all- rounder. I personally prefer the Sony alpha 65 with some aftermarket hobbies on it.

To be honest, if your pictures are lacking interest then that wont change just because youre using a more complicated camera. Get out and practice with what youve got.