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.
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.
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? 😂
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Comments
Great post! I’ve been taking pictures for 2 years now and I’ve gotten a lot better. You can see some on my Flickr. One key thing to photography is actually learning the “rules” of photography, like what’s the best aperture and focal length, etc. for your shot.
Read this article and got the perfect opportunity while driving to dinner.
Low angle, close enough to car, minimal editing!
Shot on Samsung Note 5
Agree unique angles are best
I’m not too much of a photographer either, but I do like photography. People usually just focus on the car when you’re actually trying to tell a story or describe a moment with just one image. A plain head shot won’t do that. Great write up
Having extensively used a DSLR for the past year, I can totally agree with every point in this article. A next step for you could be shooting at night (if you have a tripod). Seriously, some experience playing with exposure times and light painting helps a huge amount even when you’re shooting during the day. In some situations, using the flash to fill in the shadows on a well-lit scene looks astounding.
How do you do your own name/brand on the photo
Magic of Photoshop
Maybe you can teach us later on how to edit, because I have no idea what to do XD
hahah, but there’s not really a specific way on how to edit car photos 😂
I’m not too much into my Photography to warrant spending insane amounts on a DSLR camera, so Photoshop CC and an iPhone are all I need. Rule of thirds helps, too.
https://d37nk263jfz2p8.cloudfront.net/image/1/1200/0/uploads/posts/2016/05/5fb5cf308c0b8df51e7db42e593d9266.jpg
Nice picture!! Love the graffitis!
I agree on the shots from a lower angle, I like to see things in a perspective I don’t always get to see.
Cheers for the tips mate! Very good advice.