I need some tips - outdoor car photography

[Chris71]

Hi,

Can anyone offer some tips for a novice!

I'm going to be taking some pictures of car tomorrow morning. They will be outside (on an air field probably), taken with a 400D running a standard 18-55mm lens. Probably stationary.

Any suggestion on settings, composition, anything really...

CP

[Dave B S3]

I can offer one thing,

Get the camera low, and pay lots of attention to the scenery behind the shot, if you have a laptop take it and preview the pictures

Also get out some magzines and see what shots you like, then thnk about the angles,

if your eager you could try for the sunrise shot

Dave

[pauljc]

Oh, and wash the car!

[doodah]

look at the car. i mean really look at the car. study it from all angles and decide what YOU like abut it - what YOU want to express via the image.

photography is about YOUR eyes, no one else's.

[MotorFocus]

^^^ What they said

But also, explore the area you've got to shoot in to see if there's any unusual viewpoints or backgrounds you can benefit from.

Dependent on the car, you might want to have a natural background (grass/ trees), neutral background (building/ sky) or even a foreground full of tarmac, for instance.

If you're unsure about composition use the wide end of your lens - you can crop later if you need to.

Shoot some of the vehicle's details as well as the whole car - curves, badges, wheels, brake calipers, interior etc.

As for settings, for static shots switch to aperture priority to determine what depth of field you want - maybe somewhere about f8-f11 should allow you to get the whole car in focus without the background being distractingly pin-sharp. For moving shots, opt for shutter priority; you can get some amazing effects with really low shutter speeds (<1/60) but for the most part you probably want to aim for 1/125 - 1/200 in line with your technique and the vehicle's speed.

Oh, and use a tripod. And think about a polariser to cut down reflections from glass or to emphasise the way light falls on the vehicle's shape.

Edited by MotorFocus on Friday 14th December 22:07

[DanH]

What metering mode do people tend to use for cars? Centre point so that the car is at least correctly metered? I've seen a lot of amateur car pics where the car looks flat but the background is great!

[V6GTO]

Background is everything.

[mgv8dave]

As they say Image is Everything.