Dealers letting you photograph cars

[Roosterbull]

Just wondering if anyone had ever approached a dealership asking them if you could photograph the cars, and if they had any success?

No one I know has a car I would want to shoot!!

[beano500]

Roosterbull said:

No one I know has a car I would want to shoot!!

Rubbish - you have all of Pistonheads at your fingertips!!!! There's all sorts to think about - I think you'll have to be quick to get Jenx (but then you'll struggle to get the White Balance correct with acar that colour - whatever colour it actually is ) or a trip to the highlights for Mr Carter's convoy. Damn, there's even an old Blackpool Bucket round this neck of the woods (I really must take a good photo of it one day!)

Ooh - just thought what I should do. Go and see your most local exotic secondhand car dealer and offer to do some of their promotional shots for them - now that'd be a good learning curve!

[Roosterbull]

Ooh doing promo shots, now there is an idea. Well done you! I'm in Leeds so there should be plenty! Should maybe get my arse down to the next Yorkshire PH monthly meet up.

If anyone has an R8 round my way they'd let me photograph I'd be slightly giddy!

[baz7175]

I used to do this for most of the local garages when I lived up in the North West of Ireland - the local papers wanted shots of the latest models etc, so I spoke to the garages and from there was getting my hands on 2-3 cars a week...meaning I basically never used my own for that time

[Simpo Two]

beano500 said:

you'll have to be quick to get Jenx (but then you'll struggle to get the White Balance correct with acar that colour - whatever colour it actually is )

It's actually Skoda Misty Buff. The nice turquoise colour is done afterwards in Photoshop using Hue and Saturation...

[Rude Girl]

Simpo Two said:

It's actually Skoda Misty Buff.

Ah, Hearing-aid Beige. One of my favourite colours

[autofocus]

Hi there,

Yes I have done this quite a bit with dealers around the midlands area.
Some are really friendly and only to happy to oblige, others so definitely not. I always drop them an e-mail first to ask permission and also whether they have any special conditions. For instance the local Ferrari dealer always insists that I sign in and obtain a visitors badge and that I don't take photos of any cars with a registration plate on.

Here are some from the last 12 months: -

Aston Martin DB AR1 - one of only 99 in the world





Martini Racing Jaguar XJ220





Gumpert Apollo





Hope this helps.

Regards

Tim

Edited by autofocus on Tuesday 11th March 19:44

[toohuge]

Tim, that is quite a selection of metal that you have taken photographs of. Are they all in one dealership? Where is the DB AR1 based? beautiful car in a very special colour combination too.

[autofocus]

toohuge said:

Tim, that is quite a selection of metal that you have taken photographs of. Are they all in one dealership? Where is the DB AR1 based? beautiful car in a very special colour combination too.

Hi there,

Just a small part of my rapidly growing photo collection.

The DB AR1 was on display at the Aston Martin dealership here in Derby. My 14 year old son spotted it one day as he passed the garage on the school bus, he knows how much I love the DB7 Zagatos. I e-mailed the dealer principal and he was more than happy for me to take some pics of the car. It is not there now, not sure where its gone but the car had a sold sign on it when I took the pics.

The Jaguar XJ220 was on display at the Jaguar dealer in Leicester not far from Fosse Park, it was actually a post on Pistonheads that lead me to the car, again I e-mailed the DP and he ok'd me taking the pics.

Regards

Tim

Edited by autofocus on Friday 14th March 20:10

[Zad]

If you find it difficult getting colour balance right, take a nice grey bit of cardboard with you and take a test shot, or put it somewhere unobtrusive and Photoshop it out later

[Roosterbull]

Thanks guys you've been helpful. I'll have a shot at emailing a few people.

[BlueMR2]

There are some nice car dealerships in Leeds. Porsche, Aston, Ferrari etc just out of the town centre. Never really thought of asking to take photos there before.