todras
Pretty fly for a white guy *cowbell*
C&P'd from another forum. Thought I would pass along.
So you’ve washed and waxed your car. Maybe you installed a new part that you want to show us or just got a new digital camera. Whatever the case, you want to capture your car in all its glory.
This topic is for all you CEG members looking to take Photos of your car.
Nothing here should be considered as a rule either, even I don’t always follow them. If you have tips of your own please feel free to share it with the rest of us.
KNOW YOUR CAMERA
Know what your camera is capable of. The only way to find out is to go out and shoot.
Digital Camera Types
Cell Phone – It takes crappy photos that I would never use one for my car.
Point and Shoots- I have one of these. It’s pretty old and beat up. The best things about these are their versatility and mobility.
Digital SLR- I wish I had one of these. Although their big and expensive, they’ll produce the best quality images.
CAMERA FUNCTIONS
Be able to make the adjustments to the items below to achieve the type of photo you want. Familiarize yourself with all of your cameras functions. The best way to do this is practice and experiment. The beauty of digital photography is that you can take tons of photos. For me, I'll take a lot of shots and from those I'll only actually be happy with around 10% of them.
Aperture
The size of the shutter opening that allows light to hit the sensor. It affects the field of view or FOV or blurriness of the background
ISO
This is the amount sensitivity of your cameras sensor to light. The higher the ISO the higher the amount of graininess for most point and shoots. Digital SLR can have a ISO without grain because they have larger sensors.
Shutter speed
The amount of time the shutter is open to allow light to hit the sensor.
OTHER STUFF
White balance
I try to manually set mine whenever I shoot. Know how to use this if you’re going to take pictures of your HIDs.
Flash
I never use it as the main source of light. If ever I do use flash it’s simply to “fill” in the dark areas, but that’s hardly ever. I try to stick with other light sources, usually the sun.
Macro
Macro photography is fun, just turn your camera into macro mode, usually indicated by a small rose, get up close to something of interest and take the shot. Its like looking through a magnifying glass. It's easy to be creative and artistic when shooting in macro. Macro shots can be useful for interior shots, inside the engine bay and showing off the finer details in something.
Interior Shots
I don’t do too much of these, but the ones that I have done have been done in my garage under a florescent light and came out nice. Just be sure to adjust the white balance first. The car has gotta be positioned just so the light comes through the windows at the right angle.
Rolling Shots
They’re hard to do, and usually involve rigs and such. I haven’t really tried it. You can also try hanging out of the side of a car, but thats dangerous! Watch out for parked cars.
Action shots
These are hard to do too; I have a little experience with this. All I remember is trying to pan the camera while keeping the subject in frame and finding a setting the blurs the background and wheels of a car while keeping the rest of the car in focus. I was a a Formula D event taking tons of pictures of cars going by..I only ended up really liking 3 or 4 shots that I took.
Tripods
I used to have a small one for macro shots until my nephew got hold of it and lost the screw to tighten down the camera. Sometimes I find myself setting my camera down on boxes, fences, anything I can get a hold of and using the 2 second delay feature to get a steady shot. You pretty much have to use some sort of camera stabilization to get clear night shots using long exposures.
When to shoot
Darker colored and metallic colored cars seem to look better when they are shot in the late afternoon when it is an hour or two away from sunset rather than the middle of the day. Light colored cars look best to me in the middle of a bright day. If I’m taking night shots I’d use a tripod, but I haven’t done that in a long time.
Post Processing
I use Photoshop to retouch the photos. I try not to do anything too drastic. The usual adjustments include levels, contrast and sharpen mask. Sometimes I go overboard when I learn a new trick and don’t realize it until later. There’s a free program called Gimpshop that is very similar to Photoshop that you guys might what to try.
Car Prep
Wash it. Once your at the right location and the car is in position, clean tires if you have to. Roll the windows up. If you want your wheels turned, make sure they are pointed away from the camera.
Do What the Pros Do
Look through car mags and car sites for inspiration. Find a photo you like and try to setup a shot with your car thats similar to it.
COMPOSITION
Rule of Thirds <<CLICKY<<
Anyone with the slightest bit of interest in photography needs to know the rule of thirds if they don’t know already. I try to follow it as much as I can. The gist of the rule is to not always have your subject or object of interest smack dab in the center of the photo. I try to place horizon lines on the bottom third or on the top third.
Camera Tilt /Rotation
Sometimes it’s cool sometimes its not. It’s easy to seem like it has been overdone, so try this at your own risk. To me a lil camera tilt adds motion to the car eventhough its parked. I’ve read that its best to always have the car’s front end pointing up, but I’ve taken shots where it was the other way and they seemed nice.
Distance
With my point and shoot I like to stand far back (around 10ft. at least) and zoom in somewhere between 2x and 3x. I think this increases the focal length closer to what things would look like to the naked eye. 50mm is a focal length that is considered normal. Practice taking shots at the same angle and only changing the distance, for example get as close as you can to your car while filling the frame with it and take a shot, then take 3 or 4 steps back, zoom in to fill in the frame with your car and take another shot. Repeat until you’ve gone as far back as possible while still filling the frame and you’ll see what I mean.
Height
I usually take shots of my car at a variety of levels. I have things like foot level, knee level, hip level, chest level, eye level and raising the camera in the air level. I have a screen on my point and shoot that folds out and tilts and spins so it’s easy for me to achieve different levels. I find that the most aggressive looking shots come from the foot, knee, hip and chest level. If you don’t have a nifty swiveling screen like I do, bend your knees.
Angle
I try to take shots all around my car, an entire 360°. If the front were 0°, then I try to get shots at or around the major angles like the 45°, 90°, 135°, 180°, 225°, 270°, and 315°.
Lines
Different points of view reveal different lines on your car. A side shot of the car (90°) can be taken just a tad bit off of the direct side to reveal more lines from the front of the car, or at a higher level to reveal more of the roof or hood lines. The lines from the background are important as well. Use the lines in the background to draw attention to the subject of the photo. Lines can also add "motion".
Background & Location
I try to keep the background simple so as not to distract attention away from the car. Some consider the background to be just as important as the subject. The main things I consider at a location are the lighting and how well it goes with the car. Generally I try to have the sun at or around my back. Nice shadow effects can be had by having the light source at the side or in front of the camera though. I also try to avoid having objects near the car that might distract from the car. Light poles and trees can disrupt the roofline of the car. Bright signs might draw attention away.
I try to look for backgrounds with patterns. Areas like parking garages, truck docks and beside buildings are pretty common. Try to find a place out of the way and different. I find it kind of fun hunting for a good location. I try not to take pictures of my car on the driveway unless I feel it’s absolutely necessary to show off something new or I’m just really lazy. I also hate pictures of cars on lawns. Sorry guys. Stick with asphalt. Parking lots are okay, as long as you’re away from those concrete bumpers or curbs.
Reflections
Try to be aware of the reflections off the car, keeping it simple like the background. Sometimes I might be in the reflection and not even realize it until later.
Horizontal (Landscape) and Vertical (portrait)
I try to take every shot in both orientations. This is one of the best tips I can remember. It’s not until I’ve uploaded the shots into my computer and realize how much one shot looks better then the other simply because it’s in the vertical orientation.
Thats it for now.
So you’ve washed and waxed your car. Maybe you installed a new part that you want to show us or just got a new digital camera. Whatever the case, you want to capture your car in all its glory.
This topic is for all you CEG members looking to take Photos of your car.
Nothing here should be considered as a rule either, even I don’t always follow them. If you have tips of your own please feel free to share it with the rest of us.
KNOW YOUR CAMERA
Know what your camera is capable of. The only way to find out is to go out and shoot.
Digital Camera Types
Cell Phone – It takes crappy photos that I would never use one for my car.
Point and Shoots- I have one of these. It’s pretty old and beat up. The best things about these are their versatility and mobility.
Digital SLR- I wish I had one of these. Although their big and expensive, they’ll produce the best quality images.
CAMERA FUNCTIONS
Be able to make the adjustments to the items below to achieve the type of photo you want. Familiarize yourself with all of your cameras functions. The best way to do this is practice and experiment. The beauty of digital photography is that you can take tons of photos. For me, I'll take a lot of shots and from those I'll only actually be happy with around 10% of them.
Aperture
The size of the shutter opening that allows light to hit the sensor. It affects the field of view or FOV or blurriness of the background
ISO
This is the amount sensitivity of your cameras sensor to light. The higher the ISO the higher the amount of graininess for most point and shoots. Digital SLR can have a ISO without grain because they have larger sensors.
Shutter speed
The amount of time the shutter is open to allow light to hit the sensor.
OTHER STUFF
White balance
I try to manually set mine whenever I shoot. Know how to use this if you’re going to take pictures of your HIDs.
Flash
I never use it as the main source of light. If ever I do use flash it’s simply to “fill” in the dark areas, but that’s hardly ever. I try to stick with other light sources, usually the sun.
Macro
Macro photography is fun, just turn your camera into macro mode, usually indicated by a small rose, get up close to something of interest and take the shot. Its like looking through a magnifying glass. It's easy to be creative and artistic when shooting in macro. Macro shots can be useful for interior shots, inside the engine bay and showing off the finer details in something.
Interior Shots
I don’t do too much of these, but the ones that I have done have been done in my garage under a florescent light and came out nice. Just be sure to adjust the white balance first. The car has gotta be positioned just so the light comes through the windows at the right angle.
Rolling Shots
They’re hard to do, and usually involve rigs and such. I haven’t really tried it. You can also try hanging out of the side of a car, but thats dangerous! Watch out for parked cars.
Action shots
These are hard to do too; I have a little experience with this. All I remember is trying to pan the camera while keeping the subject in frame and finding a setting the blurs the background and wheels of a car while keeping the rest of the car in focus. I was a a Formula D event taking tons of pictures of cars going by..I only ended up really liking 3 or 4 shots that I took.
Tripods
I used to have a small one for macro shots until my nephew got hold of it and lost the screw to tighten down the camera. Sometimes I find myself setting my camera down on boxes, fences, anything I can get a hold of and using the 2 second delay feature to get a steady shot. You pretty much have to use some sort of camera stabilization to get clear night shots using long exposures.
When to shoot
Darker colored and metallic colored cars seem to look better when they are shot in the late afternoon when it is an hour or two away from sunset rather than the middle of the day. Light colored cars look best to me in the middle of a bright day. If I’m taking night shots I’d use a tripod, but I haven’t done that in a long time.
Post Processing
I use Photoshop to retouch the photos. I try not to do anything too drastic. The usual adjustments include levels, contrast and sharpen mask. Sometimes I go overboard when I learn a new trick and don’t realize it until later. There’s a free program called Gimpshop that is very similar to Photoshop that you guys might what to try.
Car Prep
Wash it. Once your at the right location and the car is in position, clean tires if you have to. Roll the windows up. If you want your wheels turned, make sure they are pointed away from the camera.
Do What the Pros Do
Look through car mags and car sites for inspiration. Find a photo you like and try to setup a shot with your car thats similar to it.
COMPOSITION
Rule of Thirds <<CLICKY<<
Anyone with the slightest bit of interest in photography needs to know the rule of thirds if they don’t know already. I try to follow it as much as I can. The gist of the rule is to not always have your subject or object of interest smack dab in the center of the photo. I try to place horizon lines on the bottom third or on the top third.
Camera Tilt /Rotation
Sometimes it’s cool sometimes its not. It’s easy to seem like it has been overdone, so try this at your own risk. To me a lil camera tilt adds motion to the car eventhough its parked. I’ve read that its best to always have the car’s front end pointing up, but I’ve taken shots where it was the other way and they seemed nice.
Distance
With my point and shoot I like to stand far back (around 10ft. at least) and zoom in somewhere between 2x and 3x. I think this increases the focal length closer to what things would look like to the naked eye. 50mm is a focal length that is considered normal. Practice taking shots at the same angle and only changing the distance, for example get as close as you can to your car while filling the frame with it and take a shot, then take 3 or 4 steps back, zoom in to fill in the frame with your car and take another shot. Repeat until you’ve gone as far back as possible while still filling the frame and you’ll see what I mean.
Height
I usually take shots of my car at a variety of levels. I have things like foot level, knee level, hip level, chest level, eye level and raising the camera in the air level. I have a screen on my point and shoot that folds out and tilts and spins so it’s easy for me to achieve different levels. I find that the most aggressive looking shots come from the foot, knee, hip and chest level. If you don’t have a nifty swiveling screen like I do, bend your knees.
Angle
I try to take shots all around my car, an entire 360°. If the front were 0°, then I try to get shots at or around the major angles like the 45°, 90°, 135°, 180°, 225°, 270°, and 315°.
Lines
Different points of view reveal different lines on your car. A side shot of the car (90°) can be taken just a tad bit off of the direct side to reveal more lines from the front of the car, or at a higher level to reveal more of the roof or hood lines. The lines from the background are important as well. Use the lines in the background to draw attention to the subject of the photo. Lines can also add "motion".
Background & Location
I try to keep the background simple so as not to distract attention away from the car. Some consider the background to be just as important as the subject. The main things I consider at a location are the lighting and how well it goes with the car. Generally I try to have the sun at or around my back. Nice shadow effects can be had by having the light source at the side or in front of the camera though. I also try to avoid having objects near the car that might distract from the car. Light poles and trees can disrupt the roofline of the car. Bright signs might draw attention away.
I try to look for backgrounds with patterns. Areas like parking garages, truck docks and beside buildings are pretty common. Try to find a place out of the way and different. I find it kind of fun hunting for a good location. I try not to take pictures of my car on the driveway unless I feel it’s absolutely necessary to show off something new or I’m just really lazy. I also hate pictures of cars on lawns. Sorry guys. Stick with asphalt. Parking lots are okay, as long as you’re away from those concrete bumpers or curbs.
Reflections
Try to be aware of the reflections off the car, keeping it simple like the background. Sometimes I might be in the reflection and not even realize it until later.
Horizontal (Landscape) and Vertical (portrait)
I try to take every shot in both orientations. This is one of the best tips I can remember. It’s not until I’ve uploaded the shots into my computer and realize how much one shot looks better then the other simply because it’s in the vertical orientation.
Thats it for now.
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