How to: Taking Pictures of Your Car!

ARdoller

-Never Forget-
Joined
Dec 13, 2006
Messages
2,584
Reaction score
3
Here's a small tutorial on how to take the optimal pictures for your car. These techniques are prime for having a signature made. Not only will following these steps and rules make your car look great, but it will also make it easiest on our Photoshop crew to make you a signature that you will enjoy. Plus, if you have pictures that look nice, your chances of someone telling you to retake pictures for whatever reason will be less likely

These tips also apply when you are just trying to take some pictures for your car for yourself, not just to be posted on here. You will notice that if you follow these tips, your photo taking will greatly improve and you will be much more impressed with your ability to take pictures.


Let's get started.

I am going to get this out of the way right off the bat. Please DO NOT post pictures that you took with a cell phone. No matter how clear they look on your phone, the clarity and distortion of the image is very noticable in a larger format, and is very hard to work with.

No matter how well your pictures come out, whether it be clarity or how you present your image, they will be virtually useless if you dont make them big enough. A good average size of an image to use is about (in pixels) 800 x 600. That size is a standard size for cameras and computer desktops so if you resize your images to that size you will not have any distortion or "smooshing". 800 x 600 is only an optimal size if your car is in most of the picture. If your car is only in the bottom corner of the picture, then a much bigger size will be needed because a small picture of the car is very hard to work with.

Next, the whole car MUST be in the picture. This is not true for EVERY image that you can post, but the majority of pictures should have the entire car with out the car hanging off the edge of the photo. Some "artistic" pictures may have only the emblem, or one part of the car at a very close angle, but DO NOT post ONLY close-up pictures.

An important thing to remember is, you DO NOT want big sun glares on your car, or huge shadows that black out areas of your car. Big sun glares create "bleaching" which not only "bleaches" out the paint in your pictures, but also eliminates the defining shape of the car where the glare hits. The same goes with shadows, but as obviously you can tell, you end up with very dark spots and undefining areas of your car.

Shadows are not always bad though. If your car still has a defining shape and you can see most areas of the car, a shadow may not be a bad thing, and if harnessed correctly, it can make an image look just that much better.

Now onto where you should take pictures. Remember, you CAN take your car out of your driveway (well unless you dont have a drivers liscense or if the car is not running). For "Artistic Photography" pictures, a nice scenery is something that you would like to include in your picture. For a signature though, it all depends on what you would like. For someone that would just like their car chopped onto a custom created background, then scenery is not a priority, and clarity, size, and complexion of the car is the only objective. If you would rather have a "simple" signature, where most of the original picture (including background) is used, and maybe "optimized" to improve the image, then you would want to take the picture somewhere where you would have something nice in the background or a "themed" image.

The Types of Angles:

This is a crucial part of this tutorial. You dont want your car to look as if it is two-dimensional. You want your car to show some depth, you want people to see more of your car. Straight on side angles and front angles are something you want to avoid as a "primary" image. Side profiles and straight on front shots are good for a background angle, maybe used to be blended into the background of a signature, but as a main image, you would want something at a "3/4" angle, which is taken from one of the corners of your car.

As a rule of thumb, high angles are more than not something that you do not want to use. A good rule of thumb would be to hold the camera at about headlight height to take your pictures. That way you are reassuring yourself that your camera angle isn't too low or too high.

Here are some examples of GOOD photos to take:

Take notice of the distribution of light, the image size, and clarity.


dsc00009rn3.jpg


dsc00011gr8.jpg


dsc00015yl4.jpg


Now are some examples of pictures you should NOT post for requesting a signature. These images are either too small, distorted, blurry, cut off, or a combination of one of those. If you do post pictures like these, you WILL be asked to retake your pictures.

dsc00016qn1.jpg


dsc00013ajt7.jpg


-Advanced Techniques-

If you feel you have a good grasp on taking good pictures of your car, you may be ready to move into more advanced techniques for specific situations and to take advantage of everything that you are offered.

YELLOW CAR ADVISORY: You cannot (repeat: CANNOT) shoot your yellow car out in midday sunlight. All you're likely to get is bleached-out top surfaces and murky/orangish lower areas. Wait until mid morning or late afternoon and move your car into clean shade of a building, prefferably white concrete and use your flash on every single shot.

Using the Flash

"My flash is always on" translates into "automatic flash", which means it's not engaging/not working for your outdoor photography. Disregard "always on" and set your camera to FORCED/FILL flash when you're out-of-doors.

-Mistakes-


Bright overhead sunlight. Not good. Harsh overhead sunlight (and worse, the corollary harsh shadows caused by overhead sunlight)

Solution: wait 'til near sunset and position (i.e., rotate) your car to take full advantage of that softer light.

Carefully position/rotate your car so that you've got evenly-distributed sunlight over ALL the surfaces of your car facing your camera (the grille, the "chin," the tires, the sides). The (dawn or dusk) sun should be directly behind you, warming your backside and illuminating ALL of the surfaces of your car facing the camera.

Critically important for you to grasp:

When you use your flash in the "traditional way" (i.e., to provide EXTRA/ ADDITIONAL light in, say, a darkened room or at dusk or after dark outside), you're actually providing MORE light to your film (or to your sensor array in your digital camera), since there isn't enough ambient light to for you to capture a well-illuminated photograph.

ON THE OTHER HAND, when you're outdoors in the bright sunlight where there's ample natural light, your goal is entirely different: you don't need MORE light, you need to RE-DISTRIBUTE the light. Using your camera's FORCED flash (lightning bolt icon) feature, you're merely RE-DISTRIBUTING the light, so that MORE LIGHT (your flash) illuminates those pesky dark shadow areas... while simultaneously LESS SUNLIGHT is captured that otherwise results in harsh glare on your windshield and color bleachout on the painted surfaces...


I apologize for this being somewhat incomplete. I made this about 3 years ago, and the site(s) this is hosted on, have gone through quite a few software and server upgrades, so bits and pieces have gotten lost over time.
 

dutch

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2008
Messages
1,834
Reaction score
24
some things that really bug me in some photographs, and which can totally ruin an otherwise great picture;

- objects behind the car (masts/poles/trafficsign/etc)
- horizons that aren't level

avoid those like the plague
 

MustangChris

Post Whore
SN95 Supporter
Joined
Aug 20, 2008
Messages
27,425
Reaction score
909
Location
Aurora, CO
id like to add from an artistic stand point, the dumpster in the background looks terrible. its best if you dont have trees, buildings, or road signs poking out the dome of your car.

in this case the close-color and placement of the dumpster removes alot of the natural lines of the car.
 
OP
OP
A

ARdoller

-Never Forget-
Joined
Dec 13, 2006
Messages
2,584
Reaction score
3
This was meant for the Photoshop section. This is a tutorial for submitting pictures for photoshopping purposes, not professional photography.






Hence the reason why I made no effort to remove the dumpster from the scene previously or afterward.
 

Dalamar

Post Whore
SN95 Supporter
Joined
Feb 3, 2006
Messages
13,863
Reaction score
124
Location
SLC, UT
That's good advice.

the sun does bleach out my car bad with the metalic on top of white.

I would add that i think it looks best to turn your wheel in or out slightly facing the angle you're shooting the car.
looks bedda IMO
 
OP
OP
A

ARdoller

-Never Forget-
Joined
Dec 13, 2006
Messages
2,584
Reaction score
3
ARdoller said:
This was meant for the Photoshop section.
Like I said, this thread WAS NOT meant for professional photography tips and examples. I dont really care if the dumpster is in the picture, or any stupid little imperfections that have nothing to do with the car. THIS THREAD WAS DESIGNED FOR OPTIMIZING THE QUALITY OF THE IMAGE FOR PHOTOSHOP REQUEST PURPOSES.

I dont know why it was put in here in the first place, or why it is still here.
 

Dalamar

Post Whore
SN95 Supporter
Joined
Feb 3, 2006
Messages
13,863
Reaction score
124
Location
SLC, UT
guys in the Photochop section will make sigs. post up some pics and see what they come up with.
 

Echo

Active Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2012
Messages
308
Reaction score
15
Location
Columbia, SC
Like I said, this thread WAS NOT meant for professional photography tips and examples. I dont really care if the dumpster is in the picture, or any stupid little imperfections that have nothing to do with the car. THIS THREAD WAS DESIGNED FOR OPTIMIZING THE QUALITY OF THE IMAGE FOR PHOTOSHOP REQUEST PURPOSES.

I dont know why it was put in here in the first place, or why it is still here.

No offense, but that's not really how this thread comes across. You mention multiple times you can use these techniques to take pictures for yourself, and once or twice you add in that it makes it easier to photoshop almost as an afterthought. Reversing the structure of your sentences would do wonders to get your point across that these instructions are optimized for getting pictures to edit, rather than producing nice stand-alone pictures.

And I promise we can all read lower-case letters. Putting something in all caps doesn't really do much for anyone.

Edit: Just realized how old this thread is. XD My bad.
 

lutter94

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2008
Messages
3,060
Reaction score
172
Location
South Dakota
Lol, it is old. But it does drive me nuts how the title is "how to: taking pictures of your car" And the first photo is ridiculous with that dumpster in the background (with the title GOOD photo to take). But later he states its ok because he says this has nothing to do with image quality, just image clarity.....
 

Echo

Active Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2012
Messages
308
Reaction score
15
Location
Columbia, SC
Lol, it is old. But it does drive me nuts how the title is "how to: taking pictures of your car" And the first photo is ridiculous with that dumpster in the background (with the title GOOD photo to take). But later he states its ok because he says this has nothing to do with image quality, just image clarity.....
Yup. I see where it's going with it, but he didn't do a very good job of making it very clear. SHOULD HAVE PUT IT IN ALL CAPS, RIGHT?
 

Darhawk

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2012
Messages
1,399
Reaction score
143
Location
Salt Lake City area, Utah
More Photography Tips for all you camera junkies. Get out there and snap a few!!!!!!!
posted with Belbers permission.
belber_crit_02_zps81697883.jpg

belber_crit_01_zpsb050634f.jpg

belber_crit_04_zps07f62529.jpg

belber_crit_03_zpsf79f5b66.jpg


I'd like to be able to post more helpful tips here...if you want to have a topic covered please message me and I will work on it and then post it here.
 

Darhawk

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2012
Messages
1,399
Reaction score
143
Location
Salt Lake City area, Utah
Today's Topic - CIRCULAR POLARIZER -

3M73J43H95G55Ma5J5d44ef68db6befc51785.jpg


If you like rich color and want to eliminate reflections, get a circular polarizer or CP. It's a tool that every photographer should have in his/her bag. The fact is the polarizer effects cannot be duplicated in photoshop. For clouds, water and foliage nothing beats it. The main uses of polarizing filters in photography are to reduce reflections, and deepen blue skies.

The polarizer only works on non-metallic surfaces, won't work on chrome. The light reflected off the metal is not polarized so the filter has no effect. Unwanted reflections can interfere with the object that we are actually interested in, reducing colour and contrast. When you set your polarizer correctly then you can get deeper, more saturated sky, whiter clouds, more saturated water, ( slightly easier to see through glass and water), plus more contrast and color in foliage.

If you are using a DSLR then you should only be using a CP because Circular polarizers were created for use with digital cameras, because linear polarizers interfere with auto-focus operation in digital cameras. So do not buy a Linear...ONLY CP should be used.

WHAT SIZE DO I NEED?
Find on the front of the lens to find out what size your filter should be. It will have a symbol and **MM which is the number of the filter that fits that particular lens. Each lens is different and so you need to check to make sure you don't buy the wrong one. Some lenses can you the same size and then you can just swap them during each use. But you can't use a 77mm filter on a 52mm lens unless you get a stepdown ring. You buy ring that will allow such usage. I don't have any, as I try to just buy the filter I need, since I don't want to fiddle with rings.

Canonfiltersize_zps3a32d403.jpg




WHAT BRAND should I choose?

I use B+W C-Pol. They are very good quality, multi-coated, and have nice and smooth transition. I got it at a good price so I snagged it. I like Hoya Filters too and have a few in my Cam-Bag.
Hoya Pro 1 with HMC or SHMC (multicoatings) are excellent, too. Heliopan SH-PMC are also top quality, more expensive than most though. Singh-Ray is another top brand. Be sure to look for multi-coating... and use your lens hoods for best results, even though it's a little inconvenient when adjusting a polarizing filter. Stay away from Tiffen, even though they are cheaper, based on my experience you will encounter a problem with them. I have had 3 of them and the always cross threaded for me..so I don't buy that brand anymore.

Remember to go out and shoot often...have fun!

2252215670_e8974f632d_z.jpg

CircularPolarizer.jpg
 

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
77,440
Messages
1,502,175
Members
14,920
Latest member
marktuck99

Members online

Top