What is Automotive Photography?

Being an automotive company owner or car seller, you need good car photos to convince the customer to buy one. A good camera, lighting, and angle in every photograph matter, but the background is fundamental. Besides that, automotive photographers should have skills to deal with cameras and computers for editing pictures which will make the photography successful.

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Professional and skilled photographers know which weather will work, how the background should be, and which camera will be great. All these factors count to make the photography game strong. Keep reading to learn more about automotive photography.

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Location Matters

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Being an automotive photographer, you should understand which background or locations will work. Background impacts the pictures. Even the background highlights the critical features of the subject.

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That's why photography of small cars is done in the city while large cars are shot in the middle of the city. With a great location and fantastic background, the photographer can bring attention to the car's unique features, such as size, sportiness, and practicality.

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Recognition of Brand

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Automotive photography should be done so that customers can quickly identify the brand. Being the automotive photographer, it's your responsibility that automotive photography should be done so that customers can recognize the brand without any graphics or text.

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Most companies give their cars the same shape or style so that customers can identify them. When you are taking photos, make sure that the brand logo is visible properly.

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Car Photography Guide

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Automotive photography is essential for companies to increase sales and maintain their reputation. It's straightforward to take simple car photos, but here we will teach how to take dynamic and intense pictures. Keep reading to know more.

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Every person dreams of buying a car. Photos can convey the message and convince the customers to buy the product. Every person's choice of the car differs from sleek sports cars to rusted heaps.
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Just like people, every car has a different personality. Every car stands out with specific quality, such as some cars are designed for speed and power while others are known for their looks.

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How Automotive Photography Highlights your Object?

Professional car photography is all about taking photos in a way that the main features of the car should be highlighted. Multiple tactics exist to make your photography successful, from choosing an impressive background to buying an expert camera. 

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• Choose the background according to the quality of the car; if you are doing a photoshoot of a sports car, it's best to choose any sports ground or stadium as a photoshoot location. The photography will stand out more by choosing a location relevant to the car. 

• Lightning also plays a vital role in photography. What's better than using natural light? Taking photos early or late in the evening is ideal for good automotive photography. At both times, you will get the excellent light quality which will be great for highlighting the car's features. Since there is scorching heat in the middle of the day, the light is too harsh, so you can spot shadows on the car, which will ruin your photography. 

• For great photography, wash your car. Clean cars look even better in automotive photography. Mud sticks on the tyres while dust is all over the car, which results in poor automotive photos. That's why wash and dry your car before the photoshoot so your car will stand out more and color shine more. 

• The photographer will do photography of the car at eye level, which is okay. But if you advertise your car, doing eye-level automotive photography could work better. Use your creativity and try out different angles, find out which angle works, and do photography in that angle. 

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• Try doing a photoshoot from the top; for that, you can use stairs or ladders. By doing this, the sleek lines will show off, resulting in intense, dynamic automotive photographs. Change the angle, and take photographs from a low angle. You can shoot the muscle cars and trucks by taking photos and getting low to the ground.

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• These front, side, and rear views have a different view of the car and highlight the features too. Try different view angles; this way, you will cover the car from every angle, and customers will better understand the car. 

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• When you hold the camera at the angle, you can easily zoom in or not. Even it will give a sense of speed and motion to your photos. When taking photos, cover all four wheels, or else it will feel like one wheel is missing. 

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• During photography, the reflection of yourself or any equipment can be visible on the car. Try to avoid the reflections, or it will lower the quality of the photography. There is nothing to worry about; with the help of a polarizing filter, you can eliminate the reflections and increase saturation, thus making the car color more vivid. 

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• When you do a photoshoot, some shots will stand out, while some will fail. But the shots highlighting the small details drive more customer attention and interest. Apart from taking exclusive photos, take some close-up shots of details. Roam around your car, stop when you find something interesting, and take photos. 

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• The rule of thirds is one of the great photography tactics. It can be used to improve the composition and balance of the subject in the image. On the other hand, slow sync flash is an easy yet strong tactic to make your flash photography successful.

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Tools for Shooting Automotive Photography

Good photography not only needs a skilled photographer but some equipment too. Here is the must-have equipment; let's have a look. 

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Lens

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You can't always have a wide space area for shooting; that's why you should use a wide-angle lens. Using a wide lens, you can take close shots of the subject, eliminating unwanted things from the background. 

Tripod

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Tripod is a basic necessity for focused and high-quality images. To avoid distractions and blurry images, it's better to use a tripod. People are using tripods due to their portability. For panoramic shooting, a tripod is a must. Tripod also improves the framing. By using a tripod, there will be no reflections on the car. 

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External Flash

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Using external flash is optional for automotive photography, especially if you are a beginner. But external flash can strengthen your photography game and result in high-quality images. 

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Softbox

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Softbox is the special equipment used for softening light without any harsh reflections. Softbox removes glare as well as makes sure to prevent loss of light flux.

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Tips for Car Photography

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Everyone is fond of buying the latest cars. Honestly, car photos are damn attractive. You know what? Automotive photography is enjoyable, but you should know the tactics for it. 

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You need good background, lightning, and much more to get the best automotive photographs. To know the tips to get amazing automotive photographs, let's have a look. 

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Do photography at the best time of the day.

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Honestly, shooting at the right time is essential for high-quality photography. If you take pictures in the middle of the day when the light will be harsh and flattening, you will end up with low-quality automotive photography.

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For the best automotive photography, take pictures before or after sunset when the light is soft, and no sun is facing you. Doing this will give you the best automotive photography to impress clients. Also, use a tripod stand for better-balanced and focused pictures.

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Even you can take a picture some hours before sunset or after too. This time is considered golden hours, but the light is direct so you can have flattering photos. It's better to use a reflector for close-up shots.

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No reflections 

Being a car dealer, you want the pictures to be professional. That's why to keep an eye on the reflection too. You must want to show off the car's design lines, but reflection can spoil these lines. Before starting the photography section, look at what is reflected. When you shoot with the car, it's new and gleaming; it is a possibility that it will reflect the things around the surrounding.

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It's better to shoot in an open space, like on any ground, so you will not have any reflections or shadows on the car. If you don't have any open space location and need the option to take photos in a busy background, It's better to change the angle and perspective.

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Just get down and take pictures; in this way, the sky will become the background, and as a result, your pictures will stand out. Always be alert that your own shadow doesn't include in the photos. To avoid reflections, it's better to use a tripod stand, position the camera, and set a timer.

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Choose your background carefully.

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A good background can make the photo or ruin it. The excellent background enhances the subject and makes the picture far better. While unsettling and disturbing background decreases the focus on the subject, thus ending up ruining the quality of the pictures. 

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Any background that is not distracting, focuses on the main subject, and compliments the subject can be considered reasonable. On the other hand, bad backgrounds are disturbing, don't complement the subject, and draw attention to the subject. 

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It's better to remove the background manually; if that's not possible, you can Photoshop them. You are also recommended to use different image transformation tools to edit/remove the background of your images.

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Erase.bg by PixelBin.io is one such example that provides efficient and precise background editing on png, jpg, jpeg, or webp image formats. That's not necessarily expensive locations can make a great background, but the simple plain white color background can be ideal for some subjects, depending on which background will work.

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Even after clicking pictures, you can edit the image's white background with erase.bg. Many photographers and professionals use it to add elements to their images for better effects.

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Use panning

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If you wish to have a motion blur effect but want to avoid doing photography from a moving car, then try out panning. All you have to do is stand on the road and wait for the car to drive past you. Then follow the car with the lens while setting the shutter speed to 1/125s.

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There must be some failed shots as well as some great ones too. You will be happiest to see how amazing they turned out to be. Use the camera burst mode to get a significant number of good images. This tactic will work great with the car at night.

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Focus on the color of the car

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Different colors react differently with the lights. It's better to avoid direct sunlight, but you can also choose colors that deal with it. Don't be scared or resist choosing colors; experiment with the different colors with the lightning. After the photoshoot, notice and note the color and how it goes with the lightning.

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To better understand the car and lightning, start taking photos at different times of the day. When you are done taking photos, you can better compare when the light is ideal for the photoshoot.

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Take a test photo

It's easy to get framing by using technology. It's better to take a test photo and study the composition and other factors. Make sure that the elements you have mentioned should be involved in the frame.

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Unscrew the wheels

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Remember to turn the front wheels so the disc can be seen in portrait photography. That is why it's better to unscrew the wheels. Cut off the unnecessary background. When taking car photos, ensure that there are no unwanted things in the background.

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The buyer will be interested in seeing close-up shots of the car rather than unwanted stuff in the background. That's quite obvious; if the size of the car will large so it will cover the whole image. However, if unwanted things are in the image, you can remove them with the application available on the internet. Or else zoom in or crop the extra part.

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Conclusion

Automotive photography is a must for car manufacturers to increase sales and promote their latest launched cars. Since photos can convince the buyer, make sure that your photos reflect your brand by style or the logo's visibility.

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When taking photos, make sure to highlight the car's features. Also, take close-up shots of the small details. Choose a background wisely that compliments your car. Background impacts the image quality. To read more such articles, keep visiting our site. Feel free to ask any query in the comments below