Car photography is an interesting sector where one can get a lot of thrill and enjoyment. There are many aspects of car photography for which one can develop oneself and get success. If someone is really enthusiastic about amazing car photos, one needs to give focus on several areas such as lighting, composition, background, color, camera settings, and angles. In this writing, I will discuss 9 basic tips for car photography for taking stunning car photos.

9 Best Tips for car photography

1. Clean your car before photo-shoot

This I consider one of the best tips for car photography. When you decide to do a photo shooting your car, you need to make sure that it is cleaned enough and serviced from the inside and outside including the engine block and adjacent items. It will look shinier and gorgeous if you can polish the outer body to look the car brand new.

If you want to take snapshots of inner details like seat covers, steering, dashboard, etc, you need to ensure that these parts are serviced and cleaned as well. 

2. Take the right equipment or gear

This is one of the most important tips for car photography. Taking the right camera with you along with other accessories can make a huge difference in your photography. You don’t need to take the most upgraded and fully featured camera in your photography studio setup for your shootings as this will unnecessarily increase your expense. 

You can get very attractive and eye-catching images of your car even with a beginner camera or a mid-level camera. Most of these cameras have features and settings with the resolution, aperture, depth of field, Shutter speed, and ISO. These are common settings that you need to learn as your photography career moves forward. 

Another important feature you need to look at in the camera is whether it has in-body image stabilization. This feature will allow you to take images at low shutter speed just to let enough light to the images without blurry. You can explore more about camera settings in the best camera settings for car photography.

Other than the camera, you need to take one tripod and lens cleaning kit with you whether you want to work during the daytime or night time. You need to take Polarizers or ND filters for photography on a sunny bright day to avoid unwanted reflections from the car.

3. Choose the right time of the day

Many people ask this question when is the best time to take outdoor photos? The simple answer is for doing outdoor photography, don’t miss golden hour shootings as mentioned in best angles of car photography. You can really produce some stunning car images by shooting during this time. 

You should also try your car shooting at another time of the day when you get enough light available. You need to use polarizer filters with your camera for a better experience during that time.

Actually, you need to do a lot of shooting with your car in different locations and at different times. Especially if you have a point-and-shoot camera, then there are chances of some blurry images. There are chances that you get some mind-blowing images that can become viral and popular if you shoot more photos. 

4. Take some rolling shots (Best car photography)

Whether you are a beginner or a mid-level photographer, you should take some rolling shots of the car to display its motion and dynamism. By taking rolling shots, you can produce many attractive images with your car in focus and with a blurred background to exhibit the motion in style. For details about rolling shots, you can visit rolling shots of car.

5. Select the right locations and background

For outdoor car photography, selecting the right locations and background is a very much important thing. You can select a beautiful location as you feel near to the ocean or mountain background, in a desert for cruising photos, in a forest with a series of trees in the background, and so on.

But for automotive photography, you should select some locations where it should belong like a sports car on its track, a 4-wheeler on curvy and uneven roads, and a family car on the highway and even in the car parking. 

6. Take care of reflections

This is very important for car photography in an intense daylight situation. Although you have plenty of light available, you need to avoid reflections from the glossy car or vehicle surfaces which make your images look hazy and unclear.

In order to avoid such reflections, you can position your car under shade for suitable snapshots. Another option is to use polarizers and ND filters which are not so expensive.

7. Take some shots at night time

Many people do not like night images for visibility but you need to try some night shots as well to explore more about car photography. You can focus some extra lighting pointing towards your car and use some illuminated natural background scenery.

You need to use low shutter speeds for your camera settings for night time which will bring the requirement of using a tripod to avoid blurry images. If your camera has IBIS (Inbuilt Image Stabilization) feature, you can get very attractive and crispy images at night time as well.

8. Give attention to car color and context(car photography poses)

The color of your car is also important for selecting the right locations and background environment. You need to look for car color and background context for creating an attractive composition. 

Expert photographers have a good sense of composition with color and context that have been achieved through long-time experiences in a variety of situations.

You need to practice more with your car and camera to develop the right skills.  The most common lens you can use for car photography is a 24-70 mm lens.

When you are ready with the camera, start to take snapshots from different angles like from low angles from the front, back, and side views. Also, take some three-quarters shots from all corners of the car. You need to take some photos from wide angles from some distance. 

9. Shoot some inside images for details

To visualize the details, you need to take some close angles and detailed shots of your car parts like the Steering and dashboard from the backseat, Seat covers, bonnet, inside the engine block, front and rear backlights, etc.

These low-angle shots are important for showing details of the car parts which are very essential for selling and commercial purposes.

Frequently Asked Questions(FAQ)

How do you pose for pictures in a car?

It is your personal choice when it comes to posing for photos. You can be seated in the driving seat and pose for photos from the left side or right side with the opened doors.

I think it looks good to give a standing pose by the side of the car and photos are taken from a little distance focusing on the whole car and person. So, one can get side-view photos and front-view photos by keeping the focus on the whole car.

What camera settings should I use for car photography?

For static car shooting with a blurry background, use a wide aperture (f/5 to f/2.8) and a low ISO setting (100-200). For static cars with background scenery, you can use low aperture (f/8 or more) and low ISO settings. Take snapshots at shutter speed like 1/60 to 1/80s.

For low-light situations or at-night snapshots, increase the ISO setting (300-600). There are many great low-light lenses that can offer good performance in these situations. You may use zoom lenses or telephoto lenses (70-200 mm) to focus from a distance to capture several cars in racing or competition. 

How do you take pictures fast in a car?

For fast-moving cars, you can get snapshots in burst mode and check for the best sharp images of the car. Normally you have to use a quick shutter speed to capture the motion in manual mode. You can start with a shutter speed of 1/300s and start to increase the shutter speed for crispy images. Keep the ISO at 100 to 200.

How can I take better pictures with my iPhone in my car? (how to take car pictures with phone)

You can take nice pictures of your car using your iPhone or any other smartphone. Nowadays smartphones use very sophisticated image sensors to capture crispy snapshots. 

So you can start shooting with your iPhone like a professional camera. Take low-angle snapshots from the front and side corners of the car. Also, you can take some snapshots from a high angle. Some phone features capture photos in better quality RAW mode but it takes up huge space in the phone.

What is ISO for car photography?

You can use ISO as 100 for bright daytime shootings. For shooting in the evening or nighttime, you need to increase the ISO up to 600 or even 1200 if required based on lighting conditions. If you have a low-light canon lens or lenses of other brands, then it will be even better.

The further increase may result in image noise or haziness. Also at night, you should use a slower shutter speed that can better be managed by using a tripod.

How do you take a good car selfie?

Selfie can better be taken with a front lighting setup. So you need to stand up in front of the car facing the lighting source from the front. In this way, you can get very clear selfie pictures. You need to avoid backlighting to take selfie pictures. 

Conclusion

So, folks, I have discussed 9 tips for car photography which are not all but to give you some boost for further thinking about some important aspects to look into before going for car photography. If you practice more, you can probably find out some more tricks. 

So if you know more tips, you can share them with me in the comments section.

If you have any questions regarding any tip mentioned here, feel free to send the query by mail.