Car/truck photography

[Jason Kinsey]

A friend has asked me to shoot a few of his trucks in the next few weeks, and I was wondering if anyone out there had any experience shooting autos/trucks etc. My main concern is all the chrome, that will be a pain in the rear end will likely be a big issue since we are shooting outside. Any advice in general? I'm planning on shooting a bunch of different angles/compositions, but I guess the biggest limiting factor is the light. I'm going to try to look at some of the truck magazines out there to get a feel for what the magazine folks like, if I can do my part hopefully these will be submitted to a publication or three. Thanks for any insight y'all can provide.

[Jim Poor]

Since this is in a studio, it won't apply perfectly, but it still is good food for thought:

http://www.prophotolife.com/2008/07/21/video-episode-22-photographing-a-57-chevy-in-the-studio/

[Rob Miner]

Jason- You might try HDR. I have used this shooting vehicles with excellent results. Taking 3 pictures (bracketing) in 1+, 1, and -1.

[Jason Kinsey]

Jason- You might try HDR. I have used this shooting vehicles with excellent results. Taking 3 pictures (bracketing) in 1+, 1, and -1.

Rob, HDR had crossed my mind too. I've never played with it much, but I was thinking that bracketing some exposures for this shoot could be beneficial.

Thanks for the input folks.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Jason,
You can try using polariser to cut off the reflections. Several years back, when I was using slides, I had photographed vehicles near a mountain pass using polariser. It was good. So you may try it as well.
Regards,
Sabyasachi

[Rich Swanner]

Shoot from low down and on a 45 degree . Front to back and back to front. Fill the frame. Put the car in the shade or at least have it all on one light tone( no shade/sun combo). The polariser will work, shoot in RAW. If you need more lighjt take a time exposure for DOF rather then up the ISO. Shoot ISO 100. You can enlarge with no noise. This my truck "Blackie The Truck" Punch it up on Google.... http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc150/blackies_owner/0916070085150Largejpgs.jpg1.jpg

[c.w. moynihan]

Shoot cars on relatively bright overcast days. Shooting cars in the bright sun will not yield desireable results most times.

[Dave Mills]

Overcast is important and try to avoid reflections from other materials. I go to car shows all the time and have a great time shooting them. I also look to shoot them in the shade.
I then work in PS to get out all the misc stuff around the car out. I can't post images in this forum otherwise I would give you some examples.
As mentioned a polarizer is important!

[Heather Forcier]

I photographed a car show as a favor to a friend to help with a local charity. Certainly not something I was used to, but I found a polarizer seemed to help and I lucked out that it was bright overcast conditions. The cars were moved to a location in the lot that I chose (based on light direction and background, very little for options). It was really hard keeping discernable reflections off of the cars. Shooting from a lower angle seemed to help. Believe it or not this is in the middle of "box store" central. There is a road right behind the car, I had to wait for traffic to move through.

Good luck!

[Maxis Gamez]

Hi,

Years ago, I did a photoshoot with NOPI. Besides the traditional stuff, they LOVE angles.

Here is one.

Thanks!