Being able to take pictures of a car is important. Yes, there is the rationale that good pictures are key when it comes selling a car (we’ll cover that shortly). But that’s not the only reason it’s important. It matters on a more personal level, because in twenty years time, do you want to show your kids or grandchildren a blurry, harshly cropped image of your car’s headlight, or would you rather they see the car in the splendour you remember? Exactly. Taking a good picture is not just about selling, it’s about future memories. 

For some reason though, the art of taking a picture of a car seems to get some people in a fluster. But really, there is no need to elevate one’s heart rate in return for a still image. It’s not difficult, honestly. 

If you’ve looked at other online photography guides, you might have been bewildered by talk of ISO, shutter speed, aperture and other confusing vocabulary. This guide isn’t about that. Instead, we’re going to cover the basics of composition, light and other easy to address things that often blight the lens.

Let the camera take the strain

The world of cameras can be, for the unfamiliar, deeply intimidating. But it’s not about £5,000 lenses and degrees in art. Modern point-and-shoot cameras – and yes, we’re including the one on your phone – are more than capable of delivering results. To give you some perspective, the Samsung in my pocket right now is more powerful than the cameras professional snappers were using when I started working on magazines fifteen years ago. Phone cameras are staggering. 

Phone cameras on the most modern offerings can deliver exceptional results

Let the camera do the work. Use the phone and snap away, or if you want to use a ‘proper’ camera, just leave it on automatic or ‘green square’ as some call it. You can build up to shooting manually, by which we mean adjusting the settings. There is no pressure, nor any real need to do it from the start. Let the camera work for you, not against you.

It’s 99% Prep

Do you want to look at your pictures and constantly be reminded of the dirt that was on it, or the water spots, or that rear tyre that needed a bit more air in it. Will you be forever irked because there was some vehicular detritus in the door pockets or centre console? Exactly. Give the car a clean, make sure it’s presentable. Think of it as the automotive version of getting ready for your school photo. Straighten your tie, brush your teeth etc. If the car is minty fresh, the pictures will be better. And don’t forget about the background, which leads us to…

Think about your setting

So, you’ve got the car looking its best, only to go and take a picture with wheelie bins and a 2019 Nissan Juke in the background. Talk about ruining the moment! To avoid this, think about where you can take the car. A local, big car park with no interruptions in the background. Or find a big wall you can park in front of, a nice, big, uniform backdrop. If you’re lucky enough to live near the countryside, a backdrop of rolling hills never hurts. Though be wary of trees, as shadows can ruin a shot. 

The bottom line is to simply think about where you’re going to take the pictures. While it’s ironic in that the background is, well, the background and as such, nobody looks at it, the fact is the wrong background will ruin your shots. You know your local area better than anyone, think where would work best. 

Composition is key

Composition – the manny in which the image is composed – makes a shot. You could have the best camera in the world, you could be the most technically gifted photographer after David Bailey, but if your composition is rubbish, it won’t mean anything. 

Take a look at this shot, for example. Badly cropped, not enough room for the subject, not enough going on in the image. 

Now look at this. Same car, same place, but with better composition. The car has breathing room, there is enough going on in the image to make it a cohesive, interesting, almost live picture. That’s the power of composition. 

Think about where you frame the car. Make sure there is space around it, let it exist. Don’t cut it or crop it out of the image. If you’re taking pictures of details like the wheels or the engine or the interior, you obviously can’t have the entire car in the shot. So instead, think about the object you’re trying to show, say the engine, and give it space within the frame so it becomes the obvious focal point. 

Light is your friend

Light can also make or break an image. The assumption is that sunny days are the best days, but really, this isn’t always true. Sun creates harsh shadows and as such, can plunge entire sections of the car into darkness. What you really want is a nice overcast day. You get uniform light with no shadows. It just works better. And, as we’ll finish on below, you can put more warmth in brightness into them via editing software. 

Sun should not be ignored, of course. It can make cars ‘pop’ to use the luvvie lingo, and it’s a great way of showing off your chrome bits. But just be aware that if you’re taking a series of shots, you’re going to need to keep moving the car so that what you’re photographing is in the light. You also need to be aware of the shadows the sun can and will create. 

And while we’re on the subject of light, it’s worth mentioning reflections. On a sunny day with a shiny car, you’re likely to end up with a picture of you taking a picture in your… ahem, pictures. Chrome parts and wheels in particular are swines for this. Try and angle yourself so you’re not in the reflection. Watch out for appearing in your window or door by shooting at right-angles to the car. 

Lightroom 

Finally, we have something to do after you have taken the photographs, and that’s the editing. Our go-to is Lightroom by Adobe. It’s pretty much the industry standard for photo editing. A powerful tool, Lightroom might look complicated, but it’s actually very simple to use. You upload your images to your computer, import them into the software and then via the edit tab on the right, you can tweak the images to perfect. 

You can crop and rotate, you can adjust contrast, exposure, colour and more. You can add warmth or give the images a cool tint, you can make colours more vibrant, you can sharpen the image and you can add fades and vignette. Take a look at the two images below. The top one is the original image, the second one has been tweaked in Lightroom. 

Here’s the original image…

And here it is after being tweaked in Lightroom

The best advice is to just have a play with the software, see what works, get a feel for how it can manipulate the images. YouTube is also awash with how to videos and tutorials, which will further your abilities no end. 

Right, that’s all the bases covered. Now get snapping.