Consider this scenario: You are selling an exotic car you own and the buyer asks you to show a picture of your car. If you hadn’t taken a good shot, it is unlikely that the buyer would be impressed.
To understand the importance of good car photography, put yourself in the shoes of the online buyer planning to purchase a car. Needless to say, you would obviously want the photograph to be shot with the correct angle and exposure so you can take a proper look. For this same reason, online automotive business so their listings can stand out. Not only these car photography techniques are important if you are trying to sell a car online, professional car photography can also help you to capture and store all the moments you had on your drive. As an adage goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.
All of this demonstrates the importance of good professional car photography. This professional car photography guide will help you learn some really helpful car photography tips and help you if you are trying to sell a car for the first time.
Car Photography Tips
Now that you know the importance of good car photography, you might be wondering how I can take good shots of a car. Here are 4 car photography tips .
Shooting from the Correct Angle
First and foremost, when shooting a photograph or video, one of the important car photography tips you have to pay attention to is the angle. There is no hard and fast rule which says that you have to shoot just from a specific angle. Instead, it depends on what part you want to be in the sharp focus and what you do not want in the focus. In other words, it is how much part of your car and surroundings you want to include in the frame.
The importance of an idyllic background cannot be discounted. Therefore, you need to make sure that you do not de-emphasize the background. If you want to include the car from top to bottom as well as a large part of the surrounding area in your frame, you need to capture a long or wide shot. If you want to give the car and surroundings an equal presence on the frame, you will need to capture a mid-shot (also known as a medium shot). However, if you want to take a photograph of car parts or focus on any minute detail of your car in the frame, you need to take a close-up shot.
The more you want the picture to be magnified, the longer focal length lens you would use. It is worth noting that all cameras do not have the option to change the focal length so you would have to use a different lens.
Adjusting the exposure
Camera exposure refers to the overall brightness or darkness of a photo. It is the quantity of light that the camera’s sensor is exposed to whilst the photograph is being captured.
A photo shot with a proper exposure is neither too dark nor too light. The more light there is, the lighter the photo. The less light you expose the camera sensor to, the darker your photograph will be. A dark photo indicates that it has been underexposed whereas a photo has been underexposed if it is too light.
The exposure level in car photography at daytime will differ from the exposure level in car photography at night. Here’s how you can change the exposure settings in your camera:
● Select manual mode.
● Set the first value and second exposure control
● Adjust the third exposure control to get the right exposure
● Capture the photo to review it and make adjustments if needed.
Aperture and Shutter Speed
In this section, you will encounter some photography jargon but there is no need to worry because these car photography settings will be explained in an easy-to understand manner. It is important that you are familiar with these terms as they are the fundamentals of photography.
Let’s start with aperture. The size of the hole via which the light enters into your camera is referred to as the aperture. A smaller aperture allows less light, but the image has a greater depth of field, framing a wider range in focus. A large aperture, on the other hand, means that the lens lets in more light, but the image has a shallower depth of field, which means that a smaller range will be in focus. You can change your camera’s aperture by switching your camera to the manual mode and then choosing the aperture value of your choice in the aperture option.
If you have taken a shot with any camera, you would know that as the photo is captured, the shutter of the camera closes. The speed at which the shutter of the camera closes is known as shutter speed. A shutter speed of 1/1000 means that the camera’s shutter remains open for 1/1000th second. If you are taking a picture of a stationary car, a slow shutter speed is preferred. However, if you are shooting a car in motion, you need to have a fast shutter speed so the motion can be froze into the frame.
Using the sports mode
Taking shots of a stationary object is relatively easier as compared to capturing photos of any object in motion. If you are taking shots of a car in motion, it is recommended to use the sports mode.
When you switch to sports mode, the speed at which the shutter of the camera closes automatically increases which enables it to freeze the motion in the frame. Switching to the sports mode disables the flash which allows you to shoot successive photos quickly due to the fact the flash needs some duration after one photo to capture the second shot.
Here’s how you can put your camera on sports mode:
● Press the Mode Lock button and rotate the mode dial to scene mode (SCN).
● Press the Quick Control button
● Select the sports mode via multi-controller and then press set
This ends our guide about shooting professional car photography and car photography tips used by professional automotive photographers. Photography is counted amongst one of the hobbies of car enthusiasts and the career of automobile photographers is a well-paying job so it is not a surprise that so many automobile and photography enthusiasts are choosing this field. The key to success, however, lies in learning the art of professional car photography. If you are passionate about shooting photographs of your car and do not own a car yet, you can consider browsing through these used cars for sale in the UAE at reasonable prices.
To keep up with all what’s happening in the world of automotive industry, stay tuned to UAE’s leading auto blog.
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