Taking good photos of your car

Hello, here my 1969 Buick Sport Wagon

 

Welcome aboard Two Tone. I love that Buick of yours! The '69 Sport Wagon is on my wagon bucket list.

You might want to post this in the introductions thread so that everyone will find this and can drool over it while welcoming you properly.

 

That was SO FUNNY !!! Laugh out loud !!

 

If anyone is using a DSLR invest in a circular polarizing filter. Not only will it give you a deeper blue sky and better contrast with clouds, on vehicles it will give you deeper colour and remove those annoying reflections in the paint. As shows are usually held in parking lots and you can't do anything about the pavement lines, it id amn annoting to see them reflected in a vehicles paint.

The beauty of digital is that it doesn't cost you anything other than your time to experiment with settings and angles etc.
Keep up the good work people

 

I use a UV filter and often employ a polarizing filter, and shoot everything in an automatic
mode with a Nikon D60 digital SLR. Lenses are 18-55mm and a 55-200mm. It's a no-fuss
system that's served me well after switching from film some years ago, and it's all I need.
That, a good eye, and a decent backdrop, when available, helps all the other rules and tricks
already mentioned. The best thing about digital is you can play all you want and delete the dogs.

I'll be taking before & after pics of the Country Sedan, but for now here are some of my '57 Roadmaster.


Larger, in front a friend's garage here in town; overcast days make awesome shots.


Larger, about 15 years ago (film, Nikon) at an abandoned station in SC.


Larger, at Charlotte AutoFair, Spring, 2009 in front of Smith Tower.


Larger, I thought I was driving a large car till I saw Hughes Bros. in Wilmington, NC.
Taken from across a median and two lanes of street (film, Nikon, 1998).


Larger, at shows, I crop out the other vehicles in-camera, or later in a program like XnView.


Larger, at a friend's small charity show last July. Yeah, yeah, you wanna see the 'Vette!


Larger, okay, here's the Corvette. Cropped, sharpened and bright/contrast adjusted in XnView.

I'll post more later of a few friend's cars, and some I've taken when I wrote for Cars & Parts.

Practice makes perfect (and thank the Lord for the delete function!),
TG

PS, I forgot to mention that the "Roadmistress," my '57, is a half-original driver with 138K miles;
the white paint is from the factory (looks great at 15 feet), shown in the AACA's Driver Class (DPC).
The rear bumper's been replated and the blue was resprayed about 25 years ago, before my time with her.
The seats, carpet and trunk were redone, but door panels, dash, headliner, and front chrome are factory.

Everyone has a different style and should be proud of their photographic efforts, whether it's from a box
camera or a 10 zillion bit digital. My D60 is basically a point and shoot, just with a little forethought.

 

Thought I'd share some of mine. The photos are edited but I would be happy to share the originals as well.

 

Pictures

I really like the one you took with the Smart cars. It really shows off the massiveness of your wagon.

Thanks, Max


1987 Mercury Colony Park

 

It is a sweet ride. Like the oil rig picture!

 

Something for your camera bag: polarizer

Dear Station Wagon lovers,

Thanks for all the interesting tips in this thread about car photography. I can perhaps contribute two potential tips. One should be safe. There is a website devoted to car photography tutorials:

http://www.carphototutorials.com/

You might find some interesting snippets there.

The other is dealing with a car which has a finish that is particularly reflective. My trusty wagon has been freshly repainted after someone hit the car in 2010. Particularly, after a fresh wax job, the car is almost a mirror and the color disappears in photos. Here is a example of the car appearing washed out:



After exploring this matter a bit, I got a tip to use a polarizer filter to reduce the effect of the sun's glare. With a polarizer filter, I could reduce this washed out effect and get photos showing the car's actual color:



Even with a polarizer, the effect of strong sunlight can overwhelm the image especially with digital cameras that have less dynamic range the old-fashion film. As has been suggested here, paying close attention to the lighting conditions will help get better photos. Still, I've found a polarizing filter very helpful to capture photos of my wagon under conditions where otherwise all I would get is the washed out color of the first photo on this post.

Thanks again for the photo tips here!

Cheers, Edouard

 

taken last june by my son the night the wagon was brought home, It looks like it could have been shot in the 60's on any main street USA

 

nice

That is a nice looking car!!

 

Definately a sixties looking photograph, most of the good pics i have are of my Falcon, taken by my wife, but not sure I should be posting as some have girls in them. lol

 

I love to take photos of cars at night.
Here's a '57 Ford wagon.



And a photo of my wagon half a year before I bought it.



And here's a slideshow with other night shots.
It ain't just wagons but you'll might like it anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri-_4kNkIQs

Edit: I'm sorry for putting up such large photos.
I haven't really got the hang of it yet...

 

I think a photo can also be made by the context of the shot, for instance, my half clean wagon in this shot:





Poor tank had to sit for a while back in 2k11 when we had the exhaust put on on it, old exhaust wouldn't pass inspection