How to photograph your car

[Fox9350]

Dabko great shots. Those scenes are begging for a color like race red though imo as the gray car blends too much.

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[15GTStang]

With my T5 I actually got decent bokeh out of the 18-55 kit lens. But the 50 1.8 just made everything better. Much sharper. Looking for a 50mm 1.4 now.


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No, I think it's best to just stick with the 1.8 and invest the money elsewhere. You're not gaining that much by going a little wider. I'd put the money into another lens of a different focal length

 

[Brian@Vossen]

A lot of good information here.

The biggest thing I have learned in my years of taking photos is that it's not all about the gear. The asshole behind the glass is JUST AS IMPORTANT as the glass itself. If you have a DSLR and don't get the kind of pictures you want, spend some time reading up on basic photography principals. I also recommend everyone with a DSLR and a kit lens to spend the money on a 50 1.8. It's a cheap way to up your picture game. The 50 1.8 was my first lens purchase years ago, and it really opened my eyes.

I have a fair bit of variety in my camera gear, but my go to setup is still a full frame camera with the 70-200 F/2.8. I've had my 2.8 since 2004, and it is STILL my favorite automotive photography lens.

My list of gear:
Canon 5Dc
Canon 6D
Canon 7D
Canon 70-200mm F/2.8L
Canon 24-70mm F/2.8L
Canon 17-40mm F/4.0L
Canon 50mm F/1.2L
Canon 50mm F/1.4
Canon 50mm F/1.8
Canon 50mm F/2.5 Macro (what can I say, I love 50s, LOL)
Canon 10-18mm F/4.5-5.6 EF-S (bought this on a whim to have something wide for the 7D)

I stopped taking photos for a few years, but as soon as I ordered my Mustang I bought a Canon 6D in anticipation of returning to the photo game. I was a bit rusty at first, but I have been experimenting with new shooting styles. These are from newest to oldest, so you can tell I was rusty at first.

Awesome shots bro

 

[15GTStang]

I am not an expert here, but I would probably go back to ISO 400, ~12 Fstop (Aperture Priority) and use a good tripod with a remote trigger. Even with a tripod just pushing the shutter button will induce shake, and ISO 1000 will be noisy even in the light of day. Would be interested to see what some of the bigger experts think.

Chris

Every camera that I've has a delay shutter. Be it 2 seconds or 10 seconds. Just set that and you don't need a remote release.

If you are on a tripod, there should be no reason to shoot ISO that high. Defeats the purpose of a tripod. It's a static object, not a concert performance. Really, I don't think there is much a need to shoot past f/8 on cars. Should have the whole thing in focus and the background as well. There is a saying, "f8 and forget it"

 

[kz]

Every camera that I've has a delay shutter. Be it 2 seconds or 10 seconds. Just set that and you don't need a remote release.

If you are on a tripod, there should be no reason to shoot ISO that high. Defeats the purpose of a tripod. It's a static object, not a concert performance. Really, I don't think there is much a need to shoot past f/8 on cars. Should have the whole thing in focus and the background as well. There is a saying, "f8 and forget it"

Timer is one thing but sometimes you want to use mirror lock-up (to reduce vibrations from the mirror opening before shutter) and for that typically you need a remote.

Now, new Canon bodies have an option to be remotely controlled from a phone / table using and app and wifi connection between the two.

 

[cbrookre]

Every camera that I've has a delay shutter. Be it 2 seconds or 10 seconds. Just set that and you don't need a remote release.

If you are on a tripod, there should be no reason to shoot ISO that high. Defeats the purpose of a tripod. It's a static object, not a concert performance. Really, I don't think there is much a need to shoot past f/8 on cars. Should have the whole thing in focus and the background as well. There is a saying, "f8 and forget it"

Good point, I normally use a remote shutter release so I usually forget about the timer delay.

The reason I was suggesting a higher fstop was that with something like my 100-400mm L lens at 200mm, f8 is not high enough for that large of a depth of field. On a subject 40ft away is only 3.6 feet on my camera. F11 is 5ft and f11 is 7ft. On his lens, at 75mm the DOF is 29ft for f8 and 47ft at f11 (mistyped f12 above should have been f11). Better but for good in focus background a higher fstop is always better if you have a stable tripod. Just my take anyway. As said above, you will get the best results by bracketing and combining but that takes another level of experience and patience.

Chris

 

[15GTStang]

Thanks everyone! I can't believe I didn't even consider using my tripod :doh: That'll allow me to make quite a few changes. The bracketed shots is a good idea, too. As for post-editing, I don't do that much. I'll bring it into Photoshop and do an auto adjustment on the levels, maybe crop here and there. As far as using a RAW image, I've never done that. I usually shoot the photos as jpg. Wouldn't really know what to do with a RAW image in Photoshop. I think my camera came with some editing software, but I haven't dabbled around with those programs.

RAW is minimally processed photo so you can have a lot more flexibility in post processing. There are tons of how to's on YouTube about photo editing techniques.

Tone mapping (HDR) is fantastic for helping recreate the dynamic range your eye can see but your camera cannot. If don't correctly, it looks fantastic, but there is a lot of overdone and over processed HDR. So use it as a tool to obtain a shot in difficult lighting

 

[15GTStang]

Good point, I normally use a remote shutter release so I usually forget about the timer delay.

The reason I was suggesting a higher fstop was that with something like my 100-400mm L lens at 200mm, f8 is not high enough for that large of a depth of field. On a subject 40ft away is only 3.6 feet on my camera. F11 is 5ft and f11 is 7ft. On his lens, at 75mm the DOF is 29ft for f8 and 47ft at f11 (mistyped f12 above should have been f11). Better but for good in focus background a higher fstop is always better if you have a stable tripod. Just my take anyway. As said above, you will get the best results by bracketing and combining but that takes another level of experience and patience.

Chris

Great point about DoF! Really it just comes down to getting out there and shootif for practice. There is tons of web help but it all comes down to getting outside and shooting!!

 

[Chris6G]

I recently picked up a Sony A6000 with a Sigma 19mm Art Lens and love it. My previous bodies included a Nikon D5000, D7000, and D600. I've only owned the 35mm 1.8 for crop sensor and 50mm 1.8 for full frame. I recently used a Zeiss 50mm 2.0 full frame lens on this A6000 and was blown away.

This shot was with the A6000 + 19mm Combo. I love this little thing!

 

[BMR Suspension]

This is an awesome thread! Here is the long and short of shooting anything... know your camera, understand the camera's settings, and shoot, shoot, shoot!

Here are a few shots of the wheels we just got for one of our ’15s.

These were shot with a 6 or 7 year old Rebel T2i... (horrible compared to just about every other camera talked about in this thread) One of the most important parts of shooting anything is composition. If you know what you want the photo to look like before you shoot it, you're ahead of the game. Also, it is important to watch reflections. Bad reflections can ruin a great photo. They can also make for tons of work in post, when all you really needed to do is move the camera a few inches to avoid them.

The biggest thing is to just keep shooting!

 

[BMR Suspension]

These pictures illustrate my point on reflections perfectly! There is so much going on around the car in manyof these pictures, but you never see any of it in the profile of the car. If you saw a reflection of chain link fence or a garage door in the side of the car, it would ruin the lines of the car and negatively affect the photos in a big way.

BTW, great photos! The perspective and aperture is perfect!!

 

[Chameleon]

My motto is 50 shots for 1 really good pic. Just keep shooting pics.

 

[Tamadrummer88]

I recently picked up a Sony A6000 with a Sigma 19mm Art Lens and love it. My previous bodies included a Nikon D5000, D7000, and D600. I've only owned the 35mm 1.8 for crop sensor and 50mm 1.8 for full frame. I recently used a Zeiss 50mm 2.0 full frame lens on this A6000 and was blown away.



This shot was with the A6000 + 19mm Combo. I love this little thing!

I just got a Sony A6000 with the 50mm but I'm looking to get a 35mm. Haven't put it through its paces yet but all the photos I've seen from other people with that camera is amazing! Hands down one of the best mirrorless cameras on the market.


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[DABKO]

My motto is 50 shots for 1 really good pic. Just keep shooting pics.

Agree, especially with DSLR. I remember going down to the Sebring 12 Hour back in the early '80's and shooting 10+ rolls of film with my OM-1 only to get maybe 12 decent photos. Also, if you are photographing a car, you really need a polarizing filter

 

[DABKO]

Late this afternoon, my wife Kathy and I went to the Midtown area of Detroit to grab some food and pints at HopCat. http://hopcat.com/detroit

While we were downtown, we went to the Piquette Avenue area of Detroit and took a few photos. I shot these in RAW format and did a little Photoshop work. I'm been shooting since 1979 but I still consider myself a rank amateur.

The Guard color really changes based on ambient lighting and camera settings.

Ford Piquette Plant. Ford built their series of cars prior to the Model T and also initially built the Model T at this plant before moving to the Highland Park facility. I did a poor job with the camera angle on this photo.





Fisher Body Plant just down the street from the Ford Piquette Plant.


Same photo as above just cropped and photoshopped differently.

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