How to Take Pictures of Your Car
by Paul Economou
stealth_bombaz@hotmail.com
Page 3
B. Extreme tilted angles. A tilted angle is tough to get right, if you tilt it too far, it becomes more of a distraction and takes away from the pictures quality, and if you tilt it too little, it just looks like you messed up while taking the picture. If you can get this angle down right, it will definitely make for some pretty cool pictures and it sometimes gives it an effect of motion, as if the car were to drive right off the page.
Example of an extreme angle from the front. I'm not positive if it's a good
example or not! Its all relative. Sometimes I fall in love with the picture,
and then when I look at it the next day I feel it was a little too extreme and
I end up tilting my head to make it seem right. Nonetheless, its an example,
you judge for yourself if you like it or not:
C. Shoot from above the car. If you have access to a tall ladder, rocks to climb, taller buildings, or even a two story house, this can provide a different point of view, and its usually very cool.
Example of a shot from above:
D. Shoot from the ground. Sometimes, shooting while setting the camera on the ground is good. It gives similar results to shooting at eye level, but if theres a bump, or change in elevation you can use that in the bottom of the frame to provide interesting foreground for the picture, and it can also be used to provide a contrast to the rest of the colors in the picture.
Example of a shot from the ground. This shot from the ground
used a change in elevation from the pavement of this parking lot to change
the foreground. Not only did it give a foreground, but it also gave a vast
contrast from the bright green colors in the upper half of the frame.
3. Different positions the car can be in for the shot. Not only do people want to see the front of your car, they also want to see the sides, and rear of it. For the most part, you can use all the techniques in the write up to take pictures of all the different sides. There are still some different things you can do to get the most out of these pictures. While taking multiple angled shots using the same background, don't be afraid to move the car! If you keep the car in the same spot and just walk around at every angle to get the picture, they are a little more boring than they could have been if you moved the car around, and you'll also be able to use different backgrounds and different lighting to get these pictures. There aren't any examples of this that I could show you that you shouldn't already understand from reading the rest of the write up.
4. Moving "action" shots. Nothing, NOTHING beats a
great action shot of a car. If you can pull a good one off, I can almost guarantee
that it will probably end up being one of your favorite pictures. Not only
does it portray your car doing what it does best, but it shows more emotion
in the shots, and you can imagine what happens next. There are a few different
techniques in doing this.