J
JustROLLIN
Guest
Last month's (April 2007 - Vol. 19, No. 04) Sport Compact Car had an interesting piece at the end of the mag. SCC gave some helpful tips for taking a nice picture of your car. I dont know how many of you will find it helpful, but I know I sure did.
1) Light: "A lot of people have the idea that the best time to take a picture is at high noon. On the contrary, the best time to snap a picture is at dawn or dusk. See if you can shoot right after the sun goes down to get the 'purple jesus' look you see in our magazines. Natural light is always better than artificial light; try to make a right-angled triangle between yourself, the car, and the sun-rather than shooting with the sun at your back-to bring out the contrast, depth, and shadow."
2) Lens Choice: "Throw away the 50mm lens that came with your camera and get a good 70-200mm zoom lens. Zoom it all the way to focus manually on your subject, then back it out and take the picture."
3) Get A Tripod: "If you intend to shoot in the golden hours discussed above, you'll need either bionic arms or a tripod to keep the camera steady. I'm always hearing complaints about cameras not being able to focus properly, but really its your own shaking hands that are the problem."
4) Background Composition: "Nobody wants to see a picture of your car in the driveway, or of the rest of your apartment complex. For God's sake, go somewhere cool and take the picture. Where? Take a look at some of the backgrounds in your favorite magazine and copy. And when you get there, make sure the pictures dont look like a tree is growing out of the hood. If the background isnt interesting, then fill the whole frame with the car."
5) Practice Makes Perfect: "Get a digital camera that will shoot at more than four megapixels and take pictures until your hands bleed. Forget the gigabuck cameras for now, they'll just add to the confusion. I typically shoot around 400 images per car, of which I use seven or eight."
1) Light: "A lot of people have the idea that the best time to take a picture is at high noon. On the contrary, the best time to snap a picture is at dawn or dusk. See if you can shoot right after the sun goes down to get the 'purple jesus' look you see in our magazines. Natural light is always better than artificial light; try to make a right-angled triangle between yourself, the car, and the sun-rather than shooting with the sun at your back-to bring out the contrast, depth, and shadow."
2) Lens Choice: "Throw away the 50mm lens that came with your camera and get a good 70-200mm zoom lens. Zoom it all the way to focus manually on your subject, then back it out and take the picture."
3) Get A Tripod: "If you intend to shoot in the golden hours discussed above, you'll need either bionic arms or a tripod to keep the camera steady. I'm always hearing complaints about cameras not being able to focus properly, but really its your own shaking hands that are the problem."
4) Background Composition: "Nobody wants to see a picture of your car in the driveway, or of the rest of your apartment complex. For God's sake, go somewhere cool and take the picture. Where? Take a look at some of the backgrounds in your favorite magazine and copy. And when you get there, make sure the pictures dont look like a tree is growing out of the hood. If the background isnt interesting, then fill the whole frame with the car."
5) Practice Makes Perfect: "Get a digital camera that will shoot at more than four megapixels and take pictures until your hands bleed. Forget the gigabuck cameras for now, they'll just add to the confusion. I typically shoot around 400 images per car, of which I use seven or eight."