User:Johannes Maximilian/How to take good car photos

Disclaimer

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I am by no means an expert or professional photographer. I usually take pictures of vehicles that are standing still; this is therefore an essay that describes how I recommend taking photos of vehicles that are not moving.

Light

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Photography literally means “painting with light”, therefore, proper light is essential for good photos. Indirect sunlight works best, ideally on overcast days. If there are only few clouds, make sure that the light comes from behind you, this will also eliminate most reflections. Sometimes, waiting for clouds is an option. Taking vehicle photos at night time doesn’t work particularly well; even with low ISO and a decent camera, photos will turn out very poor.

Positioning

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Vehicle photos should always be taken from a distance! Don’t get too close, and first have a look at the vehicle with your own eyes. Walk away from the vehicle until you can see both headlamps and a fair part of the vehicle’s side, this will automatically result in a good viewing angle. It is always better to stand too far away than being too close. The ideal distance depends upon the vehicle, but 15 metres usually works for cars.

Sometimes, car photos look good if taken from above, but I’d rather stand on the same level as the car.

Background

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Make sure that the background is not too busy; especially persons should be avoided.

The right camera

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Good vehicle photos can be taken with virtually any camera. There is no ‘best camera’, but there certainly are camera-lens-combinations I’d recommend, and others I’d advise against.

For taking photos of objects that are not moving, a camera with fast focus and many AF points is not necessary. This means, that medium-range cameras are sufficient. For example, a Canon EOS 7D has no advantages over an EOS 70D, or an EOS 700D, when used for “not moving car” photography, despite being a “better” model.

The right lens

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For cameras with interchangeable lenses, I consider the following focal lengths ideal:

  • 35 mm Full Frame: 115 mm
  • APS-H: 90 mm
  • APS-C: 70 mm

In general, any focal length in between the 50 to 135 mm range (35 mm equivalent) should result in decent photographs. Even the bog-standard Canon 18-55 mm lens should work fine if used in the 50 to 55 mm range. At great focal lengths, distortion effects will occur, however, they are not always bad, and definitely better than the fish-eye-like distortion effects caused by small focal lengths. You should definitely avoid wide-angle lenses (usually 28 mm and below), and macro lenses.

Setting up the camera

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Aperture

Should not be wide open! A wide open aperture will not allow the necessary depth of field that is ideal for a car photo. However, if closed too much, photos can turn out too dark. Keep in mind that the aperture also depends upon the focal length. The F-stops indicate how wide the aperture is open, but they are a ratio. This means that an aperture of F/4.0 at 20 mm is not going to result in the same depth of field as the same aperture with a 70 mm focal length. In other words: The greater the focal length, the more you should stop down. At 50 mm, F/5.6 is fine, but at 70 mm, it would probably blur out too much. I usually choose something in between F/5.6 and F/9.0; for 70 mm, F/9.0 is my sweet spot.

The aperture and sharpness also depend upon the type of lens, quality of lens, and other factors. If in doubt, stop down.

Shutter speed

As a rule of thumb, divide 1 by two times the focal length to get the shutter speed in seconds. For example, at 50 mm, choose a shutter speed of at least 1/100 s. At 70 mm, I go with either 1/160 s or 1/200 s.

Exposure compensation

I usually try to have it at 0. Don’t go below -1 EV or above +0.66 EV. I find overexposure worse than underexposure, because it can become impossible to correct.

ISO

Depends upon the camera. The better the camera, the higher the ISO can be, especially outdoors with good natural light. I always try to keep it below 1600 indoors and 3200 outdoors.

Metering

I choose centre-weighted average metering. Spot metering doesn’t work well for cars, I reckon.

AF points

Choose all AF points your camera has. Ideally, when looking though the viewfinder, the car should be covered by as many AF points as possible. Sometimes I think that manual focus is an option, but the viewfinder of most modern cameras is not suited for manual focus.

Additional equipment

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  • A tripod can be useful sometimes. I have used a tripod for most of the photos I have taken at the 2019 IAA.
  • I have never used a flash in car photography, but I’d rather not use one anyways, especially not outdoors.