Getting that..OHHHHHH so nice photo

There has been many bulletins lately on getting good photos or models with your ride. Some just have a nack for it and some need guidance and although I am still learning myself will create this basic guide for those who are clueless.

1) Wash the damn car! Scrub it up good and give your baby a coat of wax. Why post 20 pics of it after living on a dirt road and not washing it for a month? EWWWWWWW! Clean the interior detail under the hood. If you don't have the time or patience focus on one section at a time to take pics of such as interior or under the hood. People who say they will post better pics later rarely do. When hitting up sponsors and giving them links to your online car sites do you really want them seeing what a slob they are dealing with? When selling a car a highly detailed car brings in more of a sale price then a dirty uncared for car, same goes for votes in challenges and sweet 16.
2) Scenery! Nobody wants to see 20 pics of your driveway. Does it run? Is it really yours? Get out and show your online friends what it's like where you live. Not all of us live by a national monument or world recognized building or something but that doesn't mean where you live has nothing to offer. Go to the lake, woods, popular urban hang out.Give people an idea of what you see every day and what it's like where you live. Although not very ritzy your car parked and photographed by a cardboard village could make a powerful statement even if it's not glamourous for example.
3) Interesting angles and tilts make more interesting images then straight on front or side shots. Look at photos here ,in magazines and other online sources that you really like and try to copy it in your own environment.
4) what do you do with your car? daily driver? car shows? sound competitions? Take photos at events you particapate in and share the stories that go with them. Most best friends in the auto world met thru online sites, car shows or auto related events.
5) Lighting. Know what light your car looks best in and shoot on those days. If shooting in tight spots like your garage add a few light stands behind you in addition to the garage lights to get it bright and bounce light off of interesting points in the car body. A well cleaned well lit car will glow like heaven shining down on it better than a car with 6 months worth of dust in a dark pole barn.
6) last but not least is car models. Ads on craigslist in the talent and gigs section work well, ask friends and relatives if they will or know someone who will model. If you have a little money to spend ask a local professional photographer as they have access to models thru agencies and past experience that could be very helpful. If your ride is really nice might even be able to cut a deal with them if they use your ride in their portfolio or advertising purposes. You could post a want ad in a local shopper most times free of charge or post flyers up at grocery stores, laundry mats, college campus. It doesn't need to be difficult, you just need to be confident and brave enough to seriously look and ask for girls to help. Show examples of what your after so they don't think your trying to pick them up when you ask them to model or are talking about modeling nude. Take out any creepy factor in advance and your search will go much easier. Another good thing to practice when asking in person is to have a female with you that is comfortable with you and vouch for you that your not some pshycopath.
Hope someone reads this and opens up some creative juices and has been a helpful guide. If you do read this and try out my ideas let me check out the results and let me know if you found this helpful. Happy shootin everybody.

Wow All That Is So True! My favorite part is the driveway thing, I so get tired of seeing peoples driveway lol.
And I also agree, I fo sho dont get my good pics with a dirty car! So I would say all your tips are easy enough for people with no expirence!

Tomorrow i will go take a pic of it on the lake

Sum up... Get off your ass and make it a lil more interesting... Good advice on the models...

that's what i hate about this time of year. it's too cold to wash the car or else it'll freeze your doors as your driving down the road, and all the road salt is attracted to it too. i'll be taking more pics whenever it gets warmer. probably go back to the lake again, and a friend of mine and i are trying to find some old buildings to take them around too

Another one: don't take a picture of your car all lit up at midnight because all you see is blobs of light in darkness and no car.

make sure that backgrund isnt to busy wit junk or other cars ...it takes the focus off you car...use the back drop to frame ur ride...whatch the coolers on your back drop also...a dark car with a dark back drop gets lost ...with digital cameras u can have so much fun ..shooting and shooting ..and if u dont like it u can erase it...but be careful some shots dont look as good on the little veiw finder as they do on your computer screen ...plus realize that wit some basic editing tools u can crop out some of the back ground stuff 2 - frank

Travis and I have had several talks on this subject, and I am glad he took the bull by the horns and posted this information. To help those that are still in the dark on this, I will add a few technical details:

Digital Camera.......5mp(mega Pix) or higher

If shooting the ride standing still, use the slowest frame rate (100/200) brings out more detail in the pic.

Action shots are a bit tricky, try to get a front shot of the action coming at you. If not move the camera with the action as you click the shutter button (this will keep your target in focus, while everything else is blurred in the background, gives a sense of speed.)

Get a good photo software to help clean up shots and enhance your pic's (Adobe, Coral to name a few.)

If you are into videos, sit down first and write out your story line before you run out and start shooting. It may take days or weeks to get all the footage you need. Normally it will take about 20-30 min of footage to edit down to a 5 min video.

Video software... Sony, Roxio, Adobe to name a few that will let you edit and transfer to HD, Blu Ray, youtube, Cellphone,Sony DSP, IPod, AVI, and other formats.

And EDITING is the key you can mix still shots with action parts or just a slideshow works if done right. Go out have fun and take pictures.

Oh yea just to cover more on night shots, there is no such thing. You will need some type of lighting to bring out your car. The best is a diffuse type light (wide spread) so you don't get that beaming spot in the pic.
try to get the light coming from over your back, but remember not to get your shadow in the pic. This is where angles come in, and bing able to get a good shot. For night shots the number one thing you need is a tri-pod to hold the camera still and no flash. At night/low light the shutter speed slows to a crawl to capture as much light as possible and the slightest movement will cause a blurr.

I'm going to try and take some pics at different places once it warms up, all of my pics are in my driveway lol. I need to get out a little more.