shooting cars for dealerships

[caine22]

i am big into cars, and i browse ebaymotors a lot. i also was recently considering a new car, so i did a lot of looking on local dealer's sites and such. what i noticed is that selling a car and taking a decent picture of that car seem to be mutually exclusive. i know the salesman is not going to be a pro, but i don't understand how they can't even take in-focus pictures with a simple point and shoot camera...

so i was thinking i would talk to some local dealers(probably 15 within 10 minutes of me) and see if they would pay me to take decent pictures of their cars for their websites. some of them use stock pictures for crying out loud. i have a contract pretty much set. i am not looking to do this for a living. does anyone have experience with this kind of shooting? any advice/things i will not think of? would you put a watermark on the image?

any advice would be great.

[OsmosisStudios]

You won't get many bites. Dealerships dont make enough money from cars to warrant spending more on you to take pictures. People will come to see the cars regardless: they're not too worried about the images they put up on the website.

[candleman]

unles you shoot for listings on somewhere like Jameslist... I don't see you geting too far.

The shots most dealers use are crap and they are happy with that... because its free.

[autofocus]

I actually thought of doing this also. I contacted two high end exotics dealerships, showed them some before and after work using their existing photos....sadly, no interest. Here's an example of what I showed them


Untitled by vmontalbano, on Flickr

[caine22]

Originally Posted by autofocus

I actually thought of doing this also. I contacted two high end exotics dealerships, showed them some before and after work using their existing photos....sadly, no interest. Here's an example of what I showed them


Untitled by vmontalbano, on Flickr

exotic places usually have better pictures to begin with for some reason. did you suggest taking your own pic? because that is what i would do, not just photoshop their pics. maybe private parties? altho they might have the same problem. i will not be charging prohibitive amounts here, just pocket change cash really.

obviously ppl go to see cars in person anyway, but in my looking, if there was bad pictures online, i skipped right over it and forgot about it. also, i was thinking for the places that put their cars on ebay, a lot of people looking at them may be too far away to come in and look in person. if they are interested in the car, but all they can see are these crappy pictures, that is a lost sale. the local bmw/audi place doesn't even use real pictures, just stock. they also have higher margins, i may try them anyway. but thanks for the thoughts.

Originally Posted by autofocus

I actually thought of doing this also. I contacted two high end exotics dealerships, showed them some before and after work using their existing photos....sadly, no interest. Here's an example of what I showed them

*SNIP*, on Flickr

No offense broseph, but I wouldn't pay for that either.

You should really market it as taking 'better' photos at exotic locations and what not.

I have a friend who shoots for a dealership near here and has a studio for cars... gets paid $8/hr and still has to use his own equipment... what a deal!!

There's no money in this aspect of photography, move on.

~Eric

[autofocus]

You should really market it as taking 'better' photos at exotic locations and what not.

Eric, I suggested that to the dealer as there are some great locations near this particular dealer that would allow me to shoot the cars there, but they were opposed to letting these cars leave the dealership. That said, all I had to work with was one of their photos that I copied off their website. Based on your comment, I guess you don't think my re-work on the image was an improvement, although I certainly feel it was better than the original I had to work with.

Originally Posted by autofocus

Eric, I suggested that to the dealer as there are some great locations near this particular dealer that would allow me to shoot the cars there, but they were opposed to letting these cars leave the dealership. That said, all I had to work with was one of their photos that I copied off their website. Based on your comment, I guess you don't think my re-work on the image was an improvement, although I certainly feel it was better than the original I had to work with.

While it is 'better', it's not 'better' enough to warrant getting paid in my opinion.

There's a lot of stuff you can do at the dealership that provides really solid work. I really like stuff shot in the garages for example, especially if they are those hermetically sealed garages with spotless floors and ultra clean everything.

Gotta think outside (inside) the box

[autofocus]

While it is 'better', it's not 'better' enough to warrant getting paid in my opinion.

Well, Eric, as the car photography expert you are entitled to your opinion, but remember the product is geared to the end customers who are not car photography experts. My opinion is that a small fee of say $25-$30 to re-work their existing image and that re-worked image helps sell a $125,000 car is a very small investment for the dealer to pay. We're not talking work that's going to go into magazines.

I really like stuff shot in the garages for example, especially if they are those hermetically sealed garages with spotless floors and ultra clean everything.

I don't imagine you will find that in too many dealerships

Well, Eric, as the car photography expert you are entitled to your opinion, but remember the product is geared to the end customers who are not car photography experts. My opinion is that a small fee of say $25-$30 to re-work their existing image and that re-worked image helps sell a $125,000 car is a very small investment for the dealer to pay. We're not talking work that's going to go into magazines.

Dude, come on. Regardless of what I shoot for, I'm not going to do less because it's a dealership. Frankly, your rework of that photo wasn't that impressive. I'm not trying to be a dick, but it just wasn't worth $30 to me. I charge a lot because people get a lot. Sometimes that means being creative and shooting within really tight situations with time and space and you have to make it work.

Here's an example. Car couldn't leave the area, no license plate. I went into the service building where they house all the junk for the show and got this photo. I promise you I made more than $30 off this photo.

I don't imagine you will find that in too many dealerships

Really? Have you been inside the dealerships that sell the $125k cars? Spotless gorgeous places... I could and would eat off their floors. A BMW store near me has it like that and the Porsche dealer has the same thing. Not to mention the Masarati dealer down the street. You won't find that at the Chevy dealer, honestly.

I have a feeling you aren't looking hard enough and not providing a service they actually want. You were standing in front of a Aston Martin and Bugatti dealership, are you kidding me!??! Take a pic of the garage and prove to me that they don't have a hell of a shop.

Here's one inside a garage that's nasty looking. Took 20 mins to shoot.