Proper Metering for Automobile Photography

[gibbstom13]

I work at a car dealership, and I take pictures for our company website. I'm in and out all day long, so I don't necessarily have time to spend the proper time getting every shot exactly right...I do a thorough enough job to efficiently get out inventory online in a timely manner.

This being said, I would like to learn a few quick tricks to get my photos looking a little better. We have an unused service road in the back of the dealership where I bring all the vehicles when taking photos. I find it very difficult (especially on sunny Florida days) to get a shot looking right: the bright sunlight reflects off the metal, the blaring white concrete, the dark shrubbery in the background...all makes for a difficult metering situation.

I've attached an example photo, and I'm not really sure what I need to do differently. Reducing the exposure time to prevent washing out of the concrete will only make the subject (car) way too dark to see. It seems as though I can only get pretty good looking shots in overcast weather...which seems to come once every week or two. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

[MGP]

Hire a photographer?

[Rehesan]

Here are some quick tips that might be useful to you:

1. Do not shoot after 11:00 a.m. The best time for shooting cars (and mostly any subject) is during the "golden hours", this is in the sunrise or at the sunset. Typically the good light in th morning goes from sunrise to 11:00 a.m. (low angle light), maybe in sunny florida could be around 10:00 a.m. So try to shoot early in the morning or when the sun is not right up high above in the sky (high angle light), that is the worst light.

2. Bring up the flash. Eventhough you are shooting in a good light condition filling up with the flash will make your car details to be seeing in the photograph, because you wil be kind of highlighting the shadows, so the detail will make your photo to look better.

3. Always be sure to have the sun light behind you, never shoot with the sunlight in front of you. This is basic, because the light will illuminate the subject (Car). But be careful of your shadow, some people makes a huge mistake of capturing his/her own shadow when shooting when sunlight behind them.

4. Use a circula polarizer filter if possible (if you camera allow filters in case is not a DSLR). This accesorie is a must for car photography, because will help you to effectively get rid of the unwanted reflections from the car surface and also will enhance the car color.

5. Alway try to shoot the cars from low angles. If you make a photo from the "eye" angle, the image will not cause any impression to the viewer´s eye. Low angles are a very efective way to give some "drama" and "personality" to the car being photographed.

6. Use the AV (aperture priority). Try to shoot with this mode and set the stop to f8, I think this will give you a nice sweetspot for car photography, let the camera to adjust the shutter speed and ISO.

I think this tips could help you. I´ve been photographing cars since about 3 years ago due I am a car enthusiast and I like to attend every car shows I can.

Cheers mate!.

[autofocus]

I probably have photographed thousands of cars over the years and I mostly agree with what Rehesan said above. I will take exception to what he said about using flash though..I will never use it as it produces very harsh, flat lighting, often with terrible reflections. 99% of my car shots have been done with a Canon G2 point and shoot...only 4 megapixels, but a great little camera. What it has is an articulated flip out LCD screen which will allow shots at very creative angles. Canon's newest G12, and a few other manufacturers still offer models with this screen setup..I'd recommend you buy one. Here are a few examples of some of my car photographs
Cars, Cars, Cars - a set on Flickr

[Rehesan]

^^ I agree with you, I missed a part in my post regarding the use of flash, I was so focused writing my post that I forgot to mention the use of flas is conditional to the sun light brightness: knowing our fellow is located at Florida, the sun could be brighter some days around the end of the morning "golden hour", so in this case filling up with the flash could help to bring some details. We always can play with the flash settings to see if the photo looks better or not, and also if our fellow shoots with a DSLR he surely can play with the flash EV to get the right filling for his shoot.

[edbayani]

the suggestions of rehasan are very good. your photo of the red car is not so bad. only the reflections on the door and the right side of the windshield is distracting. the headlights and the mags lost some details but this can all be easily corrected in postprocessing. also if you can have a plain bg. if you can't, this can also be done in pp.

[sk66]

Light and Angle... Harsh light creates strong highlights/shadows which are difficult. Avoid if possible. If unable to avoid harsh lighting, capture "less"....get the "details" from flattering angles...the "overall" is going to be less than optimal.

Angle changes the relationship of highlights and shadows and also what is "reflected" back to the camera. (e.g. the curb in the side panel). will also enable "even" lighting of the subject (but not necessarily ideal/flattering)

A CPL will help with light reflections (not "subject" reflections. e.g. the curb)

Diffused off camera flash can reduce the amount of ambient light captured (too much work/equipment)

Best answer is to wait for better light for the "overall" capture...

[lerabu]

I am really new to photography but I read "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson and in you situation I think you should meter against the sky (no clouds) above the car.

Please correct me if I am wrong!

[autofocus]

Originally Posted by lerabu

I am really new to photography but I read "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson and in you situation I think you should meter against the sky (no clouds) above the car.

Please correct me if I am wrong!

I would not recommend that..unless you want perfect exposure for the sky, and not so perfect exposure for your subject, whatever it is. Being that the sky is very bright, your subject(s) will wind up underexposed/dark. Most times, and when possible, it's best to avoid the sky in your composition, and unless you meter very carefully it will almost always throw off your exposure on your subject. Use of fill flash or reflected light, however, will help off-set that problem

[Sterling]

Most of the replies here assume unlimited time to produce a great "art" shot. Putting inventory on a web site has very little to do with art. For example, his boss who just paid thousands of dollars for a piece of inventory to resell probably won't be to impressed hearing, "I'll just have to wait for better light before we can advertise this car."

I would advise to just meter off the car and forget about the concrete and the shrubery. People shopping for that car don't care about lost details in the concrete. Unless you can set up a permanent "studio" to shoot each car or have unlimited time to fiddle in photoshop, just make sure people can see the car and forget the rest.