Alright, so where are some great places for car photography? You’ve got your car and you're ready to shoot. Where should you go? This article goes over some of my favorite spots that I’ve personally shot at and places I would love to shoot.
Natural Settings
Try mixing summer leaves with these settings. You can also get great shots during the fall during peak season. Don’t forget about the winter where snow covers the ground. These are year round great options for a natural vibe.
Forests - open areas and roads
Lake/beach fronts - ideal for tame days in the sun
Offroads - if you need some dirt in your shot and to show durability
Private & Controlled Space
Racetracks - Try reaching out to your local racetrack and see if you can shoot. Maybe even book an hour or two to get clean photos.
Private property and farms - If you or a friend owns private property use it for your shots. Often these areas have a lot of space to position your vehicle any way you want for however long and at anytime. It may be worth even reaching out to owners and asking to shoot or pay to work on their property. There are also venues that may allow you to do this as well.
Studios - Large spaces for commercial-like photos. Here you can completely control all the lighting. Perfect for clean and professional photos.
Garages - Why not shoot where the cars are located? Bring along lighting to shine on the cars.
Urban & Street Locations
Highways - think of open highways out in the country. This can be winding landscapes for example.
City Streets - In the middle of a popular street or a residential street with nice architecture that matches the car.
Urban Areas - popular urban areas facing sculptures or skylines.
Parking Garages - The most common and easily accessible photo spots. Often with high vantage points to see skylines. Make sure to check with security or the parking lot's website so you don’t get kicked out.
Bridges/Tunnels - On top of bridges, near bridges or tunnels make great photos. Bridges have high vantage points over lakes, rivers, and bays that have great views. Some examples include the Brooklyn Bridge and the San Francisco Bridge.
What is the best lighting for car photography? The most common you will be working with is natural lighting, but different times of day will affect the look of the car as well as angles.
You can try directly behind the car — this will blow out a lot of the sky and the rear of the car. You may also get quite a bit of reflections on the side of the car and dark areas on the farthest side of the car.
Choosing to move the car so the sun is at 45 degrees can also be a good idea. This may be more common 3–4 hours before sunset.
You can also try shooting during sunset for purple/orange casts. Golden hour is great for car photography — just be careful with the final coloring of the car.
Shooting at dusk or at night is also possible. Use a combination of long exposure, external flashes, and city lights. Often LED city lamps emit blue tones.
Gear Recommendations
Car photographers love 35mm and wide angle lenses. I’ve also used a telephoto 150–600mm before.
Cameras don’t matter too much; a full-frame or crop sensor will work. Any brand camera will also work.
Look into buying large reflectors or LED lights. Large reflectors can diffuse highlights on the car that ruin the detail of the model. LED lights can help with natural lighting or highlight dark areas. LED lights on cars make images pop and look professional.
Try external flashes. Try flashes that can use High Speed Sync. Learn more.
Use tripods for night photos. This can be incredibly helpful for getting stunning photos in the night. Tripods can reduce shakiness and the need to use a high ISO. I highly recommend learning to manually focus on cars while using a tripod.
Extra Tips
Bring a ladder for overhead shots
Try shooting with long exposures and lighting
Get permits when needed — PAY!! Invest in your shots, pay the venue — stress free shots.
These are some of the best photo spots for car photography. Hopefully you get out there soon with your vehicles!
