Ten tips to car photography

I'm pretty sure you have at some point in your life taken a picture of a car, and it probably wasn't unthinkably arduous. You aimed the camera and poked a button, simple as pie. However, on many occasions you probably ended up thinking "I swear it wasn't that ugly". Surely, making a car look good in a picture is a bit more complicated. In fact, there's an entire science revolving around the art of this, and today I'm about to scratch the surface for you, so that next time you decide to immortalize your beloved car you don't have to let your mental images down.

Now, if you really want to get into car photography I recommend you mow the lawn with a fork first and then decide if you still want to, because that activity operates on the same levels of annoyment and nitpicking, but there are a few tips to get that professional fizz into your pictures without too much effort...

1. Get a decent camera, tripod and objective.

There is no way around this. You need a DSLR. There's no worse thing than an unsharp picture of a smokin' hot car. If you're even remotely serious about shooting cars, considerable amounts of money should go into this investment, but remember, you can't eat a camera so don't waste your life savings on it. It's just not worth it. However, I'd recommend going for a semi-pro Canon EOS at once, because you don't want to outgrow your camera after a few months of practice. When you immerse into the business you'll find that there is no upper limit to how much money can be burnt on hording lenses and objectives, but starting out will cost you at least the price of a decent DSLR and objective. A tripod isn't a must, but it dramatically improves the sharpness of your pictures.

Surgical sharpness. Don't think they achieved that with bare hands...

2. Forget your dignity and get dirty.

Photographing a car is a physical exercise in many ways. Cleaning is a big part of the job. Yes, really. You have to make sure the setting is clean and garbage-free because details like an empty soda can or an old plastic bag in the peripherals are huge attention drawers. A quick clean-up before starting the shoot is a good routine and pays off in the quality of the pictures.

High angle. Yummy.

Now, the actual shooting of the car itself includes some exercise too. Eye height angles are not always ideal, so wear your knee pads and don't be afraid to roll around on the ground a bit. Generally a car will look more aggressive the lower you shoot it from, but as Jesus said about the golden middle path "too low isn't good either". As a thumb rule, if you can see the ground clearance of the car you're too low. High angles work well, too, so experiment and don't be afraid to get out of your comfort zone. Remember, comfort is a mere secondary priority when shooting cars, so jump into a ditch for that sweet angle if you have to.

Don't like the ground clearance, but thank God the attention is drawn elsewhere...

3. Setting matters.

You think you can just go out in your driveway and take great pictures of your car? No. The scenery is a big deal when shooting a car, so you really want to take your time to look for a suitable and coherent setting, weather it'd be an abandoned warehouse, a curvy mountain road or a stretch of open tarmac between two fields.

Epic scenery, my personal wallpaper-favorite. By TopGear of course.

There are generally two options when choosing a background. You either pick a background that contrasts the car or a background that complements it. For example, if you're going for a moody feel, a black-on-black background can work wonders, whereas a black-on-white background will contrast the car and make it stand out, which is the point of car photography in the first place, but works for a different purpose.

Great example of contrast

The trick is to have an immaculate setting but not have it draw the attention from the car. This is achieved by having a "clean" background. Details such as power lines, road signs, other cars in the distance, garbage on the ground etc. will draw attention from the car and slap the picture back to snapshot-quality. Keeping the silhouette of the car intact is also crucial, so if you notice any lamp posts, trees or other random objects "sticking out" of the silhouette you'll need to address those issues in PhotoShop. Also, a big mistake people often make is they park the car somewhere unnatural (on a lawn or a field etc.[see picture of Alpine A110 below]) and think they've come up with a setting. The problem here is that the car usually looks out of place, so play it safe and don't take the car too far from its natural habitat.

Picture raped by reality.

4. Prepare yourself with a piece of cloth and some car cleaning chemicals.

Yes, more cleaning, reality is a bitch. Most cars you'll come across will not be in photogenic condition when you see them. Consequentially, to get them in picture-worthy condition all dust and dirt needs to be cleaned off. Imperfections on the car will show very effectively in a sharp photo, and a good picture is easily ruined by the car being dirty. Pay extra attention to the rims, because they are a huge attention drawer in a car and thus need to be extra carefully cleaned. Keep in mind that the entire cleaning process may take up as much as 3-4 hours depending on how meticulous and professional you want to be. Also worth mentioning is that any clutter inside the car may also shine through in the picture (a parking disc on the dashboard for example), so do the cleaning inside and out. And last but not least, stickers on the windscreen. Get rid of them. Immediately. 100% of the time they'll make the car look hideous in a picture.

5. Don't put the car in the middle of the shot.

Surprise surprise, the rule of thirds applies to car photography too. Don't put the main objective (i.e the car) in the middle of the frame. Try placing it a bit to the left or to the right or wherever, just not in the middle, unless you're looking for an intentional effect of some sort. You'll notice that your pictures will start looking so much better the minute you off-center the main objective a bit. You don't have to rigorously follow the rule of thirds, but as long as you remember NOT to put the car bang in the middle your fine. Experimenting is the key to success here, so go nuts with the camera and goof around a bit. You'll get the feel for what works and what doesn't.

Perfect example of a shitty pic. Car is dead centered, barely fits the frame, looks out of place,there's some eye-saw on the dashboard, the silhouette is ruined by the other car and the van rapes the background

6. Don't use the flash. Ever.

Flash photography is an incredibly hard thing to get right unless you know exactly what you are doing, so don't use it for now. You'll just end up ruining the shot.

7. Black and white is a real pain in the arse.

In the beginning try staying away from these colors because they tend to screw up the white balance of the picture. Usually these colors will lead to underexposed or respectively overexposed pictures, and the trick is to manually under/overexpose the picture accordingly, but it takes a lot of practice and mistakes. New DSLR's can actually cope with this problem rather well by calculating an average balance, but this requires a balanced background in the picture.

Underexposure. The problem with photographing something black.

8. The magic is in the three/quarter angle.

Dig out a random car magazine and look at the front page. Chances are it'll show a three/quarter shot of a car of any given make. This is because a classic three/quarter angle simply works.You can pick up the car's side lines while exploring the front end and get an overall feel of the stance. The rims are exposed, you can grasp the depth of the design etc. It simply is the perfect all-around angle. Use it liberally.

Nothing special. Just three/quarters.

9. Wake up in time for sunrise

The golden hour for outdoor photography is the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset. That's when the natural light is at its best or softest or whatever, meaning you don't have to work up too much computer magic to make the pictures look good. Avoid shooting the car at noon, because the broad daylight and intense sun will overexpose the pictures and pretty much ruin them. A good thing to remember is to work with the light, not against it. A car can be moved around quite easily in comparison to the sun, so don't run around the car for those different angles, but move the car around instead, otherwise you'll end up with nasty shadows and reflections that might make the car look like excrement.

Notice that shadow? The overexposure is nicely handled though.

10. Take your time

People tend to think photographing a car works a lot like taking a picture of an attraction. You snap a couple of shots and "BAM!", you're done in two minutes, but that's not how it works. I usually reserve a 2 hour minimum for a single-location photoshoot, and that's already stretching the limits. It takes surprising amounts of time moving the car around, finding the angles, experimenting with different light-settings and getting a good variety of pictures, so don't be afraid to take your time.

So, there you have it, folks. Ten tips to car photography. Now, remember these are just a scratch on the surface of the basics, and even all of these tips put together don't necessarily make for a good picture. The best piece of advice I can give you for now is go out and let your shutter-finger burn. As the ancient cliché dictates, practice makes perfect.

Now, it's perfectly fine to start practicing with your Mondeo, but if there's any possibility for you to score your friend's lovingly kept Porsche I'd say invest in buying him a couple of drinks and ask him nicely to lend the car for a couple of hours. In the end it's much more inspiring to discover the delicate design lines and angles of something a bit more exotic than to just settle for the mundanity of a daily driver, not that you can't have great shots of those too. Oh, one more thing. Learn to use PhotoShop. You'll need it.

-HS

This is what the Enzo-successor might look like

The heat is closing in on Ferrari's mythical Enzo successor, but the official debut isn't due until the 2013 Geneva Motor Show. In the meantime speculation is in high gear, and to keep you readers entertained we'll contribute with a little something of our own to tease your retinas with. It's time to square your eyes and get drooling, because these renderings of the F70 in show worthy clothing will get the job done quicker than a women's underwear catalogue.

Now, the upcoming F70 has some sizable waders to step in, but if the final version looks anywhere near as hot as in these pictures we'd say it's taken those waders, glared at them in discontent and bought new designer boots instead, because it's disturbingly good-looking.

The front end is riddled with styling cues from the 458 Italia, but it's miles meaner than that. There are slight nods to the F40 here and there, and in a way it emits that same rawness, but unlike the F40, you don't have to rule out the word 'sophisticated' from the vocabulary when you get closer than 50 yards to it.

Paying homage to the Enzo, the power production-part in the F70 is respectfully dealt with by a V12, but instead of 6.0 liters there's now 7.2, and on top of that the engine is mated to a hybrid KERS-system, which was first seen in the 2010 Ferrari 599 Hy-KERS concept. With the KERS-system the F70 also works double as Ferrari's answer to the Porsche 918 Spyder, and what an answer it is.

The rumored performance of the F70 tips the scale between insane and diabolical. Combined power output for the V12 and KERS-system is of jaw-dislodging proportions; 920 horsepower to be exact. This monstrous amount of power fused with the unhealthily fit body of the F70, weighing in at only 1250kg, is whispered to be enough to hurl the ruddy beast from 0-62 in 2.5 seconds and get it up to a top speed of 250mph. This depicts the return of the Daddy, consider yourself put in place all careerist supercar-newcomers.

Now, marvel at the specs, look at the pictures and feel your pants get cramped a bit. Let's hope Ferrari pulls this off and makes reality match our dreams. Stay tuned as the story unravels.

source: KGP Spy Photography

-HS

Driven: Shelby GT500

Six hundred and sixty three horsepower. Eight hundred and sixty torques. Say hello to the Shelby GT500, Ford's own blue collar hero with the entire American working-class' fury boiled down into 5.4 liters of supercharged V8. A big, rude, no-table-manners-type of thing with a primordial urge to travel sideways. Now, I didn't fill up during the test drive, but judging by the feel of it I suspect the GT500 runs on bricks and testosterone. Cars don't get manlier than this.

For the 2013 model they've managed to break the supercar-barrier of, whisper it, 200mph, which is just barking, considering the car costs about the same as your average BMW. Today, though, I won't get to feel the compensation for my lesser parts by driving a 200mph car, because the one tested today is "merely" an '07 model with power upped to 2013 spec. Having driven the car, though, I don't care if it's 200mph or not. Considering it weighs enough to have its own orbit, it feels perversely quick.

Now, there are of course good fast cars and bad fast cars, and by any measurable aspect this certainly would get listed as a bad fast car. However, that's only one part of the truth. It might get served in the corners by an M5 and it might lack the refinement of an M5, but people who say the GT500 is lesser than an M5 can just sod off, because it is from an entirely different planet of fun. It appeals to something unmeasurable, namely emotions, and it does a convincing job at it, too.

I have yet to come across a car that encourages fooling around as much as the GT500. It's like the malicious friend your mother always warned you about for being a bad influence. It's way too easy to get into trouble behind the wheel of the GT500. The throttle response and power-delivery is brutal enough to move the 1832kg lump of steel from 0-62 in 3,8 seconds, which means you really have to pamper the throttle to keep it from destroying the back wheels. Obviously, with 860Nm of torque there are enormous amounts of grunt, and going sideways is more of a rule than an exception. Not that I mind though, because boy, oh boy is it fun!

The GT500 I'm driving today has an aftermarket suspension-kit fitted, so that takes care of the biggest downside of the vanilla-Shelby, namely the chassis. Cornering is actually not rubbish with the up-rated suspension, but it feels like it tries too hard. You can't help feeling this is a car dominated by it's engine. That sound when you floor it, the whine of the accelerating supercharger outlining the sound of a roaring V8, is what it's all about. I'd actually pay for tickets if they ran that engine at a concert hall, that's how intoxicating it is. The flamboyance and the sheer unsensibility of the thing is something you get very addicted to.

I can't quite decide if I'm scared to death by this monster or excited as hell. Ford really needs to sort their shit out, because 663 horses through a live-axle is just bloody wrong. Perversely however, that's the allure of it; a primitive combination of fear, juvenile bluster and smoking rubber. We car enthusiasts are just overgrown children after all, aren't we? And the GT500 is catering just for that kind.

If you are rational, look elsewhere. I guarantee you there are better, faster and more refined cars, but if you are aged 12 and want to explore the ultimate dimensions of fun the GT500 is unbeatable. As Clarkson so accurately explained in his film "Thriller" it's not about the lateral G's or 0-62 times, it's about the grin on your face when you exit a corner sideways in a cloud of smoke. I'm going to start saving up for one.

-HS

Driven: The Porsche 924

INTRO

Driving a Porsche usually involves certain implications about one's social status. Driving the 924, however, doesn't. Sporting an engine ripped out of a VW LT van and a chassis made of bits from a VW Beetle, Golf and a Typ 181 military vehicle, it never really sold for a status symbol. It sold mostly because, unlike the rest of the Porsche range, you wouldn't have to sell your house and children to afford one.

The 924 was one of those cars your brain would rule out by selective thinking, its proletarian credentials left enthusiasts cold and it didn't carry the media-sexiness of a 911. In the eyes of the public it went by as an insignificant oddball among esteemed Porsche-classics.

Ironically however, the 924 was the very model that saved Porsche from the graveyard. The steady sales meant the company could keep their funds liquid enough to pay the bills and to further fund development of the 911. To put it simply, without the 924's contribution to the company, the 911 as we know it might not exist. A case of some serious unsung heroism.

DRIVING IT

When someone tells you "I have a sports car with a chassis made of bits from a Golf, Beetle, and post-WWII military vehicle" you'll probably laugh a bit, then cringe, and laugh some more. Certainly you don't expect it to be any good. In some witchcrafty German way however, Porsche has made it into an exercise of brilliance.

At cruising speeds it maintains a smooth and comfortable character, but when you poke it in corners it's dead neutral and no mentionable body-roll is to be noticed. The gearbox has been placed in the back for a near perfect 48/52 weight distribution, which makes for some seriously appreciative handling. It eats corners with unbelievable efficiency.

The feel is best described as driving a go kart on local anesthetics, because you feel the immediacy of your inputs but the softish-tuned suspension rules out the annoying part of the sharpness. Deriving from that, the steering is a bit syrupy too. It comes alive in the corners, but there's always this certain numbness to it, you don't really feel the front wheels as you'd expect from a sports car with non-powered steering. That said though, it feels pretty much like a Porsche.

As you pick up speed the steering obviously gets progressively better, but there's a problem. The engine comes out of a van, and that means you don't pick up speed. Porsche promised a 9,9 second 0-100 time for the 924, but after 35 years of use that time is nothing but wishful thinking.

The accelerator pedal is for volume adjustment rather than going anywhere, floor it and you'll make the four-cylinder under the bonnet sound mighty intimidating (might have something to do with the raspy race-exhaust) but not much go-fast action happens otherwise. However, playing with the exhaust note is fantastically addicting in itself, and almost worth the 1000£ alone.

The lack of speed is without doubt the biggest con in this car, and there are frequent moments when the steering wheel has to be beaten due to the frustration of not progressing anywhere at any sort of mentionable speed, but focusing on pure speed is a side-effect of stupidity.  It's about how it makes you feel, and that is something worth explaining.

Pretty much at the instant you lower yourself into the cabin you forget it's a budget-Porsche. The seats are, well, nothing short of divine. Ripped out of the same era-911, they're probably the most well-balanced creations of comfort/sportiness/style since ever. I want those seats in my living-room, that's how pretty they are. Otherwise too the whole interior feels just as posh as any other same era Porsche.

It's a hard car to fall in love with from the outside, I'll give you that. Seeing as it started its life as an Audi* and not a pristine piece of art (read Porsche) it's quite mundane. I never thought it to be pretty or desirable in any way, but having driven it it's grown on me. The 924 is an acquired taste, a bit like whiskey and early morning wake-ups too. When those old-school rally images start to burn in the back of your head you'll quite quickly find yourself lusting after one.

-HS

*Named project EA425, the 924 was initially a development project ordered from Porsche by VW-group, who had plans for it to be the next Audi flagship, but the oil crisis in 1973 and economical turmoil inside the company sealed the fate of the project, and it got shelved. Porsche, who saw the opportunity, bought back the project for the costs of the development, and started building 924s with its own badge.

Toyota and BMW to make a sports car together

Two days ago the heads of Toyota and BMW signed a deal to intensify their cooperation. The signed deal included joint operations in the development of electric fuel cells, research  in powertrain electrification and the sharing of lightweight technologies. Oh, and there was one other small thing too, no, scrap "small", in fact, replace it with "monumental". According to the signed deal Toyota and BMW are going to build a sports car together.


The agreement states that BMW and Toyota are going to jointly develop architectures and share parts-bins for a future sports vehicle. In simple English; design, and build a sports car together.

At a press conference with BMW head Norbert Reithofer Toyota president Akio Toyoda said "BMW knows how to make a car perform, I am the one who is most looking forward to a sports car that is environmentally friendly" and that's what it's going to be. A sports car that'll manhandle everything but polar bears.

By signing the deal Toyota got access to BMW's rock solid knowledge of how to make a car go very fast, and in return BMW got access to Toyota's expertise in buzzing noises, namely, electric motors. A match made in future-sports-car-heaven, so to say.

It's pretty clear now that Toyota's on a mission to get their sporting-image back, and they've already won the first battle. The Subaru-collaboration BRZ/GT86/Whatever you want to call it was divine, and we'll hopefully see something equally epic spawn from this venture too. The picture of the Avensis is slowly dimming in my head...

Toyota's first victory

We'll keep you informed on the subject as more details come along, but for now this is the bulk of it. Let the speculation begin!

What kind of sports car would you like to see those two companies build together? Share your thoughts in the comments-section below.

-HS