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How Do Car Photographers Capture Stunning Automotive Images That Sell

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5 Min Read

From vintage to luxury, almost everyone loves cars. To capture everything, from car culture to automotive progress, professional car photography has made itself an art of its own. Whether an individual is into cars for speed, looks, or modifications, a car photographer can help them fall into pits with beautiful machines.

However, capturing eye-catching and professional car photographs can be a struggle, which can be achieved by hiring a professional car photographer. Well, that is why car dealerships and retailers want to hire the best photographer in this industry. In this blog, we will discuss car photographers and how they can help your automobile business grow.

 

Who Is a Car Photographer?

A car photographer is a professional who specializes in capturing high-quality automobile images for various promotional activities. Car manufacturers and retailers employ these professionals to click high-quality and appealing pictures of the vehicles, which they can use for promotions, branding, marketing, sales, etc.

In addition, car photographers can be seen in multiple events, such as racing events, magazine shoots, new vehicle launches, etc. They are responsible for clicking top-quality pictures of the car and highlighting the features to make it appealing to the brand’s customers.

 

What Are the Types of Car Photographers?

An automobile photographer can do multiple types of professional car photography to portray the cool features of a car. Here are the different types of car photographers you can hire for your dealership according to your requirements:

1. Commercial Car Photographer

A commercial car photographer is an expert in clicking pictures for vehicle advertisements, websites, brochures and promotional materials for car dealerships. The individual has a unique style of clicking high-quality and polished images to highlight the vehicles’ design, features and brand identity.

Moreover, they can take a 360-degree car view using their photography and/or editing skills and offer a comprehensive viewing experience to your dealerships.

2. Action and Motorsport Photographers

The motorsport and action photographer captures car images in motion during races or dynamic driving events. The style emphasizes speed, movement, and energy, often using panning techniques to create a sense of motion.

These photographers use high-speed cameras, long lenses, and panning shots to capture the action, freezing cars in motion or creating motion blur for a dynamic effect.

3. Event Photographers

Such photographers cover car shows, meetups, and gatherings for car enthusiasts. They have a candid and documentary style, capturing vehicles, the crowd, and the event’s atmosphere.

In addition, their common settings include car exhibitions, rallies, and festivals. They use wide-angle shots to show the scale of the event, engage with crowd interactions, and focus on detailed shots of unique or rare vehicles, highlighting their standout features.

4. Automotive Detail Photographers

Automotive detail photographers are the ones who highlight specific features or parts of a vehicle, such as the engine, rims, lights, or interior details, via their photography. Their style focuses on close-up shots to emphasize craftsmanship, texture, and intricate design elements.

They typically shoot in a studio or controlled outdoor environment to eliminate distractions and focus on details. In addition, these photographers use macro photography, controlled lighting, and careful composition to showcase the finest aspects of the vehicle’s components.

 

How Can You Capture Stunning Car Photos?

How do Car Photographers work

Capturing a stunning car photo for automobile photography is significant as it helps you grasp the potential buyers’ attention. Here are a few things you must focus on when capturing the best car photos for your dealership:

1. Check the Lighting

One of the crucial aspects of car dealership photography is the lighting, as it brings an immersive experience. When you click a photo of your vehicle inventory, you must try clicking it when you have access to the maximum amount of natural light.

Without proper lighting, you cannot click the best photograph, which will hamper the experience. Hence, you must ensure the lighting is adequate to get the best picture to upload to your dealership website.

2. Focus on Camera’s Settings

Another factor to focus on, when clicking stunning pictures, is to focus on car photography settings. When you get hired as a car photographer, ensure that you understand the client’s aesthetic requirements to get the best clicks. Moreover, you must ensure the ISO level is low to reduce the graininess, to get the best click of their inventory. You must also control the field depth by setting the aperture wide and boosting the shutter speed.

3. Stick to Your Vision

Many photographers stick to conventional shots, missing opportunities to create truly unique images. It is especially true for amateur car photographers, who often settle for the ordinary.

Hence, it is significant to trust creative instincts, push boundaries, and avoid relying on the usual approach. By sticking to this vision, you can capture something extraordinary that stands out from the rest and even defines the genre in a fresh, captivating way.

4. Take Pictures of the Interior

Usually, automotive dealer photographers capture amazing shots of cars – on highways, in parking lots, etc. – but ignore the interior. Highlighting the car’s interior is essential, especially if you aim to sell it quickly.

Potential buyers often want detailed views beyond exterior beauty. Hence, car interior photography offer a complete perspective and can significantly speed up the selling process, making your car more appealing to those interested in purchasing.

5. Avoid Clicking at Eye Level

One of the mistakes photographers make is shooting a car from eye level. It will only work for those already familiar with the vehicle. Nevertheless, you need different perspectives to showcase your car’s uniqueness, especially when selling.

For instance, you can opt for high or low-angle shots instead. In such scenarios, you can use a tripod or a stool to create a more dynamic view, giving the car an exciting and distinct appearance.

6. Use AI for Immersive Photography

As a car dealership owner, you may witness that professional car dealer photography can be expensive. For instance, you may need to hire a professional photographer and rent or own expensive studios. It may increase the cost and lead to a costly photoshoot.

You can avoid it using cutting-edge technologies, like AI and machine learning processes. Spyne offers photography solutions that you can use to get a 360-degree view and edit the photos according to your specific requirements, lowering the overall cost.

 

Why Do Car Dealerships Require Professional Photoshoots?

As a car dealership brand, you must opt for professional photoshoots to bring more credibility and attract more buyers. When a potential customer visits your website, a high-quality image makes them confident to trust the vehicle and dealership, leading to leads and sales.

Why dealerships need Car Photographer

When you hire a professional car photographer or opt for AI photography services, you can make your inventory more credible, attracting customers to check your website. A visual representation of your inventory will allow you to grow your brand exponentially and engage a wider audience group. For instance, having a 360-degree car view feature on your website is more beneficial than a static image, as the potential buyers can interact with the former.

In addition, professional car dealer photography supports your vehicle display page, making your website more unique and interactive. It can help you establish your brand in the automotive industry and generate more leads.

 

How Spyne Helps Car Dealer Photographers?

Spyne offers AI merchandising solutions to car dealerships to enhance their online visibility. It offers a powerful tool to improve the car photoshoot experience significantly. Moreover, you can use its advanced tools and capabilities to streamline your business process, enhance efficiency, and elevate the images of your inventory.

Spyne has a comprehensive range of products and solutions for car photographers, such as automated image editing, background removal, and retouching. It comes with modern-day technology, like AI and machine learning processes, to enhance your website’s online visibility.

In addition, Spyne solves the problems of car dealer photography by saving valuable time and effort. Through the help of its tools, you can make an ordinary photo shoot look exceptional. Moreover, the company offers seamless collaboration and sharing options, where you can showcase your dealership’s inventory to buyers, clients, online platforms, and colleagues. It has a user-friendly and intuitive website design, making it easy for you to access its AI tools and solutions.

 

Final Words

With car buyers starting their search digitally, captivating images boost engagement and increase the likelihood of sales. A skilled car photographer is significant for your car dealership business, as high-quality images are crucial for attracting potential buyers. Getting help from professional photographers can effectively highlight a vehicle’s features, both exterior and interior, creating a lasting impression online.

Moreover, you can use AI tools and solutions from Spyne.AI to click top-quality images for your dealership. Investing in expert car photography is essential for standing out in a competitive market.

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FAQ

We Have Your Answer

  • Q. Why won't car photographers give you the RAW files?

    A RAW file is the best format for car photoshoots because you get the best quality. However, these files are way too large to use or share, which is why they have to be converted to JPG or TIFF images before photographers hand them over to the clients.

    You can, however, make special requests to receive the RAW files if you need them.

  • Q. How can I get find an experienced automotive photographer near me?

    You might be tempted to open Google, type in “professional automotive photographer near me”, and go with the first option that pops up there. However, it won’t always give you the correct option, and the overabundance of search results makes it difficult to get what you want.

    The best way is to go to Yelp, Thumbtack, etc., and search for your query there. Not only will you find plenty of professional car photographers near your business, you’ll also find their ratings there (provided by the clients they worked for previously), giving you an idea of how good their services are. You can also go through their portfolios and check out the quality of their work yourself.

  • Q. How do I get better interior shots of a car?

    Since there is space constraint, shooting the interiors of a car can be tricky, however, there are ways you can shoot better interior shots of a car:

    1. Get a small and light camera. A bulky one will make it harder to shoot inside a vehicle

    2. Use lights to brighten up the cabin, but avoid reflections and overexposure

    3. Focus on key features, like seats, steering wheel, dashboard, center console, etc.

  • Q. How to always shoot fantastic car photos?

    The best automotive photographers in the world have a lot of tricks that help them out. Here are some tips on how to always shoot fantastic car photos:

    1. Pick a theme for your photoshoots

    2. Shoot in RAW format

    3. Get the perfect lighting

    4. Always shoot in manual mode with a tripod.

  • Q. How do I ask random people to opt for my services as a car photographer?

    We advise you to not be professional in your approach. Reach out to dealerships or can event organizers, and share your portfolio with them. Take time and focus on building work relationships with them.

  • Q. How can I provide exceptional services to make my clients satisfied? 

    It is advised to be flexible and open to compromise. However, you should also be confident in your skills and not compromise on your core values or your commitment to producing high-quality work.

    Remember, the better the quality you deliver, the happier the client will be with you.

  • Q. What can I move forward from an amateur to a professional photographer?

    After continuous practice and mastering your skills, you can transition from an amateur to a professional photographer. It depends on the quality you deliver and your adherence to deadlines; to be a professional, you’ll have to act professional.

  • Q. Shall we outsource editing?

    You can outsource editing to a professional editor if you do not have much time to do it by yourself. You can also try AI-powered editing platforms like Spyne to help you with it. These automatically edit your car pictures, making your life easy!

  • Q. How to start with the first DSLR camera with its different filters and lenses?

    We suggest performing multiple shots with your camera to figure out the composition and angles. Further, figure out the best setting and the perfect angle, lenses, and filters based on your skills.

  • Q. When to get the most out of the kit lens?

    You can play and try out the strengths of your kit lens. We advise you to use the kit lens in good light so you can work with a limited aperture.

  • Q. What are the car photographer prices?

    The average car photographer rates can range from $50 to $300 per hour.

  • Q. What should be the car photographer logo?

    You should choose a unique and appealing logo that conveys your style and portray your brand message.

  • Q. What is a car photographer's salary?

    Car photographer salary hovers between $71,000 and $94,000, touching an average of $81,000 in the United States as of October 2024.

  • Q. How to be a car photographer and how to get into car photography?

    The qualification required to become a professional photographer is to have a high school diploma. Additionally, you should have at least 1 year of experience to be a professional.

  • Q. What is automotive photography?

    Automotive photographers capture photos of vehicles to use in promotional materials and marketing.

  • Q. How to start car photography?

    You can start learning the basics of exposure and practice your skills in the beginning journey of your car photography.

  • What is the ideal ISO for car photography?

    The ideal ISO for car photography will depend on the car photographer’s experience. In addition, it also depends on the lighting, a better ISO for car photography can vary. However, 100-400 ISO is ideal in most scenarios since it minimizes digital noise and ensures sharp images.

  • How does car photography help car dealerships?

    Vehicle photography enhances a dealership’s credibility and draws more attention. When potential customers see high-quality images on your listing platform, it subconsciously builds trust in the dealership and the vehicle, ultimately contributing to successful business outcomes.

  • How to take photographs for car dealerships?

    As a car dealer photographer, you must find the right location, use suitable equipment, and play with different angles to take photographs for car dealerships. Moreover, you must pay attention to details and use proper lighting to get the best car photographs.

  • How does Spyne.ai help car photographers?

    Spyne.AI offers a powerful tool for car photographers to improve the photoshoot experience significantly. You can use its advanced tools and capabilities to streamline your business process, enhance efficiency, and elevate the images of your inventory.

  • How has artificial intelligence revolutionized car photography?

    Artificial intelligence has revolutionized car photography by enabling car photographers to take images from the right angles, reflections, and lighting. For instance, Spyne.AI automatically guides photographers to click images from specific angles to showcase the car’s specific details and features.

  • What is the importance of car showroom photography?

    The high-quality images of your car dealership’s inventory help you in digital marketing and engage interactively with potential buyers. Moreover, it helps you to enhance your brand’s value online and offer an immersive buyer experience.

  • What is the shooting experience with the Spyne.ai application?

    The Spyne.ai application enables you to integrate smoothly with its shooting process. It walks the photographer through a straightforward process connecting the camera, taking the 360 photos, and uploading them together with the rest.

  • How much does a car photographer charge?

    Usually, the car photographers charge depending on your requirements and the dealership’s inventory. However, using car photography software can be affordable for your dealership and offer you top-quality images to grasp your buyer’s attention.

  • What does a dealership photographer do?

    A car dealership photographer captures high-quality images of vehicles for sale, highlighting key features and ensuring the cars look appealing for online listings and marketing. They work with lighting, angles, and backgrounds to present vehicles attractively. In addition, they may edit photos to enhance the visual appeal and help drive customer interest and sales.

  • How to get a job as a car photographer?

    To get a job as a car photographer, you must build a strong portfolio showcasing your vehicle photography skills, such as lighting, angles, and photo editing. Moreover, you can create networks with dealerships, automotive companies, and car enthusiasts. Strong technical skills and a passion for cars will boost your chances.

Team Spyne

Young, enthusiastic, and curious are the three words that describe Spyne’s content team perfectly. We take pride in our work – doing extensive research, engaging with industry experts, burning the midnight oil, etc. Every word we write is aimed at solving our readers’ problems.

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