Car shows often have gorgeous models who are willing to pose with a beautiful car. Have the Right Attitude If you want to make interesting photographs, you gotta love cars. You don’t have to be an expert on a particular marque or even cars in general, but you should be curious and polite when inspecting a car that might make an ideal photographic subject. If you see the owner, ask him a few questions about his car. People who own unique cars often have interesting stories to tell about their vehicles because there never was a restoration project that didn’t have some peculiar twists and turns before the car reached the state where you would want to photograph it. Before making any image, try to make sure that the car’s hood—bonnet if it is British—is lowered. Some car owners are proud to display their vehicle’s meticulously clean engine compartment, but that’s not always the best way to show off the car’s lines. Ask the owner to close the hood for you, and in exchange offer to provide a free print in return. This automatically positions you as a photographer who cares and can open some marketing opportunities too. This image was made by combining two identically exposed shots taken at different moments during the unveiling of a Nissan racecar at a show in Los Angeles. If you are attending a Concours d’Elegance, chances are there may be an identification card placed on the car’s dash or under its windshield/windscreen wiper. While it’s a good idea to remove these show placards before taking a photograph, always ask the owner before touching any part of his or her car! In fact, it’s best to have the owner do this for you, so ask politely. Owners want you to make a great photograph and, as before, offer to provide a courtesy print as a thank you. Don’t be frustrated by the lack of space and crowded working conditions that are typical at many car shows. You can use these cramped quarters to your advantage by capturing interesting small details, such as the delicate nature of a grille or the sensuous line of a fender. You’ll also be rewarded by carefully experimenting with different camera angles. Work in close and gradually back off until extraneous details or people appear in the frame. At that point you have probably backed off too far, although sometimes it’s a good idea to include the background in the frame. Don’t just photograph the beautiful cars; photographs some of the interesting people too. At the races you may be able to get into the pits to photograph the drivers on practice day. Many car shows have beautiful models on hand who are always happy to pose with a car for you. An ISO 1600 setting was used to capture this low-light shot with a Canon EOS 10D digital SLR. At most tracks you can usually stake out a great location, especially if you arrive early. Using a fast shutter speed to freeze the car makes it look as if it were parked, not doing 160 mph. One of the most useful techniques for photographing race cars is “panning,” which involves capturing a race car in motion as it moves laterally across the frame. During panning, the car is captured in sharp focus against a blurred background that emphasizes the car’s speed. Try setting the camera’s auto exposure mode to Shutter Priority and use a shutter speed of 1¼250 which will blur the background, but render the car relatively sharp if you pan with the camera carefully. It’s also not necessary to wait for a car show to experiment with this type of photography. If you start looking, you’ll see that exciting automotive photo opportunities occur regularly in your daily life. That’s one of the reasons that I always carry a tiny Minolta DiMAGE Xt digital camera with me wherever I go. This spunky little three-megapixel camera lets me take interesting photographs in places where I often least expect it. Be Prepared When going to the race track or car show it’s important to dress comfortably. In fact, I always wear clothing that I’m not afraid to get dirty while lying on the ground to get an interesting camera angle. Outdoors, be sure to wear a hat to keep the sun off your head and like the song says, “be sure to wear sunscreen.” Arrive early to take advantage of the best light and stay late. As cars begin to leave, space opens up, allowing you to photograph the cars as well as the surrounding environment. You can create some dramatic images late in the day by asking car owners to turn on their vehicle’s parking lights to add a subtle glow to the side marker, taillights, and turn signals. As you gain experience photographing cars, it’s important to work on developing your own unique style. If anything, that’s the real lesson to be taken away from these tips and suggestions: Don’t let your automobile photographs look like those taken by everyone else. Joe Farace specializes in stock, digital, and fine art photographs and has written or edited 24 books. Be sure to visit his website at www.joefaraceshootscars.com.