Shooting Digital: The Car Show Photo
Car Show: Shooting Digital Notes
First: Get there early
This is not about aperture, speed or settings, this is just little things we have learned when shooting car shows. Every photographer should know the basics surrounding their camera and really we are not qualified to say anything more than what works for the bbq and the final photos we post on the site but we do have a certain criteria.
1. Does the car look good?
2. Is the photo clear?
3. Is the background noise too noisy?
There are 3 types of car shows
1. Inside/Outside
2. Inside
3. Outside
Car shows come in all kind of venues. Professional, street shows, park shows, car runs, poker runs, exotic, pre '70, mopars, fabulous fords, roadsters, lowriders, trucks, vans, kustom, drags....
First thing to remember is get there early, the earlier the better, now some will say to get there early or late but late is not an option due to the background crowd noise. Getting to a car show early means you can beat the heat, catch the car show arrival, enjoy the festive atmosphere of the car show line-up and also get the best shots of the car before the crowd noise arrives. Never shoot a car show in the middle of the day unless you are doing it for fun and it is overcast. Getting to a car show early gives the opportunity to play with the light. We like to shoot hood ornaments and car details so a 50mm lens works great. Changing the lens also is not an option. It is not healthy for the camera to have a lot of lens changes because of dust so if you want to shoot with different lenses shoot with different cameras. A 50mm works very well for our car show needs. Shooting with a Canon 6D, Rebel T3i and our old faithful can’t give it up yet 40D with an 18-200mm lens that swaps out with a micro lens from time to time works best for us. We always shoot with a polarize filter to reduce reflections and always shoot with the camera hood up, it protects the lens. Trust us on this one.