Car Show Photography Tip

Today’s Post by Joe Farace

Tip: Ask owners to please remove any placards placed under their windshield wipers.

It’s getting to be car show season: To make a good car photograph, you don’t have to be an expert but you should be curious and polite when inspecting a car. People who own interesting cars often have interesting stories to tell about their cars before it reaches the state where you would want to photograph it.

Get to the show early because it’s less crowded and (maybe) people won’t walk into your shot. Another benefit is that placards may not have already been placed under the windshield (windscreen if you’re British) wipers.

Most owners can talk for hours about their cars because there never was a restoration that didn’t have interesting twists and turns. While chatting ask if they would kindly and temporarily remove any show placards, such as the identification cards placed on the dash or under the windshield wiper. Don’t do it yourself! Ask the owner before touching any part of his or her car! If the owner is not around and the light is perfect, just shoot it as it is and try to select an angle that minimizes the placard or makes it easy to remove with Photoshop

The Buick Invicta convertible below was shot using a camera converted to infrared-only capture by LifePixel. You can see the technique I used to hand color it on my car photography website, although in the example a Porsche Speedster is hand colored. It’s easy to do and kicks up your IR photography a notch.

Joe Farace is the author of a e-book called “How I Photograph Cars” that’s available from Blurb.com. Please visit his car photography website and blog at www.joefaraceshootscars.com