Oddly enough, white should be one of the easiest colours because it doesn't get too many reflections. The secret to good car shots is having a clear background, nice low light (morning or evening), keep your point of view low and no extreme wide angles.
I suppose the problem with white might be getting enough definition. Try underexposing if the car is too bright.
zman1,
Jan 27, 10:43pm
I got some pretty clear images this morning with a white car and it s a dull day
mcscottwgtn,
Jan 27, 10:47pm
With the 'clear background' do you mean the same colouring eg against a bush setting, or do you mean a vacant background eg the sky or a calm sea/water!
bmwnz,
Jan 27, 10:53pm
IMO, late afternoon light is the best for this endeavour. Use a darker background than normal to bring the car to the front.
mcscottwgtn,
Jan 27, 11:02pm
Sounds a bit like soft focus or rain on the lens.
freedomaira320,
Jan 28, 12:01am
Actually, the real advantage of the light at that time of the day is that it is at a low angle. So you get much more shape to anything you shoot.
freedomaira320,
Jan 28, 12:04am
By clear background I mean uncluttered. Bush or grass is fine, but so many good shots are taken at the beach because that gives you plenty of horizon and lots of sky, so there isn't too much messy stuff to reflect all over the car's bodywork. Professional photographers actually shoot cars in big white egg-shaped studios so nothing reflects except nice soft white highlights.
pandai,
Jan 28, 12:20am
I usually take my favourite car photos under overcast skies, the bright overcast ones, not the dark/gloomy ones.
Yup - the car reflects that the car sees, so everything has to be the same colour, or white, etc.A white sky lights the car from many angles, instead of just one (as in sunlight), so you avoid the peaky highlights in reflections and lost shadow detail.You don't see as many scratches in the paint either, which don't show up as much on cloudy days.
The hardest thing to do with cars, like anything shiny, is to nail the exposure.Often cameras will see something white, they think 'no, that's not right, it should be darker', and try to make it gray.Playing with the exposure compensation helps, + stops for white cars and - stops for dark cars, in the absence of that there see what the other exposure modes do to the photos.
smac,
Jan 28, 12:25am
Dude, that's not a white car.
freedomaira320,
Jan 28, 1:06am
To be honest, I think that photo shows just how hard it is to shoot a dark coloured car. It's lines arespoilt by the messy reflections of the grass verge on one side and the fence on the other. Under those same lighting conditions , but in a sparse background, that shot would have been much nicer.
phillip.weston,
Jan 28, 1:20am
Hey kaz, I think alot of it comes down to what camera you are using - there many things you can do to help but most point and shoot digital cameras with no manual mode settings manage to cock up photos, especially if there's something bright in the photo, ie sunlight glare or a bright white car. I use a Canon SX10is camera which is just a gloried point and shoot with 20X optical zoom but it has the important manual settings like shutter speed, aperture size, manual focus etc.
I've found with white cars you need to try avoid having a whole lot of sky or clouds in the background - take a photo of it in front of a contrasting colour or on a green field with lots of trees in the background. Also rotate your car around so it's always in the direct sunlight, white cars are terrible when you take photos of the opposite side and there's a shadow cast underneath.
phillip.weston,
Jan 28, 1:25am
*edit* whoops, wrote the reply to the wrong photo.
pandai,
Jan 28, 1:32am
I think to a degree you are very correct, but at the same time it can be quite hard to demonstrate a car being shiny and clean, the shininess was one of the goals of that photo.Many cars end up looking quite flat.
(before anyone says anything the badges are going back on after the car is polished)
bmwnz,
Jan 28, 1:56am
Nice polish job. Wanna do mine, too! LOL
pandai,
Jan 28, 1:58am
It hasn't actually been done yet, just painted and a quick buff.Painters will be doing a three-stage rotary polish next week.
(not my car by the way)
russ6,
Jan 28, 2:57am
Might be your camera set-up. The white light setting (kelvin) and metering options are adjustable on higher spec cameras. Flash is usually not recommended for car pics. You have a preview so just check it and change the settings to suit
thejazzpianoma,
Jan 28, 3:17am
Kaz, what you need to understand is that film or the light sensitive pickup in a digital camera cannot show as many shades of grey between black and white as what your eye can see.
When you take photos in bright light (and especially with white cars) the difference between the shadows and the light parts of the photo is much greater, thats when your camera will struggle, even if its an expensive one with a clever light meter.
So, what you want to be doing is using an overcast day or evening as explained. Even using an area in full shade (if you can get a nice background and the shade isnt mottled like under a tree.
You can also get sneaky with white cars and get a set of photographers grey cards. What you do with those is point your camera at the middle grey one (while in the same light as the car) and select the option to hold the meter reading.
That will stop your meter getting thrown out by the white car and you can even use it as a technique to adjust the image (by using different cards) if your camera limits what you can adjust manually.
Good luck!
BTW, the reason your cars look super "bright" in their photos taken in bright sunlight (which I remember is an effect you like) is because the contrast is increased and details get "Burnt out" because the camera can't cope with the massive differences between light and dark.
freedomaira320,
Jan 28, 3:57am
There's no need to have a sophisticated camera to take decent shots of your car. Just follow these simple rules:
1) Prepare your car. Make sure it's clean and there's no stuff in the windows. Make sure the sun visors are up!
2) Choose your spot. A clear background with nothing that will give distracting reflections. Grass and trees are good, a clear beach is good. Driveways, fences and roadsides are usually bad.
3) Get the right light. Avoid the middle of the day, or any harsh sunlight. Dusk is the best, when the light source is gentle and at a low angle.
4) Use the right lens. Too wide and you'll distort the car. Too long and you'll foreshorten it. Don't crop the car.
4) Get the right angle. Always include a front three quarter view as your main shot. Always shoot from a low position (crouching).
As far as white cars go, they usually pose fewer problems because they reflect less, but the exposure can be tricked because of their brightness. Even the most basic of cameras these days lets you override that, just fiddle until it looks better. Sometimes shooting the shadow side of the car can look better.
Hope that helps.
1fordluva,
Jan 28, 5:06am
I know what you are trying to do kaz,that shot of the plane was at about 300ft directly into the sky from my back door lol A good camera will make a world of difference. Or put up a shaded area for those very bright days.
mcscottwgtn,
Jan 28, 5:16am
I thought that white reflects the best of all colours, where as black absorbs light (and heat). Called the albino effect, or something like that. Maybe that's why hearse's are black - to save on the creamation power bill.
mcscottwgtn,
Jan 28, 5:41am
The word I was after is 'albedo' or reflection coefficient.
morrisman1,
Jan 28, 5:59am
This is my only pic of a white car but it looks pretty good:
It was taken with a Canon EOS 550d and as far as i can remember I had the 18-55mm EF-S lens on it.
A polarizing filter makes all the difference I find, it removes a lot of reflections and will subsequently prevent the camera incorrectly metering the light. For something white I would prefer to under-expose then adjust on the computer, if you over expose then you run the risk of losing some details like lines, curves etc on the vehicle. even under exposing half a stop should be sufficient. Using a narrow aperture (higher 'f' number) will make the depth of field deeper and will mean more of the car will be in focus but you will lose some 'arty' points.
mcscottwgtn,
Jan 28, 6:04am
A rolla cocking its leg. Didn't know they had it in them. Nice pic.
Do you want to know what the problem is! a white car reflects more light, same as snow and sand or anything bright. your camera is trying to expose for a neutral grey tone, so it sees too much light from the car and underexposes the picture. if your camera has a snow or beach setting use that, it will compensate for the extra light. if it hasn't your camera will have an EV compensation setting , by using that you can alter the exposure to make the camera correctly expose the car.
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