5 Top Tips On Shooting Hot Car Pics

"I'm a proper good car photographer, me" says everyone with an iPhone and Instagram. Today it's time to turn the tables and offer you some real insight into car photography from five of CT's friends who are doing it right.

Olgun Kordal

Mine's a three-in-one combo. Here goes:

CompositionAlways consider how the car will sit in the frame, whether you want to stick to rule of thirds or use negative space to emphasise the car’s shape.

LocationFor me the second most important thing after actually getting your hands on beautifully sculpted Italian ass or a hunk of German engineering, is location. I tend to think about the story of the car, where the car might be seen or in some cases not be seen. How can you emphasise the car's presence, its will.

Devil is in the detailsFor my third tip I could wax lyrical about the importance of lights, keep going on about locations, but there are the little things that can ruin a great photo, the details. My biggest bug bear is when the sun visors have been left down rather than folded away. A leaf in a grille is also another no no, bits of rubbish in the background, and reflections of yourself or colleagues.

Follow Olgun on Twitter and view his portfolio.

Matt Bristow

Rules were made to be brokenOne of the first things you're taught in photography is never to shoot into the sun. Here's a quick tip where you'll get some awesome results by going against this.

All you need is one (yes one) flash. Bung it on top of your camera and set it to manual. If you set it to ETTL or the Nikon equivalent it won't work as you're not trying to create a balanced-looking shot and you'll be up against the biggest light source in our solar system as your key light!

Set your camera to Manual and the ISO as low as it will go. Now set the shutter speed to anything that your flash can sync to. I'd suggest something around 1/160th as it wont make the slightest difference to the exposure. Set your aperture to around f16. This is one of the settings you will need to tweak and set your flash to something around 1/4 power (the other changeable setting).

Now take a shot - you need to be low enough and wide enough to get your subject and the sun in frame.

I shot the first photo at 1/80th at f16 and the end product is exactly as it came out of the camera; you can tell as there are a couple of horrible dust spots!

To finish off I threw a curve and added a slight gradient to the sky and bang, all done in less than 10 minutes in post-production, and jobs a good'un! Yes I know you can achieve a similar effect in post but it will take you hours and will never (in my opinion) look as convincing.

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Dom Romney

Another three-in-one tip combination, but here are the things I would suggest while photographing cars:

Use a circular Polariser to control reflectionsTake them out where they cause a distraction and put them in where you want to show shape and features.

Always work as close to sun set or sun rise as you canThe light has a much nicer texture and colour that will really help your pictures to pop and stand out from the rest.

Don't be afraid of movementCars are meant to be driven, so use slow shutter speeds and bold pans to show speed. Do however be afraid of getting run over; always have a 'getting out of the way' plan!

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Edward Slater

If cars are designed for us, they will look their best side by side with us in their home environment.

On a CT shoot, the car spends a little of its time not being the focus of attention. CT banter, activity and location-spotting can't help but take centre stage occasionally. It is at this point when, if the shutter button is depressed, car photographic magic occurs. In the still image produced there is the car (naturally), but there are also the people, the houses and the irregularities which can add to the emotional feel of a solid car pic.

From someone without a deep photography background, purely as a hobbyist, my top tip then is to capture unplanned and very human-heavy car pics, without the need for meticulous planning, lighting and stage presence. It's all about spontaneity.

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Ed Callow

Here's my one tip, and it's in three parts. But it's still only one tip. Honest.

ExploreIt might sound obvious, but if you don't use your eyes and your imagination to visit somewhere new or unusual, you probably won't suddenly stumble across something incredible. Some of the best street photography I've produced is from a walk down an obscure back road or dead-end mews.

Get high or get lowThe point here is: don't just raise your camera to your eyes and click the shutter button. Stand on the fifth floor of a building and shoot down towards the ground, or crouch so you're at waist height and photograph the car on its own level. All the while, give the car some space; towering over it won't do your photography any favours.

Fly soloThis isn't so you see something that nobody else does (though that is a perk); more than that it's so that you don't end up losing friends. It took me 20 minutes to get the perfect night shot of a Porsche 356A Cabriolet in Belgravia last summer. Even the best of friends will walk away after the fourth time you say "hang on, the light trails weren't quite right that time..."

Follow Ed on Twitter and view his Flickr favourites here

Over to you. What are your top car photography tips? Hit us up in the comments and make sure you follow Car Throttle on Twitter and Instagram for our latest pics.