Automotive Photography and
Graphic Arts
By: Anthony Palmieri
The selections of text below are excerpts from the
soon to be released Ebook titled Automotive
Photography and Graphic Arts by Anthony Palmieri.
 1.
Introduction:
If you have just picked up a camera for the first
time, or have been taking pictures for years, the
information contained in this guide will ensure that
you do not overlook anything as you frame and shoot
that picture. Taking your photographs to the next
level, by using a few computer tools, no special
filters, and free clip art, we will walk you through
the steps to create a picture like the one on the
cover of this book as easy as 1-2-3.
When displaying your vehicle at a show, enthusiasts
like yourself pay close attention to every detail
down to the shine on the bolts to ensure that the
automobile is perfect. The end quality of your
pictures is dependent upon your attention to
details. Whenever we take a photograph for a client
and create their unique art we do exactly the same.
Starting with the right photograph is key and we
will provide some often overlooked aspects of
automotive photography. Remember that you must start
with the right photograph in order to obtain good
and even great results
2. Digital Photography Basics For Automobiles:
There are two assumptions made here. The first is,
that you are interested in color photography and the
second is that you have read your camera owners
manual and understand the features and capabilities
at least at a basic level. With that said the intent
of this guide is to help you get started with taking
photographs and getting the best possible results.
Before we continue, there is one thing often
overlooked until it is too late that will ruin a
great photograph. Shut off the date and time stamp
feature. You can be sure that it will always take
away from the picture or be in the wrong place where
no amount of editing can account for it.
The focus here is to start with the best of
everything possible and use your camera to the
fullest. This does not mean that you need to spend
$2000 on a camera and special lenses, but it does
mean taking advantage of the best capabilities your
camera provides. Even a $100 camera can create good
small prints. After you understand your cameras
feature menu and how to navigate it go back and
re-read the picture quality section again. Once you
understand that section set your camera to the BEST
modes possible
2.3. Always Use The Flash- Well Usually
No matter if you are using a standard film camera,
or a digital camera you want to be sure that your
camera ALWAYS uses the flash. The only possible
exception to this would be for indoor photography
where there are halogen or other obtrusive lighting
that you may have to experiment with. To force your
camera to use the flash set your camera to "FORCE
Flash" or "Fill Flash", not "AUTOMATIC Flash". This
flash is often represented by a "lightening bolt"
symbol. Automatic flash will determine if the flash
goes off based upon the amount of light detected.
When we tell you to use your flash in the sun,
automatic flash will almost never turn on since it
will think there is sufficient lighting. Using the
flash helps to illuminate the shadowing areas, as
well as minimizing any glare along with balancing
the overall lighting. Force flash should be used for
exterior shots, cockpit shots, and engine bay shots.
You compose and shoot that great engine bay shot and
then realize when you are working with the
photograph later that all you see if the top of the
engine and nothing more. The flash will make the
steering box, headers and other components stand out
as well as enhance the top of the engine detail and
make the colors stand out even more. The following
examples show the difference with and without flash.
In the first figure the image is rather washed out
and with the blue not so blue and the red and other
colors not all that brilliant.
 2.7.
Lens Filters and Shades
If you must take photographs in bright sun, such as
an outside car show, use a lens shade and force to
overcome the harsh sun. The other alternative to use
especially if your flash is not powerful enough
flash is to use a polarizing filter instead of the
flash. The polarizing filter is one of the most
useful filters for outdoor photography and is a
requirement for any serious photographer, especially
for those that use a digital camera. A polarizing
filter will reduce the glare and make colors stand
out more in harsh sun conditions. These filters can
significantly reduce white-outs or wash-outs
(surfaces with the primary color all washed out) due
to bright reflections. Some photograph flaws can be
edited out and touched up, however, these flaws are
nearly impossible to eliminate after the fact and
make look natural.
A second important tool to have in your camera bag
is a lens shade. A lens shade is inexpensive and is
attached on the end of your lens to keep excess
light from directly entering lens. It basically
provides a tunnel that shields the optics (lens),
and due to its black color absorbs any bouncing
light. This helps the camera to better detect the
light levels of the subject.
3. The Photo Shoot - How Do We Work With What We
Have
Now that you have a general understanding of how to
use your camera, lets focus on where, when, and how
to get the optimum environment. There are some
things in our control, and others that are not, and
at any one time they can change. It is important
that we discuss each elements so you can decide what
to do given your situation. These elements are
lighting, the location, and the position of the
automobile. If you are restricted to a specific time
of day, then you many not have any control over the
lighting, or do you. If you are photographing the
vehicle at a show, you are probably limited to its
position and location. Ideally you want the best
lighting, optimum flexibility with positioning the
vehicle. Lastly if you are going to remove the
background from the final print, the cleanest
background for editing is desirable. This section
will help you take advantage of any flexibility and
optimize your shoot given the environment.
3.1. Pick The Right Lighting
Given that we are focusing on color photography,
proper lighting is essential. In fact proper
lighting actually means LOTS OF LIGHT, and the
correct type of light. Without proper lighting it is
nearly impossible to have an award winning
photograph, even one that has touched up with the
best photo editing tools. When it comes to lighting
you want to have an even distribution of light over
the entire surface of the automobile. This light
illuminates all areas, is not harsh or glaring and
does not cause shadowing. Sun light that is at a
low-angle such as at sun rise or sun set is often
the best. This low-angle light covers the side
surfaces with light. Sun light that is high in the
sky such as that mid-day harsh sun must be avoided
or you will have glaring reflections. This harsh
light results in the top surfaces being washed out,
and the lower areas being dark with excessive
shadowing. The ultimate goal is low angle, soft,
evenly distributed light that illuminates the entire
vehicle. Also remember to keep the sun behind you
and watch out for your own shadow!
 3.2.
Picking The Location
The lighter color the ground surface the better the
lower area lighting will be and less lower body
panel shadowing due to the upward reflected light.
Parking the vehicle on a light colored concrete
surface versus a dark asphalt surface has this is a
major benefit as well as making the tire profiles
stand out due to the black rubber from the lighter
surface. This reflection will better illuminate the
lower areas including the undercarriage and minimize
shadows.
The intent for many of the photographs put into
fantasy scenes is to remove the background and have
the vehicle stand alone. It is important that
nothing sticks up in front of any part of the
vehicle and causes an obstruction. Unless your final
print will be of your automobile in a grassy field,
do not take your pictures on a lawn or grassy field.
The blades of grass will hide the bottom of the
tires as well as produce reflections and irregular
shadowing on the lower panels and any reflective
surfaces such as bumpers. This is also true if
taking pictures on a gravel area. The tires could
slightly depress the surface hiding the lower
portion.
3.3. Positioning The Vehicle
Park the vehicle away from anything that will cause
a reflection on it. For example, the white parking
lot stripes will be reflected on the side panels and
in the glass. Any building signs or even trees will
be reflected and even if they are not clear, they
will end up looking like distorted body work in the
final print. Remember your automobile can be like a
mirror and many things around will show up as a
reflection and later take away from the final
picture.
Position the vehicle for the best lighting. Remember
that you want to always take the picture from the
sun side and not the shadow side (sun always behind
you). This may require that you reposition the
vehicle during a photo shoot for optimum lighting
from all sides. Make sure that the areas that you
are photographing (i.e. front/side, etc.) are
positioned for best lighting.
3.5. What Angles Should You Take
Take a series of photographs with all doors, hood,
trunk are completely closed. This series should
include the following shots (refer to the example
pictures). In this section we will include the final
photographs that were created in order to help you
jump ahead and start to visualize what can be done
as you look at the different angles. These are only
a few compositions, and many more combinations could
be created using different backgrounds and the
inclusion / exclusion of various elements. Just use
your imagination, and eventually you will be able to
look at a vehicle and have a good idea of what the
final print will look like.
4. Basic Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator
Introduction
For most photography work and picture manipulation
you will be using Adobe Photoshop or other similar
photo editing tool. If you will be creating large
prints greater than 11x17 with text, you should use
an illustration tool that provides good text and
layout capabilities such as Adobe Illustrator. With
these two types of tools you can create fantastic
and artistic pictures, and then include them in
professional looking layouts. The intent of this
section is to provide some starting guidelines to
create some of the basic pictures that are displayed
on www.PalmieriConcepts.com. Keep in mind that the
guidelines and steps provided here have been
generalized, however, they will point you in the
right direction to create a great picture. The
references in this section are referring to
Photoshop, so if you are using a different photo
editing tool, you will need to find the equivalent
features.
The full book contains the complete section on
editing the photographs and creating an image like
the one on the cover of the book.
So to get started, take what you have learned here,
get out that camera and have fun.
For additional information on how to take great
pictures and turn them into great art, take a look
at the additional sections and the entire E-Book at
Palmieri Concepts at
www.PalmieriConcepts.com. There are many
examples in this Ebook and it is full of pictures to
walk you through every step.
About the Author
Anthony Palmieri founded Palmieri Concepts after 20
years of creating custom artwork for his own
pleasure and enjoyment. This business grew out of a
love for motor vehicles and was started to share
with others what began as a hobby. After taking his
own pride and joys (yes this really started with
family pictures and not cars) and combining them
with creativity.
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