How to Photograph Your Classic Car

By Colin Date

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen photos of an absolutely stunning car with a trash can parked beside it, or a telephone pole “growing” out of its roof. Then there’s the whole reflection thing – seeing your neighbor’s minivan (every excruciating detail) reflected in your mile-deep paint, nicely centered on your quarter panel. What all this does is create a “Photoshop Nightmare” for the poor souls in our creative department. It can literally take hours in front of a computer to “remove” all of those aforementioned offenders. And really, all of this unpleasantness can be avoided with a little planning and some basic photography skills. Of course, getting results like the pros doesn’t happen overnight, or by simply reading a few how-to articles. That can take years, depending on how much attention you devote to sharpening your “shooter skills.” So, knowing that most of you: 1. Love your classic car and want it to look beautiful on the pages of the magazine and 2. Don’t have the time/interest/extra cash to invest in photography lessons, I’ve created an automotive photography primer here – just the basics – to help you avoid the common mistakes most folks make trying to capture their car’s glory on film – er, pixels.