First off, let me start by saying that not everyone has an eye for photography, (But I will give you some very helpful tips that photographers won’t tell you to help improve your eye *wink wink*)
The #1 most important thing in taking pictures of a car is the angle. I cannot stress this one enough! Just think of all the magazines you have seen with car pictures in them. And I will guarantee that 99.9% of the ones that really stand out have interesting angles. And the ones that don’t have that wow factor make the car seem, well.. blah. So just try tilting the camera just a bit and look through the viewfinder and see what you come up with!
Next thing is don’t be afraid to get dirty!! Some of the best angles to get are where you are literally rolling around in the dirt with your arms tangled and practically choking yourself with the camera strap! Also shots look really interesting if you manage to get all four wheels in the picture.
Also having a decent camera is definitely a must if you want really good quality. I always shoot in RAW format (instead if jpeg) but if RAW isn’t available just shoot on the largest jpeg available, so if you want to get prints enlarged you are able to without the image looking too pixelated. The best cameras for automotive photography are DSLR's. (Those are the big cameras that you can change lenses and flashes and all kinds of fun stuff on).
Knowledge of a photo editing program is a huge plus if you want your images to stand out from the rest. The leading one out there is Adobe Photoshop CS3. If you can't afford CS3 ($600), Adobe Photoshop 6 is available for around $100 bucks and is very simple for beginners (who have some knowledge of computers, that is). With a photo editing program you can fix the image to look the way you want it. For example, taking out a shadow or unnecessary background or perhaps someone who is picking their nose right in front of your car....
Well I hope this was somewhat helpful, this is my first blog I have ever wrote, so don’t be too hard on me if I screwed up the spelling or if I don't make any sense. I should be posting more soon, so check back!
-Heather Roche' from Desert Hot Rod Photography