8 Rad Locations for Creating Stunning Car Photography

Automotive Photography is a lot of fun when experimenting in photography. It’s a big favourite of mine and I didn’t get into it until my first car: 2003 Honda Civic SIR. I loved that car from the first moment I saw it. I started getting more and more interested taking photographs of it. I also started to come across a lot of other car photography that was amazingly inspiring. I sold my Civic SIR at the end of November 2008 because we didn’t need 2 cars. It was a smart choice and I don’t regret it; however, when it left so did my love for photographing cars. It was really one of the few cars I got to play around with in photography. With the purchase of a brand new Nissan Cube, I feel my passion for it resurfacing. I would love to be able to have clients interested in me taking photographs of their car, but I am content playing with my own car. On this site in the past, I had a post that displayed my friend Mark’s Nissan 300zx and it was lost in the site hiccup. While I have plans to repost it up someday, I was more inspired to write an article about rad locations for automotive photography. Last night, I ordered Josh Mackey’s book “How to Digitally Photograph Cars.” I can’t wait for it’s arrival! Just thinking about it coming, and the new Cube – There are some places I thought of that would seriously enhance car photography. I wrote down a list and made sure to find an example of the location so that you have a visual to go along with it.  *The photos I used for examples are not my own and were found on flickr. I have no intention to make it seem like they are my own images and have included a link to the photographer and created a caption of who the owner is today.

1 Kick Ass Industrial Background
2 Classic Parking Garage
3 In front of a Wall of Graffiti
4 In front of Large Scale Architecture
5 Abandoned Buildings
6 Parked along the Street
7 Tight Alleys
8 The Long Country Mile

In browsing a lot of car photography in the past, I noticed a lot of bland shots of great cars and not so
great cars. I started to notice that some images really stood out and it was not just because the car was
super hot. I’ll see how in depth I can get with the list I created!

Kick Ass Industrial Background

The industrial background adds a huge amount of interest to the image. The industrial look of the building or factory can play off elements of the car. It’s the type of background that catches someone’s eye when they are just quickly browsing over a large amount of images. It might not even be the car that is noticed right away, but upon stopping they take in the main subject: the car. It’s not the most typical place to see a car either.

Industrial Background - Photo by Marc Shap

Classic Parking Garage

The location of a parking garage is amazing because it’s where you should find your car. The concrete, signage, and painted lines can draw the eye to the car. You can get really interesting lighting in most garages too! Depending on the type of parking garage, you might be able to get into it at night and work on some night photography to add another awesome element into the mix.

Parking Garage - Photo by Pixelklinik

In Front of a Wall of Graffiti

I am a huge fan of graffiti and you’ll find success shooting your car in front of great graffiti. A lot of advertisements have and will continue to use it to show off their car. It’s a way to show the artistic side of the design and an appeal to an urban lifestyle.

Photo by Kevin White

In Front of Large Scale Architecture

This is much like having an industrial background. By large scale architecture, I am thinking of buildings that have upscale features, glass curtain walls, and skyscrapers. These are buildings in your city that are recognizable and iconic. Most cities should have something that would fit this category!

In Front of Architecture - Photo by Jan0r Photography

Abandoned Buildings

Finding an abandoned building or location is a lot of fun. Your car, probably freshly washed and waxed, will pop due to the strong juxtaposition. Abandoned buildings are a huge amount of fun on their own! You’ll be able to shoot the car in the scene and then explore the derelict place. It’s the fact that you’d never expect a house, store, or building that is so run down, to have such a nice car around it. It adds a huge amount of interest to the photo!

Abandoned Locations - Photo by Tim Photo Experience

Parked on the Street

This is the everyday setting. I would love to throw a curve ball on this location though. I would change it up with being parked in front of a super expensive, or popular type store. This brings in the lifestyle that you’re trying to associate with the car. You could compare this thought with setting the car in front of the graffiti wall. Think about parking your new Mercedes in front of Prada, or Tiffany’s. I imagine people walking buy and checking the car out too. I really love this idea and the problem would be just finding the right spot and time of day to work this shot out.

Parked on the Street - Photo by Carspotter

Tight Alleys

Alley’s are full of grunge, dirt, garbage and who-knows-what. It’s a tight and intimate setting that will set the car off to the next level. It creates a sense of wonder in the image as well. What would the car be doing there? Also, you might even be able to find an alley that has some colored lighting or at least unique light sources to improve the photo. Of course, you’ll want to make sure it’s safe there.

Tight Alley - Photo by Wheelsto

The Long Country Mile

On an day when the clouds are large and puffy and the sky is a solid, strong blue look for a long country road.  The road that looks like it goes on forever and nothing else is around it but your ride in the middle.  When people view it, it’s like your car is the only one allowed to drive on that road.  It’s unique, powerful, and carries the idea of driving away in your car across the country or onto a new life.  The clouds don’t have to be perfect though! It’s pretty cool as a storm approaches too.

Long Country Road - Photo by jkm/images©

I am excited to see if Josh’s book discusses this subject.  I am pretty confident it will discuss the ability to create a composite.  Kind of like if you find an amazing piece of architecture and you take a photograph it for a library of images that you could use as a background.  Then all you have to do is layer in the car.  I am not certain this topic is in the book but I sure hope it is and that I get it this week.

I am super confident that if you search for these kinds of locations and take some extra time to set up your shot, you’re going to create car photography that is leaps and bounds ahead of most other images.  A car is a big purchase and it can become so much apart of you.  These locations are only going to make your car more and more loved.

I challenge you to go out into your city and find locations like these and shoot your car, a friends car, or your auto club.  Every city has these elements and I know that they will make your automotive photography that much more intense!