Sports Car Photography

In this live show Karl demonstrates the start to finish process of how to photograph cars as he shoots a Porsche Targa.

Having shot many cars throughout his career, Karl shares his advice and tips for car photography while covering the necessary equipment and lighting techniques to get the best result. Throughout this detailed show, you’ll learn everything from the best shooting angles to what features to include, the best lighting techniques, where to focus for maximum depth of field, and how to control and minimise reflections in reflective surfaces.

Topics covered in this show include:

  • How to photograph cars in the studio
  • Studio lighting for car photography
  • Equipment for car photography
  • How to control/remove reflections in reflective surfaces
  • Polarising light
  • Focusing for maximum depth of field

The full post-production process for this shoot is shown in a follow-up live show, which you can watch here.

To learn more about how to photograph cars, make sure to take a look at our automotive photography classes, including:

If you have any questions about this show, please post in the comment section below.

Comments

  1. Hi Karl, I am still waiting for the joiner to finish my infinity wall ( I already asked a couple of questions in the page where you explain the making of the infinity wall). Now he’s finishing it off with paint, but there is a visible edge of where the wall blends into the floor. He tried to make it better with plaster etc but it’s still visible, until you put the overhead lights on ( then it all goes to natural white). I can also spot some bits and structure in the curves. Do you also have that on your infinity cove? How critical is this? thanks and greetings, André

    1. Hi, there is a slightly visible edge where mine blends into the concrete floor and there are some small edges where it joins into the curve but from a distance and when lit these are not visible.

  2. raulborges.pixel

    I’m a big fan of your teaching. I’ve been a photographer here in Brazil for at least 19 years (but I didn’t take pictures for 8 years). I never had enough money to invest in good equipment, but I do what I can with what I have. If you can, check out my Instagram profile 🙏😉

    Instagram:
    @pixel.imagemdigital

      1. raulborges.pixel

        I understood that you said that you painted the floor with the same glossy paint that you painted the canvas over the car.

          1. raulborges.pixel

            Do you use bright white on the floor because it’s easier to clean? Here on the floor of my infinite background I painted it a matte white and it gets very dirty. I’m thinking of leaving the wall and curve matte white and the floor glossy white. Do you think that floor glow doesn’t interfere much with lighting?

          2. Hi Raul, our floor is also matt, gloss does not work as you will have bright hot spot reflections. We have to paint our matt floor about once every 4-8 weeks to keep it looking fresh.

  4. Karl, you are the best! I can clearly see how much you love photography, your enthusiasm and patience in showing your students the what, where, how and why. Thank you!

  5. Hi,Karl!How do I know when I need to lower the canopy or tilt it? Or high before low, high after low before low?

    1. I mean the Angle of the moving roof, when should it tilt? When should the front be low? When should the back be low?

  10. Karl
    Just a quick thank you for all the live shows you have doing over the past few months. Lots of good information and entertainment.

    Thanks again
    Joe Cosentino

  11. Hello Karl
    Que faut-il comme réglage quand on travaille avec les imprimeurs pour des magazines et quand on fait beaucoup de tirages papier est- ce RVB , CMJN ou autre?

    1. Bonjour, restez dans les imprimantes RVB (Adobe 1998) faire la conversion pour CMJN pas les photographes

  14. This gave me far more appreciation for a professional photographer’s skill that I hired to shoot a custom Corvette I built years ago before “digital” cameras! He was using a medium format with film and polaroid test shots. It is amazing how well he did getting most things right in-camera. Even then I spent an entire weekend with him in the darkroom dodging/burning and playing with color filters to get the final prints. I bet we had at least 15 – large format prints lying on the floor for each final print! Those prints still look good today. Any “post” work done back then (like removing a windshield inspection sticker) was done manually by an airbrush artist on his staff – no Photoshop back then, in fact no computers that did not fill a room!

      1. One other big difference is back then if I had asked him if I could have a giraffe’s head coming out of one the headlights as well, he would have had me committed. Today any photographer would answer “No problem”!

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