A Guide to Automotive Photography - Part 2 - Eye Training

A common trait that all masters of automotive photography have is a "trained eye." This is one of the most important markers in your journey. You can only go so far with average angles and no knowledge of what appears "good." A car photographer with an untrained eye is like an archer with no knowledge of where the target is. Sure, the archer/photographer knows how to string the bow, aim, and shoot the arrow, but without the knowledge of where the target is (simply what looks good), the archer can only hit target by chance.

But when an automotive photographer has a "trained eye," the target is visible and they can work on getting closer to the center. This is why you see the top photographers constantly taking great photos. They know where the target is, and have had enough practice to hit the center consistently. Brands and clients are more likely to gravitate towards photographers like this for obvious reasons.

Eye training is simple - look at what the pros do... a lot.

You don't need to know how they make their picture look like they do (right now), but you do need to know what their pictures look like. I can't begin tell you haw many great photographers use other great photographers as inspiration. Even if their photos aren't your style, you can still learn some major lessons from just observing their work. I'm not trying to say that you should copy exactly what they do, I am just saying that they have pictures that are great. And the more you take in great photos, the more you train your eyes.

There is no need to compare your photos with those of professionals, simply learn from them. The quality of your photos will drastically increase when you learn what looks great, no comparison needed.

Practice, Practice, Practice.

Once you have trained your eyes - great - you can see the target. Now go practice hitting it yourself. The more you practice shooting what looks great, the more consistent you'll get. You'll find yourself not wasting time (and storage space) taking ugly images and shooting a greater quantity of beautiful ones. Instead of having 2-3 great photos at a shoot, imagine having 20-30.

It really is that simple. Study great photos and practice not taking bad ones. A trained eye opens up a world of possibilities and draws opportunities closer than ever before.

Ethanbonow.com