PHOTO GUIDE

Photo Guide: How to Present Your Car

The right pictures will help you achieve the best possible results in selling your car. Imagery is one of the most important keys to success – because, indeed, a picture is worth a thousand words. The right pictures will convey your car to bidders in a clear and honest manner, which will build confidence in bidders and remove any doubt. To help you get the best pictures, we’ve assembled this worksheet to use as a guide when taking pictures.

Make sure the car is clean

No one wants to see a dirty or cluttery car, especially when they’re thinking about buying it. Empty the car of any clutter – remove the random papers and cups and anything else that simply doesn’t belong. Vacuum the floors, floormats, and seats. Wipe down the interior surfaces like the top of the dashboard, door panels, seats, console, and so on. Wash and dry the exterior, make sure the brightwork, wheels, and glass are clean too. It doesn’t need to be detailed, but should simply be clean. If you want, take it to a car wash and let them do the heavy lifting. Once it’s all cleaned up, don’t wait too long to take pictures – you want to shoot it while it’s all spic-n-span!

Pick a good location

Unless the car is not drivable or the weather is uncooperative, you should take pictures of your car outside. With this, there are many variables to keep in mind, but the main components are simple:

The background should be fairly static and free of distractions. Don’t shoot the car in front of your home or in a parking lot with vehicles, people, and other distractions in the background.

The sun should not be directly on the car. It’s a good idea to take pictures during what the pros call “sweet light,” or also known as dusk or dawn. During those moments, the sun is illuminating the area, but isn’t harsh and glaring, nor too soft or dim. If you must shoot during peak sunshine, try to find solid shade to even out the light, but avoid shadows and hot spots that can be detractors for the overall visual you’re trying to achieve.

Natural lighting is your friend, much more so than flash photography.

Set up your car

Don’t be afraid to move the car if you need to – it will likely be necessary a couple of times to achieve a great shot every time. It will be tedious, but it’s worth the end results.

When shooting ¾ shots (the corners of the car) it’s a good idea to “fill the wheel wells by turning the wheels so they face the camera. When shooting side, front, or rear shots, it’s a good idea for the wheels to be turned straight. So, again, be ready to get in and out of the car a few times.

Set up your camera

Every shot should be a landscape (horizontal) shot. Never photograph a car vertically when you’re using the picture to sell the car. Landscape allows a more natural view of the car.

Using the camera’s standard settings is perfect for most of the shots. There will be little reason to zoom in or go wide angle in most instances, so stick to “1x” and avoid special settings.

Using the wide angle or zoom will likely be very unnecessary. Move the camera to the object you want to highlight, perhaps the center stack with the radio and HVAC controls, or the wheels and tires, or under the hood, and see if that doesn’t deliver fair results before playing with zoom and wide angle.

Photograph Every Angle

Frame it up

The goal is to show the entire car in the frame of the photograph. So, you’ll see the car in the center of the frame with a little space on each side around it. Stand where your camera can achieve this look – it might be 10-feet from the car, it might be 15, experiment a bit and find the sweet spot. Then stick to it. Don’t take some side shots from 10-feet and others at 15. That creates inconsistency.

Walkaround and find the angles

With the distance set up, begin your walkaround. With the wheels straight, photograph the left and right sides; then the front and rear. Next, turn the wheel to the left slightly and photograph the right front and left rear corners; then turn the wheel to the right slightly (preferably turned the same amount as the left turn) and photograph the left front and right rear corners. The most dramatic shots come from the camera being just slightly above the beltline (top of the fenders) of the car. While this looks terrific, be sure to allow visibility on the top of the hood, roof, and trunk so that people can see them too. If you have a convertible, it’s great to photograph the car with the top up and down from all angles, as well as taking shots of the top itself to show its overall condition. Don’t be afraid to clearly photograph deficiencies the new owner might need to be aware of.

Get the details

Once the broad strokes of the body are shot, step in and photograph the emblems, lights, wheels and tires, and so on. On top of this, photograph the damages, big and small, scratches, dents, broken lenses, cracked glass, and so on. The buyer should have no surprises when they receive the car – there is no reason to hide anything, honesty is indeed the best policy.

Under the hood and in the trunk

Frame the engine bay with the fenders and nose. Take a shot from the front, right corner, and left corner. Photograph the underside of the hood. Hold the camera close in so bidders can see as much as possible, but don’t lose your framing. Referring back to an earlier step too, it’s a great idea to make sure the engine and engine bay are both clean and presentable. Again, they don’t need to be spotless, just nice. What would you like to see when you’re looking for a new car?

It’s much the same for the trunk, and if you can, maybe lift up the mat and show what the trunk floor looks like. Remember, hiding things is not a good way to build confidence.

The Interior

Stand outside to get the full effect. Try to achieve a basic, full-frame view of the interior so people can see a lot at once. Photograph forwardly over the seat shoulder and rearwardly – try to capture both front seats in your frame and the entire width of the dashboard. Don’t be afraid to shoot from both the left and right sides.

Once the broad strokes are achieved, then go find some details – like the center stack with the HVAC and stereo controls, the instrument cluster, the headliner, and so on. The best results are normally achieved by sitting in the front seats of the car to get the details.

The undercarriage

To maintain a sense of honesty to buyers, it’s very important to photograph the underside of the car too. Take some basic broad stroke shots, and then highlight more details like new components that may have recently been installed. These new additions could be shocks or springs, or any patchwork that might have been done such as new pans or a little welding to correct the metal.

Tags and markings

Very important, present pictures of the VIN tag as well as other tags and factory markings. Make sure they are legible and clear and the title matches the VIN.

Documentation

Receipts for service and parts should be individually and legibly photographed for the bidders to examine so they know what’s been done, when, and by whom. Conceal personal information like banking information, phone numbers, addresses, and so on. If you have original parts, or new parts, or spare parts to include in the sale, photograph them as well. Be certain to photograph the title as well – this will not be posted publicly, it is only to help us verify vehicle ownership.