How to Digitally Photograph Cars (Performance How-to) [Paperback]

Jason Siu (Author), Josh Mackey (Author)

Book Description

Series: Performance How-To | Publication Date: May 15, 2009

The introduction of the digital camera brought about one of the biggest changes in the photography industry. Film slowly began to fade away, and with it, many of its antiquated styles and procedures. Digital photography was further revolutionized in 1991 with the release of the first digital SLR. Coincidentally, one year prior, in 1990, Adobe released the groundbreaking photo-editing software Photoshop. Fast forward to present day and it is obvious that the digital SLR market has exploded, with manufacturers fine-tuning their technology and making them affordable to everyone.
How to Digitally Photograph Cars is a how-to book on digitally photographing a vehicle the professional way, with techniques and secrets from professional photographers. It features in-depth, post-processing procedures and teaches you how to achieve professional-quality photographs.
This book includes tips on panning, car-to-car motion, shooting engine bays, using an automotive rig, controlling lighting, and more. The book even has strategies for selling your finished work to automotive publications. It also offers extensive information on using Photoshop for post processing your automotive images, including Photoshop's essential tools, contrast and color adjustments, working with RAW files, layers and multi-layering, dropping backgrounds, clipping photos together, filters, resizing, and more.

Editorial Reviews

Review

It's easy to read and would make a great Father's Day gift for any Car Guy" dad." ----Linechaser, June 2009

Wow! If you have the remotest interest in photographing vehicles for fun, profit, or just to document your progress in resurrecting an old heap, this book is for you. - --Cars & Parts, reviewed by Jim Hinkcley, December 2009

Anyone who would photograph cars, races, and more needs this specific guide, packed with ideas and examples. ---Midwest Book Review: California Bookwatch, reviewed by James A. Cox, November 2009

About the Author

Jason Siu is the former West Coast editor of Modified Magazine. While working with Modified Magazine he wrote and photographed cars for more than 200 different articles. He is currently the co-owner and editor-in-chief of the Internet automotive publication, Tunerzine.com, and is also the author of CarTech's How to Rebuild the Honda B-Series Engines.

Josh Mackey began photographing cars in his spare time and exploring basic elements of graphic design with various pieces of new software. He has developed his own unique style, and has become a well-recognized photographer known mostly for his work shooting customized vehicles. Josh's automotive photography has been featured in more than 40 magazine spreads covering various tuner cars, eight of which were cover features. His work has been published in magazines worldwide.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: S-A Design (May 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932494995
• ISBN-13: 978-1932494990
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,043,092 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very informative, May 25, 2009

By 

Casey (Kalamazoo MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Digitally Photograph Cars (Performance How-to) (Paperback)

As a beginner to the DSLR world of photography, I wanted to find a guide out there that would point me in the right direction towards becoming a better photographer with my recently-acquired Nikon DSLR. I'd been taking pictures of the cars I've owned with point-and-shoots for almost a decade now so I had a good idea of how to go about composing a shot, but I had no clue how shutter speed, aperature, and ISO sensitivities all came together to get those great shots you'd see in magazines or online publications. I feel that this book is a great guide on how to get started in the automotive branch of photography; after reading this book I could walk away feeling much more confident that I at least had an idea of how to go about setting up the different modes on my camera. I also loved the fact that there was an even mix of shots from both authors, and it was very interesting to see the comparisons between Siu's and Mackey's photos, especially since Mackey's were post-processed and Siu's were not (for the most part). Speaking of post-processing, they have an entire chapter devoted to just that. I at first figured I could skip this since I had a good understanding of how Photoshop works, but after reading that chapter I picked up plenty of helpful tips that will make using that program even easier in the future. If I had to say something negative about the book, it would probably be that it's a little on the short side--I would loved to have been able to read even more. However, it was an informative book and I learned a lot from it.

18 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A lot of hype ... but it remains basic unfortunately, June 19, 2009

By 

Johan Kerstens "www.Disegno-S.com" (Belgium) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How to Digitally Photograph Cars (Performance How-to) (Paperback)

This really is a book for those that are just starting out in this interesting field of photography.
At no stage does it go really into details, for instance they talk a lot about using flashes and strobes ... but nowhere do they mention the power setting of the strobe, probably the most important thing. The exif data is nice, but if extra lights are used you really need to know the power.

They really go into detail (with lots of samples) when it comes to interiors and engine bays ... but when they turn to indoor and outdoor events (probably the place where most people reading this will be able to shoot cars) they only spend a few paragraphs and next to no pictures ... a missed opportunity I think.

Apparently they are big on rig shots, which are nice, but there is so much more to getting these done perfectly, also keep in mind that suction cups leave marks, make sure the owner of the car knows about this, an exotic car owner will not take it kindly having his car returned with several round marks on his 10K paintjob.

I'm a professional automotive photographer, and because a lot of hype was created around this book on various forums around I pre-ordered it a long time ago, when it finally arrived I actually red it from cover to cover in a few days ... and felt it didn't add anything I didn't know already.

It is a great book when you have no or very little experience photographing cars, but don't expect to become a specialist from this book alone ... it's a basis that will allow you to get started, but that's about it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book rocks, May 19, 2010

By 

Jesse Swinger - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: How to Digitally Photograph Cars (Performance How-to) (Paperback)

If you have a passion for photography and for cars this is a must read. The authors go over everything when it comes to photographing cars. They have lots examples and ideas to explore. I'm sure you will love the book.