10 Universal Rules and Lifehacks for Car Shooting

Last weekend we attended the Boardspeakers lecture in Krasnoyarsk, which was part of the global contest “Extreme Weekend with Toyota”. The lecture was dedicated to the basics of action photography. Throughout the evening, photography gurus shared their best practices, and anyone in the audience could ask questions and see exclusive works from the portfolio of speakers – professional photographers Rustem Tagirov and Kirill Umrikhin.

In our selection we have gathered 10 universal rules and flyhacks for car shooting from the famous photographer Rustem Tagirov. They will be useful for you no matter what you are shooting: a commercial case for a famous brand or a filler for an ad. The main thing is to have a car in the frame.

Brief information about the photographer:
Rustem Tagirov
Age: 32
Main achievement: daughter
Camera: Fujifilm XT-2

10 basic rules of automobile shooting:

Rule #1 – shoot a lot

Rustem Tagirov: “One of the most important rules for beginners. Shoot as many shots as possible. And if you want to develop in this direction, shoot as much as possible of everything around you. Later, you’ll flip through your shoots from last year, the year before, and you’ll realize why it was necessary.”

Rule #2 – think through the details
“If you’re shooting a car, it needs to be clean. This is important because no one wants to look at a dirty car, which means you’ll have to take a very long time to clean up the dirt in the retouch. Take the time to prepare, if something can be decided beforehand, do it!”

Rule #3 – choose your angle
“When shooting a car, you should always keep in mind exactly what you will have to retouch. If there is an opportunity to sit down and exclude an ugly tree from the frame, for example, then do so.”

Rule #4 – get permission to work on location
“To avoid wasting precious time on squabbling while on location, send in your requests to shoot in advance. In many cases, an email is all it takes to get permission.”

Rule #5 – Set up the light
“In dynamics, natural light is most often used. I recommend using additional light mostly for static.”

Rule #6 – charge your battery
“A charged camera or smartphone should always be at the ready. If you need quality, it’s definitely a camera.”

Rule #5 – look up to the best
“Constantly learn, follow other photographers on the web. I focus on the Germans, I constantly look at their cases on Behance”.

Rule #8 – choose a camera model to suit your requirements
“Modern mirrorless cameras are very good, they are definitely not inferior in characteristics to professional DSLRs”.

Rule #9 – bring a tripod
“A tripod will give you time to think, return to the location, choose the most appropriate angle of view.”

Rule #10 – dress for the weather
“Dressing appropriately for the weather is very important. I had an experience when I was shooting in Krasnoyarsk in minus 40, so I know exactly what I’m talking about. If you’re dressed for the weather, nothing will distract you from the main thing – the shooting process”.

Lifehack: how to shoot on the move?

“I usually shoot car by car when I’m on the move. It looks like this: we drive in a parallel car, and I shoot from the trunk or from the glass. Rules are rules, so I always buckle up when I’m riding in the trunk. Speaking of stabilization – a lot depends on the suspension and the quality of the asphalt. The main thing – shoot at the shutter speed you are driving at. If you’re going 50km/h, you’re shooting at 1/50. This works great if we’re talking about photography, but for video this advice is ineffective, because the car looks quite static”.

You still have a chance to catch that angle and ask Rustem Tagirov all your questions in person. Join the grand finale of the weekend series with Toyota, which will take place at Quiksilver New Star Camp in Sochi. That’s where the jibbing finalists, the best athletes and real fans of extreme sports will gather and have a blast. You can check the detailed schedule of the contests here.