How to photograph a car for sale: nine shots, same angles every time
Photos are the first thing a buyer looks at in a listing. Take the same shots, from the same angles, of every car, and your whole stock looks considered. Here are the angles, the settings and the mistakes that are easiest to avoid.
How do you take good photos of a car?
Six things make the most difference:
- The same angle on every car
- The car in the middle
- The whole car in the frame
- Phone in landscape
- Camera level
- A tripod or phone holder
Which angles should you photograph a car from?
Start outside the car and finish inside it. The numbers show where to stand for each shot.
Take the shots in the same order every time. You won't miss an angle, and the cars look consistent across your listings.
Common mistakes when photographing cars
These four stand out straight away in a listing, even when the background has been replaced.
Photographing cars with a phone
An ordinary phone does the job. Hold it in landscape so the whole car fits. Portrait photos get cropped in the listing, and the front or the back of the car disappears.
Choose the 3:2 format if your camera has it. Most phones shoot in 4:3, and that works well too. Turn on the grid in the camera settings to make it easier to keep the car centred and the camera level.
With a simple tripod and a phone holder, every car is shot from the same height and angle. Set the phone at roughly headlight height.
Car photography without a photographer
With Carostock Studio you photograph the car where it's parked, on the forecourt or in the showroom. Studio creates AI studio photos: the car is placed against a studio backdrop and your logo goes on the number plate. Each photo is ready in about a minute, and every car in stock gets the same backdrop, whatever the weather or location.
The photos in this guide have been through Studio, with the Light grey backdrop and Carostock's logo on the plate. Close-ups without a background, like the gauges, are left as they are, and they cost nothing.
Studio works best when the basics are right: the whole car in the frame, the same angle and the camera level. You pay per photo, and the prices are on the Studio page.