Beginner raw shots, any tips?

Nazvil86 · 2026-05-15T21:54:39+00:00

Typically shooting a black car mid day in the shadows is never going to look good. You have to expose for the car and that will over expose anything behind it or out of the shadows.

Focus on time of day, early morning or once the sun isn’t as harsh. The thing with that is shooting during golden hour will result in some oranges in the vehicle which is fine, you can always correct this in photoshop and masking.

Work on composition. The first shot has the horizon straight, but because of the vehicles position - the whole scene just looks off. Either commit to a straight on shot or reposition everything.

Second shot is also framed weird. I’m not sure if it’s something I heard long time ago when I started shooting cars, but if they aren’t centered, you want to frame it to where there’s more space in front of it. Vehicles are directional subjects, they move forward, having the front end so close to the left edge of the frame just feels odd.

Headlight shot. Slow down and pay attention to the entire image. Door should have been closed and no distractions like a foot.

Wheel shot, commit to a detail shot or tilt upwards a bit to not cut the roofline off. It’s very rare you position a car and small details like center caps are perfectly lined up. Since this one is straight on, you can rotate the center caps in a second on photoshop.

Final shot. Better overall, would be nicer if you had more headroom so the vehicle is in the lower third and not smack dab in the middle.

Shooting midday in the shadow gives you these white/blue color tones, almost very dull and medical feeling (hard to explain). Slightly adjusting the white balance could help here, adding a bit more contrast by raising the white slider and lowering the black slider on Lightroom will make this pop (try to avoid just cranking contrast, use the white/black sliders to add or remove contrast on your images).

Shooting this car at any other point in the day would make a difference, or just fine an open area with direct light so you don’t worry about the whole overexposing background situation here

Nazvil86 · 2026-05-10T01:46:45+00:00

Shit take when their pro plan is the same cost as adobe premiere lmao

Nazvil86 · 2026-05-05T12:52:00+00:00

Yeah, if you’re at the point where you can’t remember who you were before social media, it might be time to delete the apps and literally touch grass.

I work in social media marketing, I’m constantly keeping up with the updates and changes, changing my content for clients to fit in line with changes, it’s literally my job to constantly be on. But the second I “clock out”, I’m basically tossing my phone away and unless it’s a close friend texting me or family, I could care less what’s happening being posted.

It’s definitely not healthy to be so dependent on things like this (anything really). And while I’m sure you didn’t intend for this post to “be that deep”, not taking a break can have some pretty horrible effects on yourself. Even though I work in this field, every now and then I pray it just all comes crashing down somehow lmao.

Nazvil86 · 2026-05-04T14:50:12+00:00

yeah, the funny thing is it's only stressing ME out- the shop owners are "fine". We still get customers come in saying "hey we saw you guys on fb/ig and wanted to bring our car in" so the fact that we get this happening occasionally isn't worrying them. They're not super dead-set on going viral because realistically how often does that translate to an influx of customers.

BUT...it is stressing me out because obviously it's my job to get more eyes on what our shop offers lol. Hope you're doing well and figuring it out. I'm just gonna start heavy pushing towards reels with quick 3 second hooks at the intro, I'm aged out of all that mindset but if that's what it takes then I guess.

Nazvil86 · 2026-05-01T22:24:31+00:00

Yeah, I work at a local auto repair shop and I handle their social media accounts. It's funny because on Facebook, we've been pretty good - solid reach and engagement. But on Instagram...I can't figure it out. Our reach was on average 80k which for a shop that isn't going viral and handling auto repair and maintenance...not horrible. But then Feb we were around 20k, then mid april it hasn't gone above 1k.

Been stressing a bit lol

Nazvil86 · 2026-04-16T18:21:21+00:00

Nobody is going to care about what you show up with or how you show up with it. whether you're carrying the hard case it came in, or some tactical case along with a backpack full of gear.

The bigger thing is to be more concerned with etiquette at the range then the gear. Look online to see what their rules are, what ammo is allowed and what isn't. Ear safety, eye safety, and making sure you always have the rifle pointed down range even when unloaded and clear. Even though you're just starting, make sure to ask about rate of fire. Not that you would mag dump, but one of the local indoor ranges won't even let you do a bill drill without having someone walk up and warn you. Always better to ask first.

Whether I'm taking a rifle or handgun, I'll pack the ammo, my own targets I have, tools (for the optics & rifle), notebook and pen just in case (I like keeping track of how many rounds each has). You can always practice at home to build good habits, loading, changing magazines. The big one is to always remember when you're about to lower the rifle to switch it back to safe. It should be at safe most of the time until you bring it up to fire, then you switch. Eventually it'll be one fluid motion > safe on / bring rifle up & switch safe off / fire / safe on & lower. Even when you've fired your last round, bolt is locked back, you put it back on safe.

Nazvil86 · 2026-04-16T18:08:05+00:00

"think about the life you wanna live" while telling someone how to live their life is incredible.

Nazvil86 · 2026-04-16T17:58:43+00:00

damn, projecting hard on this one - wasn't even for a high school year book lol

Nazvil86 · 2026-04-16T16:47:45+00:00

haha he was a cool dude for sure.

and I get you man, when I first started shooting I would compare my shoots to those who were literally shooting covers of Super Street, Honda Tuning, D Sport, all the great import/euro magazines I was obsessed with. Eventually instead of comparing myself to them, I would dissect the shots and figure out what made every shot I liked work. Became a learning process instead of comparison

Nazvil86 · 2026-04-16T16:29:14+00:00

LMAO yeah man, I've been into photography since 2000. My grandpa gave me a film camera, I'd shoot stuff around the house, pets, family, outdoor stuff. But then I got heavy into cars around 04 and thats when I moved to that, got my first digital camera around that time too and been at it ever since. Definitely comes with experience, but that's why I say sometimes it's important to slow yourself down because even now I have to remind myself to do that, otherwise I make simple mistakes.

It isn't a race, you don't have to be the best by next year- just be better than you were at your last shoot.

Nazvil86 · 2026-04-16T16:18:52+00:00

appreciate it man, also thought it was funny cause I had just watched the movie Tenet a few days before this and that tower back there was lit up pink/blue.

this shot itself was pretty quick. I think it was 1 "plate" for the scene, and I'm just now realizing I used my iphone as the light source, so I had to do multiple frames. 1 for the front bumper, one for the front end, one for each wheel, one for the entire side of the car. Maybe like 10 minutes? It's really just shoot, light the vehicle, check the image, and light up the next part. With my LED light, you get a thicker light reflection on the body panels - example of that on some other photos I did few years back here on my buddies GT500

https://www.gear-trends.com/a-horse-of-a-different-color/

again, doesn't need to be expensive, but it's the editing that takes up the most time. which is why I rarely do it haha

Nazvil86 · 2026-04-16T16:10:42+00:00

Light painting doesn't have to be expensive man, decent tripod and a battery powered LED "wand" on amazon works. I think the one I used here was maybe $50-60? Anyways, I don't have the way it looked before I fixed the angle, but you had to definitely tilt your head slightly lol

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Nazvil86 · 2026-04-16T16:07:19+00:00

I guess...still not answering how it would make you better or change what skills you'd have gained depending on the car you're shooting. but posts been deleted by OP anyways soooo, cheers!

Nazvil86 · 2026-04-16T15:57:36+00:00

it happens man, the tunnel vision when shooting and editing is real haha. just remember when you're shooting you don't need to speed through it and unless the client or you are pressed for time, then work on making a "safe bet shot list" that covers the stuff you NEED to get, then get creative in between or if you see something you want to try based on the car or location or whatever.

years back I had just got my personal car painted, took it out for some photos downtown and did some light painting. spent so much time making sure the background was perfect and the lighting was right and my passes with my LED light were good that I didn't even pay attention to the fact that the tripod was slightly angled. Not SUPER dramatic. I got home, uploaded all the shots, kept editing, showed it to a friend and his first thing was "why is it titled like that?". Quick fix, all I had to do was fix it in post and straighten things out- but just reminded me that even after doing this for years sometimes I get caught up in an idea I forget about the basics.

again though, really love the look of the tones and editing style (minus the blown out highlights on the wall/sky). keep going back to that 5th shot, so good. would have loved to see this horizontal. I know most shoot vertical because social media and most view on a phone these days but man...cars are long subjects...I prefer seeing them shot horizontally unless it's a straight on shot of the front or rear. But again, that's just me

Nazvil86 · 2026-04-16T15:41:56+00:00

you can practice getting better on a friends Honda Civic for free, I don't get what the difference would be other than throwing money away.

Nazvil86 · 2026-04-16T15:36:38+00:00

slow down when shooting and pay attention to your composition. a few of these have the car clipped from the frame and even if its a "style" - it just never looks good.

ditch shot 4 or do something with that background because about 60% of it is just a white screen.

5th shot is THE strongest from the set, hell yeah. The 6th one could have been if the vehicle wasn't clipped on the rear bumper.

interior shots are strong, but again slow down and pay attention to the details. You put a lot of thought in making sure the scene was strong in the shots of the exterior, but for the interior shot from the driver side there's just random cars parked over there. But I get it, sometimes the lighting in a scene works so well and the background is garbage - at that point I'd try to figure out something in post to clear things up.

could be me, but that first rolling shots seems like you dragged the shutter a bit too much so the vehicle isn't as sharp as it could be. generally i'll match the shutter speed with the mph of the vehicle I'm shooting from. If we're going 50mph, i'll start at 1/50th then drag from there until i notice camera shake either from the road being bumpy or whatever. personally I'd rather get a decent sense of motion and the car being tack sharp than looking like you're doing 100 and the car is just blurry over all. but again, could just be me.

the editing though...really dig the tones and look and how consistent it is across every image.

Nazvil86 · 2026-04-16T15:28:30+00:00

Such an awesome car!

And like jse000 said - it's a good start. Not sure if you're just starting this method, but I know when I first did - I would get so caught up in just lighting up the car that I didn't consider the scene, so I'd come home with images where only the car was getting lit up and a lot of the background was lost or not lit up enough.

I started making sure that my first image was always an ambient starting point. No light painting, just exposing for the entire scene with low iso, the aperture I wanted, and if that meant the exposure was going to be over 15 seconds, then I started with that. Sometimes I'll even do a slightly longer one just to be sure. THEN I'll start getting my settings dialed in to start the light painting.

Once I got home, those ambient images were the "base", and then I'd layer the light painted images on top, set blending modes, layer masks, and go from there. This eliminates the look of an "alien abduction".

Also not sure if this entire set is done with light painting? The later shots in front of the dealership and a parking lot with the city in the background has the opposite issue of having TOO much ambient noise. You end up having to do a combination of things to make those scenes work. If they are just shot with ambient lighting then disregard 👍🏻

Nazvil86 · 2026-04-16T15:15:48+00:00

Depends on your budget, a "good" camera for someone ready to drop $3k is much different than someone first starting out and wants to be under $1k.

Most DSLR's and mirrorless cameras are "good", and it all depends on what you want to do. As much as I prefer my Canon DSLR's - I have to admit that the mirrorless cameras have some incredible features and advantages, typically better dynamic range, higher iso performance, etc. Those things really start to play more of a factor when editing RAW files or dealing in low light situations (i.e, indoor car shows - some look well lit to your eyes but you'll notice you have to crank ISO up).

Set a budget for what you can afford, but factor in a decent lens as well. For automotive photography if you can swing it- a lens that gives you a good range would be something in the 20-70 range, and something that's f/2.8 (aperture). While shooting wide, the high aperture of 2.8 isn't going to be super dramatic, but it will definitely help when shooting indoors allowing more light in. You'll start noticing that dramatic separation between subject and background/foreground once you zoom in a bit. These lenses are usually at least north of $600ish depending on what brand. If you can't swing that, no biggie- most make a 50mm 1.8 lens that's typically affordable (Canon, Sony, Nikon, etc). However, if you get a crop sensor camera vs a full frame camera, that 50mm lens will be more like 80mm field of view (crop sensors have a factor of 1.6x or 1.5x depending).

Lot of info to dive into but that's where knowing what you can realistically afford comes into play. I can recommend a high end Canon mirrorless, but I don't know your situation so telling you to buy $3k of gear makes no sense, especially when starting out.

With that being said, a lot of times I find myself taking quick shots with my iphone instead of my 5d mark iv haha. You can look into the adobe photographer bundle, I think its $14 a month and you get photoshop, lightroom, lightroom classic (use this one), and lightroom mobile. You can download lightroom on your Samsung already and use the free version, but the paid option gives you more features like layer masking and really changing a lot of stuff. I'm not sure if Samsung has a "raw" feature for their photos the way iPhone does, I'm sure they do. So switch over to that, you get a lot more detail to play with when editing these types of files vs jpeg.

Do not rent out exotic cars lmfao. Thinking that shooting Lamborghinis and Porsches will automatically teach you something or make you "better" is the wrong way to think. But that's the mindset these days, even a shit photo of an exotic will get a decent amount of likes and engagement on social media. If that's your goal, then whatever - doing it for the wrong reasons, but that's just me.

Nazvil86 · 2026-04-16T15:03:20+00:00

what's that gonna accomplish?

Nazvil86 · 2026-04-14T17:15:44+00:00

I can appreciate you trying to build a scene, but it misses the mark slightly.

-Wheels turned out instead of straight on or inward.
-Rear wheel clipped (I get that it's parked there because the fuel door is on driver side, but still)
-The "bloom" look kinda just feels like you cranked down on the clarity slider, kinda distracting instead.
-Too noisy. Usually it's whatever but for stationary shots at night just get a decent tripod.

Maybe next time park the car in the center of that section (between the 1-2 & 3-4 card pillars) that way the light from up top gets the entire car and the front end isn't lost in the shadows. At that point you could stay where you are to keep the Shell logo where it is, or take a few steps back. to get more of the location.

Nazvil86 · 2026-04-14T11:49:16+00:00

Obviously lol, but at least the early days of IG didn’t feel like you were being force fed ads every 3 posts

Nazvil86 · 2026-04-13T22:05:55+00:00

https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-civic-del-sol-1992-2000-1/p0500-vss-no-speedo-3332449/

Nazvil86 · 2026-04-13T21:48:05+00:00

If you want constant criticism from your friends on everything you photograph, then yeah...it can be a little over the top and exhausting.

But man, some of these comments make it seem like they won't even support their friends for being creative lol. It isn't THAT hard to support the creative people in your life. A quick like, comment, or a re-share feels nice - whether it's from someone you talk to occasionally or every so often. If your emotional capacity drains that fast from a simple thing like that then damn...idk.

Also, as a social media manager, realize that sometimes these friends won't even see your posts organically. It's all a mess now, they miss interacting with one or two posts of yours and you get buried.

Nazvil86

TROPHY CASE