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Classic Car Pics: Worth the Time, Effort, & Money?
MonkNocity
Registered Users Posts: 6 Beginner grinner
I'm going to a local car show Sunday; it's a really good annual local show with hundreds of cars; all the classic car groups will be represented, i.e. 50s & 60s Chevy, Ford, Mopar, custom, street rod, antique, etc. I was thinking of taking my web designer, who also is a commercial photographer with all high-end Nikon equipment. The fee is $200 for 2 hours worth of pics, which I will post to Smugmug.
How popular are pics of classic cars? Does it sound like time (and money) well spent? I'm thinking I would have more success with these types of pics vs the rock concert photos I have posted. The quality of pics would be beyond reproach, and they would appeal to a much broader audience.
Also, I've been told by a guy at work, who is really in the know about cars(recently sold a '65 Shelby Mustang GT 350) that shooting pics of the less obvious, i.e. emblems, decals, chrome grills, etc. attracts a lot of interest. I've taken many pics of cars in the past, and one example he's referring to is a closeup of the Roadrunner cartoon decal off of a 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner Superbird.
How popular are pics of classic cars? Does it sound like time (and money) well spent? I'm thinking I would have more success with these types of pics vs the rock concert photos I have posted. The quality of pics would be beyond reproach, and they would appeal to a much broader audience.
Also, I've been told by a guy at work, who is really in the know about cars(recently sold a '65 Shelby Mustang GT 350) that shooting pics of the less obvious, i.e. emblems, decals, chrome grills, etc. attracts a lot of interest. I've taken many pics of cars in the past, and one example he's referring to is a closeup of the Roadrunner cartoon decal off of a 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner Superbird.
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Pictures of classic cars can be quite popular, but there are many factors that will determine if it is worth your time and effort. How will you market these images? What will your average price of the print be? How many cars will be on site?
Not only will you have to get great shots, but make those shots appear killer to the person you are hoping to buy them.
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I am looking forward to seeing "images beyond reproach".
Are you a photographer or a guy trying figure out how to sell something to make money?
Personally I would be amazed if you broke even on the $200.00 photography services.
Sam
Then there is the fact that each car is a work of art to the owner that actually owns copyright to his / her creation so releases are needed from them......this event is not happening out on public land with no admission I bet ...so the event producer / organizers and others also have a piece of say in this stuff.......
Also shooting car shows is very hard, since the producers and organizers cram the cars into a little space as possible so they can have as many participants as possible....so getting good clean shots is nearly impossible...not totally impossible but nearly......so for 2hrs of shoot time I would not expect every car or even most of the cars to be shot....I am not a car enthusiast but I have tripped around car shows a bit and I find it fun to try and get a clean shot of any car at a show....in my area the more it looks like you know what you are doing the more of a crowd that follows you around and gets in the way......I shot an outdoor show with a point and shoot...not to many bothering asking what I was doing..then I left and came back in less than an hour and was armed with my D300 and flash on a flash bracket and tripod.... I was getting low and doing flash shots and all of a sudden people were all over me watching and just generally getting in the way....after only about 20 cars shot I left ....to allow the crowd to disperse so I could go back and shoot more of the cars I had not gotten to.....
this has happened in both outdoor parking lot car shows and also indoor coliseum type shows..........
Not being a car enthusiast the car shows do attract some very nice looking ladies...
especially in the summer time....:D:D:D
Out of all the excellent advice that Art just gave, this is the most important.
Have you discussed how many shots you were hoping to get in this 2 hour period of time?
Have you discussed how this photographer may or may use the images? Not every "for hire" job is the same.
Have you discussed how or who will do the editing?
As mentioned, with all the cars, owners and public milling around the number of shots will be limited.
Your original post doesn't go into many specifics, but I hope that you have thought them through. It would kind of suck to find out after paying a couple of hundred bucks that you end up with a couple of shots that you cannot even sell.
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