So I have a buddy that enjoys photography. He would like to make a side profession out of it. He has shot for Independent baseball leagues before and has an agreement with a local photographer for Weddings/High School Sporting events.

I used to shoot with him at Minor League Baseball games for fun and he loved it more than me and started to run with it.

I was talking to him and saying he should shoot cars as well. I dont know anyone around this area that does it, so he might be able to luck into a niche for some side jobs, but I thought Id ask you guys some questions-


Have you ever paid to have someone photograph your car?

How much should he charge for a "Shoot"

What kind of scenic areas should he look for? We dont really have any waterfronts or cliffs which sucks (Midwest) but have some nice fields lol

How many photos would you expect? Just like 5 nice edited photos, or like 100+ all edited?

How important are "action" shots on the road?

IMO he's going to have better luck being a photographer for local clubs, (meets, races, events) tracks, carshows than he will going out trying to solicit individual owners.

I kind of figure Ill help him market it. Go to shows show off his work and try to push it locally. Have some nice Corvette Get togethers and local weekend shows. I just dont know how much "work" I need him to be prepared for. He shot a track meet the other day and had like 1300 photos from th 2 hours, but that was before he edited and trimmed the fat. Hoping I can get this together with him so he can try to showcase his work 3-4 times a month at local gatherings (20+ cars) and see if hes able to get any bites. Even if the first year started and he only landed 10 cars, he would be happy. Would allow him to focus on what/where to push it next year and scope more locations.

We dont have a ton of nice stuff, but Ive got a C5, a co worker nice looking Mustang GT (no performance mods, just exterior), an acquaintance has a lotus and my uncle manages a Porsche dealership so Im hoping he can get some decent mock ups to use as promotions off of those cars. Hes scared that his agreement wont let him shoot ANYTHING without them getting a cut, but I keep telling him, its just a verbal agreement that schools/weddings you drop in her dropbox. You can branch out to other places if you wanted.

I know a couple professional photographers that was in the car scene. One was a complete amateur and worked his way up from cars, to girls and now just travels the world taking pictures. Dont know how much he charged for car shots though. When i paid for photos on track days I think it was anywhere from like 20 to 40 dollars with a lot of pictures

Were most of the photos touched up and edited, or just raw photos?

Also, parked/staged photos or driving on the track for some?

the track photos were raw. The guy had a setup where he would put them all on a dvd and give it to you on the spot.

in my sig and my profile you can see 2 pictures from my car made from professional photographs on a car meet. they get booked by the people that organize those meets. ofc evereyone has to pay to go to the meet, but you get nice pictures and a snack and coffee. mostly they shoot in the morning on the entrance (pic in my profile) and then some pics of the parked cars (pic in my sig, but i photoshoped the people mirroring in my car out of the picture). wild parking looks best.

This post was edited by Wingman93 on May 7 2018 04:50pm

idle pictures with contemporary background is pretty hip i guess.



imo theres not really anything "preofessional" with those, it's just a regular picture from a good angle.

i took this one of my golf r with my iphone. angles are important but i would say it is also editing.

I use to do them for free but then started charging $100 - $200.
It's just about building up reputation and local meets at first.

Go to a meet and just take a few snaps, post to the page and eventually people will show interest

I did photography for a car website. It really doesn’t pay a lot unless you’re top of the line, and even then most people now are making videos.

This post was edited by CarsAndKush on May 26 2018 05:37am