gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

Is there a lens/F stop combo for taking classic car pics outdoors to blur all those busy backgrounds? Not every venue has room to maneuver but those with lots of experience may have some good suggestions. I know that stopped down is a place to start but then your distance to subject and distance of subject from the background all play into it. Or do you just do trial and error to see what works best? I’ve processed in post to blur the background and even converted the background to B&W but that’s all so artificial.

Orphoto Loc: Oregon

Another route is to focus stack with a relatively large aperture.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Slightly longer than a Normal Lens, say a Short Portrait Lens, say 50 to 65mm ish for CF bodies, or 85 to 105mm ish for FF bodies.

Use a F-stop of the smallest number you can and still keep all of the car in focus. Or to say a different way use selective focus. Or to say yet another way, Depth of Field at a minimum for the car.

You may have to look these terms and concepts up. The fact that you are asking seems you are a bit new to the technical aspects of photography. Good luck. I like automobile photos.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

Not new, just curious as to how others deal with this subject. The response could help others too. I normally do my blurring in post but that gets a bit tedious. I'd rather do it in camera as much as possible.

bdk Loc: Sanibel Fl.

smallest F number anything above say 4 is too slow. A longer lens works better say a 200mm with a low f# works much better than say an 16mm with the same F#

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Before the camera settings, think composition, perspective, and angle of view. This is more important than anything else. It will transform your capture from 'so, so' ordinary to 'I never saw this car this way'.

Also think details, parts of the car vs the whole thing.

As an example…
Have the car wheels turned instead of being aligned with the body. Crouch down looking inside the cavity. Light can be on of off. This will give an aggressive appearance… Especially if you use a wide angle. The aperture and background can be reduced to almost zero w/o having to worry about the f-stop and other 'incidentals' like folks walking around.

User ID

Just photograph each panel of the car separately, then reassemble it in post.

Its the proven Johnny Cash technique.

terryMc Loc: Arizona's White Mountains

I don't know of any magic combination to blur the background, so I shoot with a wide-ish angle lens and just try to get all the car in the frame and sharp. Our local car shows have the cars jammed together and a sea of people everywhere, so trying to isolate the car is pretty much futile. I will go with maybe something like a 28-70 and just try to make the car look as good as I can, without a lot of regard for the background. The car will be the focus anyway, if you more or less fill the frame.

As for distance to subject, you're lucky if you get a half-dozen feet, and there's never any room in between to get a side shot. I just take what I get, mostly.

(Download)

jlg1000 Loc: Uruguay / South America

Check the Photopills phone app.

You dial in your camera/lens combo and it will calculate the nearest and farthest in-focus distances for each f-stop.

... meanwhile somewhere in Norway Loc: none

I am a journalist/ photographer making a living in Norway, but come from Wisconsin. I work for Amcar magazine in Norway, and Motor Trend group in the USA.

Advice...
Event photography is an exception... but location and lighting makes for great images and sells. Perspective is your biggest trump card. Your only concern for F stop should be focus depth of the subject. F4.5 for angles, and F 2.8 for side shots at a minimum. It is not always about blurry backgrounds, many times it is to your advantage to go F8 to 16 for certain locations to include the scene in all its glory...

You can be a picture taker or be a photographer. There is no wrong or right when it comes to F stop, but be sure you are sharp front to back of the subject. You can always use Photoshop to blend your F 1.2 with a F 5 image if you are after a soft backround or bokah, but most important...will never get anywhere with opening up your lens too far for the subject..

CliffMcKenzie Loc: Lake Athens Texas

Another angle - get permission to shoot at least an hour before the event or better yet, during the setup. We (our photo club) negotiate with the show for press passes and special permission regarding entry and if needed, tripods. In return, we promise 5 images for use per pass. Cliff

jlg1000 Loc: Uruguay / South America

This is a *great piece of advice*

Nothing worse than trying to get good shots with zillions of people loitering by...

Guyserman Loc: Benton, AR

... meanwhile somewhere in Norway Loc: none

Nothing worse than an event with no people... the best shot you can get is with people peaking for a closer look. And for everyone else, bs on permission... Your credentials give you all the latitude you need.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

Great advice.

My expereince is car shows are a nightmare if you want to isolate a particular vehicle on an appropriate but non-distracting background.

I am currently working on a calendar for a manufacturer of automotive paints and body repair fillers. Thereis going to be a classic or antique car image for each month. I have done this before and our approach is to go to the shows and contact the owners to bring the car to a "perfect" location, that is in keepg with the age of the car. We used an old firehouse, a 1950s-style diner, old barns, and buildings from the same era as the car or truck, we even found some models and regular folks in period costumes.

By setting up these sessions you get to select the time of day, the weather conditions, and the background. You don't have to worry about distorting the lines of the car by having to use too long a focal length to kill the background or too short a focal length due to lack of backup space. You can decide if you want a sharp or soft background and selt your aperture accordingly.

Mostof the owner's weres paid a fee (the ad agency had a budget) but some preferred a framed print of their car or truck.