Photographing Your Vehicle Guide

Marketing your vehicle appropriately can have significant impacts on improving buyers’ interest in asking questions about it, making offers, and ultimately purchasing it. We come across a lot of vehicles on a daily basis that are, frankly, poorly marketed. With some basic instruction, we can get your vehicle showcased in its best, and most accurate, light.

Below you’ll find tips on how best to do vehicle photography, videos, and descriptions to help you sell your vehicle. If you don’t want to take pictures yourself, you can have a professional do it for a couple hundred dollars at Snappr and have it completed in a manner of days.

Best Places To Take Car Photography: Ideally, every vehicle would be photographed with a world class background, yet don’t let perfection get in the way of progress. A few tips to get started:

Outside: Take the picture outside, ideally on a cloudy day. It’s better to not be in direct sunlight, but be careful of having shadows that go across the vehicle that could impact how the paint looks. A natural setting is best but an empty parking lot or street next to a field will also work.
Minimize Distractions: Don’t have too many other distractions in the way – consider other vehicles, houses, buildings, poles, etc. that will take away from the focus of your vehicle.

Best Photography Angles For Vehicles For Sale:

Exterior: Create a 360 degree photo book of your vehicle. Take photos from the front, front ¾ view, side view, rear ¾ view, and rear view for both sides of the vehicle.
Head-on Shots: Stand straight ahead, slightly lower than the headlights. Capture the car’s full width and key details like grille and hood.
Side Shots: Aim your camera at the B-pillar.
Rearview Reveal: Stand behind the car, slightly lower than the taillights. Highlight the rear design, taillights, and exhaust.
Interior: Open all the doors and capture the space. Take close-up shots of the dashboard, including the mileage, seats, steering wheel, rear seats, and the trunk.
Door Jambs: Take photos of the door jams, the hinges, and the underside of the door particularly for older vehicles to showcase any rust or lack thereof.
Wheels: Take a picture of each wheel. Be sure to showcase any imperfections in the wheels.
Tires: Take a picture of each of the tires up close to showcase their tread depth, and type of tires on the vehicle.
Modifications: If you have made modifications to the vehicle, point out those modifications in photos. Upgraded shocks, or brakes? Have you added a winch or roof rack? Be sure to include pictures of those areas.
Underside: Be sure to include pictures of the underside of the vehicle, especially for older vehicles that are susceptible to rust or offroad vehicles that may have had some close encounters with rocks. Getting the vehicle on a lift would be perfect, but often simply taking a wide angle view of the front, sides, and rear of the underside of the vehicle will tell a good story.

Videos For Vehicles For Sale:

Startup: Use your phone to get a couple videos that show the car cold starting. Ideally, a video of you starting the car (while inside of it and show the temperature gage), then moving to the outside where the hood is open and taking a video of the engine running.
Driving: Take a video of the vehicle being driven. Showcase the gauges, how the car shifts, and how the car sounds. Obviously, keep the radio off as you are trying to showcase the engine, transmission, etc.
Drive By: Less important perhaps than the Startup and Driving videos, but still impactful, can be the Drive By video. For this, you can have someone take a video of the vehicle driving towards and away from you.

Showcasing Imperfections with Integrity:

Be upfront: Don’t hide scratches or dents. Clear photos are better than surprises.
Show, don’t tell: Take close-up shots with good lighting to showcase the imperfections.
Describe accurately: Be honest and objective in your listing about any issues.
Focus on the good: Balance imperfection shots with photos of your car’s best features.

Descriptions:

More vs. Less: It’s better to provide more information versus less information.
Upgrades: Highlight any upgrades you have done to the vehicle, from suspension to tires to bumpers and beyond. You can even state how much those upgrades cost to help buyers understand how much you have into the vehicle (and how much they may not have to put into the vehicle).
Records: Have records of the work that you’ve completed on the vehicle, be sure to include those. Taking pictures of the records and including them in the gallery works great.
Needs: If something needs to be addressed or doesn’t work, call it out. You’ll have to tell the buyer eventually, it’s better to be up front about it.
Recent Maintenance: Call out maintenance that has recently been performed on the vehicle. And, if you have records for it, even better.

Bonus Tips:

Get low: Kneel or crouch for dynamic angles.
Fill the frame: Don’t leave empty space around the car.
Play with perspective: Experiment with different heights and angles.
Natural light is best: Shoot on cloudy days to avoid harsh shadows.
Simple edits: Enhance brightness and contrast without going overboard.
Clean the vehicle: Make sure that the vehicle is clean. Vacuum the interior and remove any clutter.
Restorations: If you have done any mechanical or cosmetic restoration work and have pictures, include them in the gallery.

Remember, clear photos and honest descriptions build trust with buyers. By showcasing your car’s true beauty, imperfections and all, you’ll attract serious interest and get it sold faster.

Happy snapping!

Below is a great example of how to take some of the pictures of a Land Rover Range Rover L322.

Exterior: