How I Made a Career Out Of Car Photography (and you can too)

Car photography has been a passion of mine for the last 12 years. When I was able to turn it into something profitable, it was a dream come true. Today I want to share with you what I did, and what I learned. From shooting R35 GT-Rs to Scion FRS, I've gotten to shoot pretty much every make and model.

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Equipment I use to make my videos -

TIMESTAMPS

What it’s like when you start taking photos 0:00
This is what we’re covering 0:32
My credentials 0:50
The #1 rule and some tips 1:13
Going out and location scouting 3:52
What gear do I use? 4:29
Let's take some pictures 6:02
How I edit my photos 7:19
The most important part 14:33

#photography #photoediting #cars

[UWV_Taylor]

I’m a car and portrait photographer and I’ve been at this for several years. This video is honestly great and you and I seem to have started out the same. I had some older photographers give me the line “never work for free” and yeah that’s great in theory, but that’s also a great way to instantly ruin your reputation if you charge people way too much for work that’s not good. Really I think the best way to think of it is “don’t let yourself be taken advantage of” - build your portfolio, experiment, learn soft skills and how communicate like a business person. You’ll know when you’re ready for the next steps. It’s a great job to have and I love every day that I get to wake up and take photos. Good stuff, man 👍

[scaredelement]

I remember you taking pics of my brothers ford Taurus show a long long time ago, I love seeing how successful you have become doing what you love!!

[Treaxvour]

Photography has always been so intimidating to me. There are so many elements to it. It's such a new artform that has been progressing at an absurd speed, yet the artistic expression of it is obscured by the fact that people don't usually know or recognize the artist, like the sound engineer on a record. Please make more of these type of videos to lift the veil for us newbies.

[Fullsend.Automotive]

I’m at the stage where I’m now comfortable charging a decent amount for shoots, been shooting cars for about 4 years now and recently upgraded to an A7IV and got my first few exotic car shoots. Great video man keep up the good work! Also for anyone reading, go to every single cars and coffee event you can, those are the best places to meet high profile clients

[VexHD]

I started Photography a little over a year and a half ago after I joined the Fitment Industries team. I always go back and look at old photos and see where I can improve. Weather that be camera settings or in editing. I've come so far in that year.

[Fredrik_ST_wagon]

Great video, Dakota. Was thinking of picking up that 85mm G master myself. More videos like this. It's great to see your editing walk through. I learned a lot from that.

[preflightdrip]

Love this video. I started doing photography in October. Obviously I'm not that great right now and still got a lot to learn but I go to the cars and coffee meets with my friends and they've taught me some. Videos like this are always super helpful. I haven't messed with editing yet, I really need to try that. The photos you took look sweet.

[OrrinWhitley]

I literally just bought my first real camera yesterday so this is epic.

[TheCarCreative]

Some good value in this! Love the realistic approach to how the process works. And the photo edits were good, simple, but way better than over editing. Loved this video man. Well done!

[MartyMcFly_]

This is a amazing video, I’ve been wanting to get into photography myself and I even bought a camera to do so. Just didn’t know what or how to start. This really gave me hope and motivation to just go for it. Thank you!!

[SpicyBanditSauce]

I had my first photo shoot last weekend. It was so much fun! Utah winters make for amazing backdrops. Keep the great content coming!

[iangirard]

This is inspirational and honest... You've done a lot of stuff I just hate... Yelling and being generally obnoxious. This is some stand up redemption. To me you're absolutely at your best when you bare your soul and show who you are and how you got here. I'd watch this sort of content endlessly.

[jstrick]

soooo many pictures and practice! You have been doing photography for a hobby for a very long time and I have always loved your photos!

[ART.Media]

Awesome video, lots of good information! 🔥

[aboutcarsyo]

I am using the same camera and lens, it's an incredible setup!! Love shooting supercars and hypercars with it 😊 Nice video on car photography!

[FoSTboi]

Awesome sauce man! I’m taking a photography class in college rn. It’s cool to hear another perspective! and I’d even recommend using the brush mask for like maybe a headlight or a tail light if u don’t want the whole car to be quite so sharp. But overall love the editing process!

[cmphotography]

Love this video my dude, would love to see more on your channel!

[Lowow]

Please do a in depth video on how u set up your camera I’m new to photography and got a Nikon z50 it’s pretty great but I have a hard time setting it up FOR CARS in manual !thank you!! Loving the content !!

[andrewjohnson]

Love this video. Great insight. Keep it up man 😎🤙

[wolffmfn]

Just found this video but I absolutely love it, been doing photography for about 7 years but car photography seriously in the past 3 years. The saying is outdone but practice makes perfect, it'll come naturally as your own style. Recently one of my jobs was as easy as going to a show I was going to anyway and taking pics for the customer and the show then edit (was gonna end up doing anyway) and then bam you got a decent profit. Don't sell yourself short and have confidence!