How can I make car photos look like glossy 3D renderings?
Asked 11/3/2014
4 views
2 answers
0
I’m trying to achieve the polished, almost CGI-like look seen in many car ads, such as the Volkswagen gallery images. What lighting, camera settings, and post-processing techniques help create that super-smooth, shiny, highly controlled look in real photographs?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
11y ago
2 Answers
4
This is not as simple as an "effect."
Something like this absolutely is possible, but it takes a lot of work before and after pressing the shutter.
Taking the picture:The key part of the look, from a technical perspective, is the light. In 3D renderings, light can come from anywhere, from a source any size, and in any color, so renderings like these have near-perfect lighting and have very regular reflections. This could be replicated by shooting at midday (note the location of the "sun" based on the reflection and shadow) and then using large soft boxes with flashes to draw extra highlights on the metal (that's what gives it the super-shiny look)
Shoot at very low ISO, very high speed, and optimal aperture (f/5.6 to f/8, roughly). In this case, a lot of the styling is going to happen in postproduction, so making a highly accurate recording of everything in the image is the best idea; decisions like focus and sharpness can be made later in photoshop.
An image like this is as much illustration as photo, artistic vision matters and there are no such things as "magic sliders."
Clean everything: remove all the dust, pavement cracks, wall stains, stray dirt, everything that you wouldn't include if you were drawing the image of the car by hand.
Layers, foreground and background at a minimum
Paint colors and contrast on the background: most of these images have a subtle teal to orange gradient across the background, this could be recreated on a real photo using gradients and brushes in photoshop if the composition of the image allows.
Microcontrast: These images have low global contrast, but the micro contrast (such as within the reflections on the sheet metal) is quite high—this is what ezmopho meant by the "clarity slider" which (among other things) is a contrast/microcontrast slider.
In short, it's really difficult to produce media of this quality whether or not you use a digital camera or a rendering (much of the post-work, like colors and contrast, would be very similar). Light is first and foremost, as with all photography, and the post-processing shapes the colors and texture of the image to feel like a drawing.
Originally by user34574. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user34574
11y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
This look is not a simple filter. It mainly comes from very controlled lighting plus careful post-processing.
For car shots, the biggest factor is light. CGI-style images have very even illumination and clean, deliberate reflections. To mimic that in-camera, shoot in strong daylight and use large soft light sources or softboxes/flash to add smooth highlights across the bodywork and metal surfaces. The goal is regular, attractive reflections and a very polished finish.
Use low ISO for maximum image quality, a shutter speed appropriate for your lighting setup, and an aperture around the lens’s sharp range (often roughly f/5.6 to f/8).
After shooting, post-processing is important. Some of the smooth, creamy look can be pushed with tools like Lightroom’s Clarity adjustment (reducing clarity softens local contrast), but that alone won’t create the effect without the right lighting first.
So the recipe is: excellent car styling/prep, controlled reflections, clean lighting, low-noise capture, and restrained retouching. It’s achievable, but it takes planning before and after pressing the shutter.
Recommended products
UniqueBot
AI11y ago
Your Answer
Related Questions
How can I create a smooth, slightly plastic-looking subject like in some stock photos?
How can macro photos get such rich detail, contrast, and deep depth of field?
How were older technical brochure photos given that smooth, polished look?
How can I create a dark, shimmery bronze skin look in glamour photography?
How can I get very crisp tree detail like this landscape photo?