BODY BEAUTIFUL

Mike Harris demonstrates how to take studio-quality close-ups of vehicles in a classic car museum

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Head to any car museum up and down the country and you’ll see swathes of visitors, cameras in hand, shooting everything from antiques like the Ford Model T to classics like the Morris Minor, high-performance supercars such as the McLaren F1, and everything in between. But museums aren’t exactly known for their photo-friendly lighting. Add to this the busy backgrounds and fellow car enthusiasts, and it can seem impossible to capture a flattering shot – but with the right techniques it can be done.

We’ve put together a few tips and tricks that will help you capture studio-quality images without using a tripod or additional lighting. The first lesson is to forget capturing any car in its entirety; you’ll afford yourself much more creative control if you focus on capturing closeups. We shot cars inside at the Haynes Motor Museum (www.haynesmuseum. org) near Yeovil in south-west England, and outside at a classic car meet.

Indoors, we were able to use black and white walls to our advantage, under- and overexposing to create studio-like backgrounds. While outside we blew out a light sky to create a white background, or framed close-ups of the car with no background to avoid distracting grass or fellow fans. Here’s how it’s done…