Automotive Retouching Techniques – How They Help Sell More

A car photograph must evoke a great feel to sell. Automotive dealers whether selling new or used vehicles rely on the expertise of photographers and photo editing professionals to create images that increase curiosity among buyers.

While a photographer must follow certain guidelines to take the best shot, a retoucher must have several years of experience and enough skill to do the necessary corrections and make the picture just perfect and irresistible.

Good raw photos make better retouched images.

It is important for a photographer to shoot at the right time of the day, for example just before sunrise or after sunset.

Moreover, he or she must be very careful with reflections when shooting under bright light, because of the many curves and contours of a shiny new car. It is better to have an open area with no trees or buildings and avoid shadows on the vehicle.

Be careful with the background. Too many things in the background will distract the eye and take the focus away. Unpleasant things and unsightly objects will even spoil the beauty of the car.

On the other hand, it is also important that the vehicle should not look out of the place. Rather, it should match its background, for example, a standstill car will look different from the one in motion.

Automotive photographs often need post productions. Many of these post production techniques are a way to correct photographic errors.

Most of what we have mentioned above can also be done using good software and technologies, such as Photoshop. Background replacement, color adjustment, reflection removal and light correction are among the basic automotive retouching requirements for most car dealers and photographers.

Long experience, excellent skill and hard work are needed for a great finished image.

You need to isolate the different parts of an automobile to do different things, such as replace backgrounds, composite multiple exposures, correct color and adjust brightness. Precise selection is important to cut out portions of an image.

Seasoned retouchers do not rely on automatic selection tools, but make good use of the pen tool for precise selection. That is why professional retouching is gaining ground and has emerged as an essential photo clipping step for worldwide automotive industry.