How to Prepare for a Magazine Photo Shoot

By Brad Bowling—Automotive Photographer and Vintage Truck Editor

Whether or not your collector vehicle has been photographed for a magazine before, please read the brief notes on this page carefully! Knowing what to expect when a professional photographer travels to your house for Vintage Truck or Antique Power magazine will make the experience enjoyable for you and productive for the person with the camera.

It costs a lot of money these days to send a staff member or freelancer hundreds of miles to shoot a truck or tractor. To get the most “bang for the buck,” a photographer is often shooting several vehicles during a week-long road trip on a very tight schedule. Therefore, the vehicle owner’s preparation and understanding of the photographer’s needs are crucial to a successful photo session.

The Pre-Shoot conversation

A few weeks before the planned

Notes:

can’t shoot while vehicle running - blurry

be able to move vehicle to new location

needs to have enough gas for the shoot

no tall grass

will take between 3 and 6 hours, depending on sun, clouds, and light conditions, will be a LOT of standing around

will be VERY boring to spectators

photog might not be very talkative, needs to concentrate

do not use vinyl dressing (aka ArmorAll)

trees need to be minimum of 100 feet away