Part 1 of 2 - Read part 2 here

You've spent hours detailing and polishing your Mustang for sale so it makes a great first impression to a potential buyer. Now give the same attention to the photos you use in your ad. This is a critical step and it's amazing how often it's overlooked. Don't just pick up your camera, walk out to the driveway and snap a few pics. A good set of photographs will really help your ad "pop" and set it apart. Next time you're at the local convenience store thumb through an AutoTrader magazine. Most photos will be boring at best and some will be downright awful. That's no way to show off all your hard work, and certainly no way to get top dollar for your Mustang.

Following are some tips to taking good photos:

Location - Just like real estate, location is important for photos. Don't park it in your driveway or the street in front of your house. Find a location with a clean, uncluttered background that won't take focus away from your car. Try to find a park, road near an open field, scenic overlook, etc. If you live in the city try to find a building with a large, unobstructed wall of brick or solid color. Don’t park on striped or cracked parking lot, unless you have the talent to photoshop these out later. Parking lot stripes are one of the biggest distractions you can have in a car photo.

Also ask yourself if the backdrop is appropriate for your type of car. I recently sold a Jeep with photos taken in the desert. This was a perfect spot for a 4x4, but doesn’t make sense for a Shelby.

Obstructions - Pay special attention to obstructions & distractions in your photo. Will your Shelby GT500 look like it's got a parking meter or tree growing out of it? Is there a light pole shadow falling across the hood of your Saleen for sale? And the worst one; is there a shadow in the foreground of you taking the photo? Ouch! Try to position your car to avoid anything in the photo that can distract. This includes other cars, pets, people, signs, trash on the street, etc. Also watch for odd reflections on that shiny hood or fender. Don’t get yourself captured in the shot!

Lighting - Ask any professional photographer and they'll tell you lighting is absolutely critical. Not just the amount of light, but the quality and color as well. Now you're probably not a professional photographer, but you can still pick the best light to show off your ride. Obviously sun light is best, but you might be surprised that you don't want direct, overhead sunlight. A slightly overcast day will give you a more diffused, consistent light with less harsh shadows. And it won’t wash out your paint color.

You also don't want the sun directly at your back...and you don't want it at your front either! You'll want it from the side of you and slightly behind. Basically you want any portion of the car that’s facing you to be in sun, not shadow. The shadow cast by your car needs to be going away from you, not toward you. This is very important! Otherwise the shadow creates a distracting dark spot in front of the car and hides details on the car itself. Some of this can be improved by forced flash on your camera.

Since you’re using sun light, the quality of light translates into what time of day it is. You don’t want mid-day shots with the sun high in the sky. You want early in the day or late afternoon, when the sun angle is low. Depending on how low the sun is you'll very likely benefit from your camera’s flash. Try some shots with and without flash to see which turns out best. Be sure you use your camera’s “force flash” setting. Don’t rely on the automatic flash setting. You want it to flash, even though the camera doesn't think it needs to.

>>> Continue to part 2

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