One of my favorite things about automotive photography is matching the vehicle with its environment. When you think of a GMC Sierra - where is it driving? What does it look like? Feel like? I wanted to convey a capable truck and decided to take this AT4 off the pavement.
Throughout this post, I'm going to share a little inside scoop on what was going through my head during a quick vehicle highlight session. Working at a car dealership, I have found that real, eye-catching images grab much more attention than stock images and cell phone shots - and it takes just 10-15 minutes out of my day. I do my best to help current and prospective customers experience the feeling of a vehicle through images. But this attention-grabber only works when all of the other moving parts are in order - great inventory listing photos, vehicle walkaround videos, and a team of knowledgeable sales professionals ready to answer questions. When they see a vehicle they like, they hit the website or contact us for more information. If that supplemental information is not readily available, they won't spend the time to dig past the social media post.
Ditching My Go-To Angle
On a typical shoot, my hero image (or main image) is going to be about headlight-height, angling the vehicle left or right with the wheel turned the same way. This time around, it didn't seem to be doing the trick. I decided to get low, and got the result you saw when you clicked on this post. It was more authoritative and conveyed the feeling I was going for a bit better than my usual angle. The texture of the gravel was a great contributing factor for this as well - leading your eyes right up to the truck.
