Vehicle wraps are, by their nature, awesome looking works of commercial art. The combination of spectacular designs, cool finishes, slick effects and amazing cars make a perfect visual match. So why do so many of us fall short when showcasing our wrap work? WrapperMapper.com thought perhaps it would be nice to compile a nice Top 5 Tips list to help out.

Tip #1 – Shoot at the Right Time of Day –Digital Photography School

Shooting at the right time of day. This is by far the most common mistake people make when shooting cars. The best time to shoot will be a few minutes after sunset (or a few minutes before sunrise). Use a tripod and get that perfect soft light on the wrap! This photo was taken for TopGear a few minutes before sunrise.

Tip #2 – Creative Angles – Neil James with Infinity Digital Imaging

Be creative with your angles. To make your shots stand out, try shooting from different angles, such as just above ground level, and exploit vantage points that are available. Don’t forget that you can also move the car to take advantage of your shoot’s setting.

Tip #3 – Use the Sun – Matt Bristow – Matt’s Portfolio

One of the first things you’re taught in photography is never to shoot into the sun. Here’s a quick tip where you’ll get some awesome results by going against this.

All you need is one (yes one) flash. Pop it on top of your camera and set it to manual. If you set it to ETTL or the Nikon equivalent it won’t work as you’re not trying to create a balanced-looking shot and you’ll be up against the biggest light source in our solar system as your key light!

Set your camera to Manual and the ISO as low as it will go. Now set the shutter speed to anything that your flash can sync to. I’d suggest something around 1/160th as it wont make the slightest difference to the exposure. Set your aperture to around f16. This is one of the settings you will need to tweak and set your flash to something around 1/4 power (the other changeable setting).

Now take a shot – you need to be low enough and wide enough to get your subject and the sun in frame.

I shot the first photo at 1/80th at f16 and the end product is exactly as it came out of the camera; you can tell as there are a couple of horrible dust spots!

To finish off, I threw a curve and added a slight gradient to the sky and bang, all done in less than 10 minutes in post-production, and jobs a good’un! Yes I know you can achieve a similar effect in post but it will take you hours and will never (in my opinion) look as convincing.

Tip #4 – Panning for Motion Blur – Digital Photography School

Panning for Motion Blur. A cool way to get some motion in your picture is to stand next to the road and let the car drive past you. Follow the car with your lens in one smooth action and set the shutter speed to 125th of a second. You will be amazed how easy this is! This Ferrari was shot at 125th of a second at 200mm. The car was driving roughly 60 km/h (40 miles/hr)

Tip #5 – Shooting at Night – Digital Photography School

Shooting at night. This might sound daunting but you will be amazed how easy and awesome this is! The biggest secret here is to find a spot where it’s completely dark, any streetlights or even a full moon could make life tricky.

When you have found this spot, set the camera up on a tripod. Set your ISO to 100, the shutter speed on 30 seconds and the aperture to f/9.

When the shutter opens take a strong constant light source and walk around the car ‘painting’ the car with your light. A normal household torch (flashlight) works for this.

There are no rules here, paint the car in different ways to get different effects; you will be blown away with the results!