Before you move a car back into the inventory line, check that you have its full exterior, a readable interior, and close-ups of its condition. A missing rear-seat photo needs another trip to the car. A cropped bumper needs another photograph. Neither problem gets easier once you open an editor.
You can do this with a phone. Set up one place to shoot, follow a walkaround, and review the set while the vehicle is still in front of you.
Prepare the car and the space around it
Clean the car, clear personal belongings from the cabin, and wipe the camera lens. Close the doors and trunk for the exterior shots. Open them again for the cabin and luggage space. Keep worn upholstery, chipped paint, and other condition details visible.
Find a space where you can walk around the vehicle without stepping into traffic. Leave enough room to move back for the longer cars in stock. Before choosing the spot, look through the phone at the whole frame: neighboring cars, signs, bins, and poles are easier to avoid now than to remove later.
Take a test photograph and check the reflections. A building reflected in a door can remain visible after background replacement because it is part of the photographed car. If a bright window or your own reflection hides the panel, change your position or move the vehicle.
Original Audi photograph, before background editing. The building also appears in the paint and glass. On a new shoot, leave more room around the bumpers than this tight frame allows.
Choose light that lets you see the panels
Start with even daylight. An overcast day or open shade is a useful place to try, provided the whole vehicle sits in similar light. Avoid parking half the car under a canopy and leaving the other half in direct sun.
Direct sunlight can cause glare, harsh shadows, and washed-out color. Adobe's car photography guide recommends shooting around sunrise or sunset, or using shade when you have to work at midday. For a listing, choose the position that makes the body and paint easiest to inspect rather than chasing a dramatic sunset.
Shade can give a photo a blue tint; warm light can make the paint look yellower. Adobe's white balance guide also explains why a mix of light is hard to correct with one adjustment. If one door looks yellow and the next looks blue, moving the car is a better starting point than applying a stronger filter.
Step back before reaching for the wide-angle button
Use the phone's main camera as your starting point. Hold it horizontally, keep it level, and try a height around the door handles. Then move back until both bumpers, the roof, the tires, and the mirrors fit with some space around them.
If the nearest bumper looks oversized, move farther away. Where you stand affects how large the near end looks compared with the far end; zoom changes how much fits in the photo. Canon's explanation of focal length describes how the lens and camera distance affect the view. Switching to an ultra-wide view while standing close may fit the car into the picture, but it can leave the near end looking much larger than the far end.
A modest zoom can help you frame the car from farther back. Its quality depends on the phone, the selected camera, and the light, so inspect a test shot before using it for the whole set.
Keep the same camera height through the exterior walkaround. Turn on the grid or level if your phone has one. Apple documents these controls in its guide to setting up an iPhone shot.
Photograph the walkaround, the cabin, and the condition
Use a photo checklist so the set covers more than the most flattering corner. Auto Trader UK's advert photography guidance includes front- and rear-corner views, straight-on views, both sides, wheels, cabin, trunk, engine bay, and damage. It recommends horizontal photos.
A practical order is:
- Take the main front-corner photo, then the straight front view and the opposite front corner.
- Walk down each side and photograph the car from both sides.
- Cover the rear corners and the straight rear view.
- Open the doors for the dashboard, front seats, rear seats, and relevant controls. Photograph the odometer clearly.
- Open the trunk and hood for the luggage area and engine bay. Add close-ups of wheels, tire tread, equipment, and visible wear.
This order is a working checklist, so adapt it to the vehicle. A convertible needs views with its roof up and down. A van may need its cargo space and sliding doors. Add a close-up for each condition detail that is hard to see in the wider photographs.
If the images will feed Google vehicle ads, its image guidelines recommend a front-to-side angle of about 45 degrees for the main image. Save the rear views for the rest of the gallery.
Set focus and brightness for each view
Tap the car on the screen, hold the phone steady with both hands, and look at the brightest panel before taking the shot. Adjust brightness if the hood has become a white patch or the doors have disappeared into shadow. On iPhone, tapping sets the focus area and dragging beside it adjusts exposure, or brightness; holding the area enables AE/AF Lock, which holds focus and exposure in place. These controls are covered in Apple's camera guide.
Recheck brightness when you turn toward the other side of the car. The background and direction of light have changed, so a setting that worked for the front corner may leave the rear too dark.
For interiors, open the doors to admit light and brace yourself before taking the photograph. Check that the seats, dashboard, and odometer are readable. A bright windshield behind a dark cabin is a reason to adjust the shot and inspect the result, not to assume the phone has handled it.
Use a neutral camera style. Leave dramatic color filters for photographs that are not documenting a car for sale.
Check the photos while the car is still there
Open the photographs rather than judging them only in the camera preview. Zoom in on a wheel, a headlight, and the odometer. Check for blur, clipped edges, reflections hiding damage, and a missing angle.
A sharpening tool may make a soft photograph look clearer, but that does not verify lettering or surface detail the camera failed to record. Photograph an unreadable badge or damaged panel again. Keep the original files when you transfer the set to your editor.
Once you have the photos, follow the listing photo editing guide for crop, brightness, and color corrections. If you use LotReady to replace the background, compare the finished photo with its original before publishing. Check the car's details and edges even with AI Enhance off; cutting out, resizing, and saving can change small details, and AI Enhance can rebuild them.