Car Dealership Photography | What does a Car Dealership Photographer do? Dealership Inventory Photo
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ก.ค. 2024
- Car Dealership Photography, What does a car dealership photographer do?
This video briefly describes what I did as a car dealership photographer. I recorded this footage over the span of 3 years and I have a lot more unedited footage that I plan on making more videos of on different aspects of the job, or how I got the job. They'll be much shorter than this one.
Keywords: vehicle photographer, what does a vehicle photographer do?, automotive photographer, dealership inventory photographer, dealership photographer job, car photography, car dealership photography, car porter,
Similar questions asked:
What's it like to be a car dealership photographer?
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As a current vehicle photographer for a Ford dealership in Indianapolis, Indiana, my process is very similar, except with some minor differences. It’s definitely an enjoyable job, although I wish I was paid a little better.
I ageee with you! Even when I was working this job I always wished I could get paid a little better, granted we lived in CA so the cost of living was higher. I'm not sure what the COL is in Indianapolis. It's a weird little nook of a job where you actually enjoy doing it because you're not just working ANY job. You get to work with a camera, even though this is at the "low" end of the totem pole when it comes to photography but you absolutely never know what doors it'll open!
How long have you been working this job, Paul? Also, what are the minor difference in what you do? :)
How much you make as a dealer ship photographer? Just got offer a job for one making $23/hr and I’m watching these videos to see if I’d like it
How much do they pay
Hey, how did you end up getting this job? I’m thinking about just walking to the closest dealership and working for tips just to start
You document your jobs very well! From watching this to the porter job, I get a very good look into the position itself. Also, I must say, the amount of shots you take for pictures of the car is impressive. Most times looking at cars online, on average I’d see like 6-10. But you show all angles and then some, and high quality as well. Very professional. Hope you’re doing well in your career.
Aw man, thank you for your kind words and for taking the time to watch my videos! I tried to do my best at the car photography job while I was there. :)
I also have to give credit for the guy who worked that job before I took over. He taught me to be very thorough with the photos. :)
Love the little edit @ 10.15 worked really well.
Ha, thank you so much!!!!
Looking to get into this. Looks fun! Thanks for the video 😁
Thank you so much for taking the time to watch and comment!
I have been doing automotive photography for six months now. I have a photo booth where I drive the vehicles into a stage, and then like a legend of Zelda quest. I push a wall around while I take my photos. Other studios have electric motors that they push a button and the stage moves, but this one is not. I’m very fortunate to have access to the studio though, as for the pre-photos those are done outside and are extremely obnoxious as I cannot see cars as anything but mirrors. I love what I get to do and there’s a few things that you have done in your shot list that I’ll be incorporating with mine. thank you for making your post.
Dang man, I sure wish I could've seen your post sooner! Eben though your studio walls aren't motorized it sounds like you have an awesome setup!!!
I'm glad you were able to take something from my routine and incorporate it into your workflow!!! Keep working hard my dude!!!
Nice job great info
Very cool! I loved that video of the tire :)
Thank you! :)
Thank you for this!! I recently started doing the same type of job. Current format is boring and dull. I'm going to give your format for photos a try!
Good luck!!!! :)
I have the exact same job but a lot of differences!
Todays been a bit dead in work, Christmas time y'know, apparently works slow, so i decided to take a trip to TH-cam to get advice from other dealership photographers, you're the 5th/6th video i've seen? and so far the first i can actually relate to, everybody else has been saying about being able to knock out cars in 5 minutes a piece, and showing their photo's, which always just look terrible, and not really talking about the job itself
I'm from sunny sunny England, so we struggle with backgrounds, we just white washed it and put up boards, but this video is just so much more relatable than i was expecting and got some solid tips out of it, i don't struggle getting good shots, but we've suddenly decided that we want to try hitting 60 photo's per car so been after more shots to get for the adverts, and i never really thought about doing the same shots from different angles which is actually really smart, thank you!
Dang man, thank you for commenting! It's comments like yours that make all the work I put into videos like these so worth it! It's all footage taken over the course of 3 years on the job. I'm happy the video helped you, even if it was in a small way. :)
60 shots per car sounds like A LOT! I'm sure you'll be able to do it. It sounds like you take pride in your work. I always did, even if others thought of it as a lowly job.
And taking pictures of cars in 5 minutes sounds like a stretch if you ask me. That sounds super rushed.
Have you been able to get 60 images per car on a regular basis now?
@@joelcosita i probably average 45 a car now, 60 is more for the "prestige" cars though that's a lot of space filling, all 4 wheels, any badges, literally every page of the infotainment system 😅 but I can comfortably average 40-50 on just about any car
@@joelcosita and honestly the videos were just daft, I was reading their comments too and they mentioned being able to do like 30 cars a day and thats just stupid 😅
@@insanefalling4544 30 cars in a DAY?!?! That sounds ridiculous, either that or I was a slowpoke.
I only worked full 8 hour days on weekends and even if I was rushing I'd only get about 10 cars in those 8 hours with having to find them, move cars that were in front of the ones I needed (which was sometimes 2 or 3 cars and even then I'd have to hunt down the keys sometimes), sometimes wash the cars before the photos or remove plastic wrapping from new cars and then staging them.
@@joelcosita I'm about the same, the most i've ever done was like 12 cars in a day but that also had the same staff bringing me every car and having them ready on standby as soon as i finished
but a regular day is probably 8 cars? i luckily don't have as many issues, we have a key lockup, and on site valeters, though we also video every car which can take about as long as photographing them
Hi, I just watched the video and It’s something I’d want to apply for cus on indeed the only requirements at my local dealership are photograph and a drivers license. I am 17 with a license but my problem is I don’t have any real photography portfolios or projects that I’ve done in the past. What do you recommend I do as I need to apply soon to try to get this as a summer job. Thanks
I’ve started just doing the basic, but it’s helper with my dealership. Nice video check mind our even you have time.
I'm going through your videos right now. Keep on charging on!!!!
If you don't mind me asking, what's your ultimate goal?
@@joelcosita damn.... you got me.
I’m over here thinking what is my ultimate goal. I think honestly it’s to be able to provide and show the stepping stone I’ll be taking to achieve a luxury car dealership.
I’m now slowly showing the route i want to get to so people can understand my passion for cars.
@@rollcam4506 well, dang! That's a nice goal! Hopefully you eventually get to where to want to be!
Are you up for a challenge? :P
@@joelcosita I’m always up for a challenge. I’m watching your video on how to shoot professional car photography.
I also subbed
@@rollcam4506 I wouldn't call it a "how to" video, it's just how I did the job. I'm sure others have their own routine. Although I did have my own decent routine after 3 years.
Thank you for subbing and watching!
This was informative. Thank you.
Q:
How many cars were you expected to shoot in an 8 hour shift??
If I really hurried probably 10 but usually 7-8.
I never asked or waited on porters to wash the vehicles that I needed to photograph because if I did I'd wait forever sooo I almost always washed the cars before photographing them which lead to 30-45 minutes per car for wash and photos.
Great video, I am a bit suprised at how many of your photos are out of focus though. I'd bump your Shutterspeed a little bit so you don't get motion
I honestly appreciate you pointing that out!!! :) Interestingly enough I learned about shutter speed AFTER I left this job in 2019.
@@joelcosita I photograoh for Harley-Davidson so I always watch videos in case of new tips or tricks and came across this video. You made a great video regardless
@@Ten16Media :)
Thank you!
Just started the same a new position at the dealership and it includes doing photos too, I would love to know what camera you are using. Or others taking photos for dealerships. Our last guy was using an iphone. Thank you for the video!
I used a Canon 70D during the 3 years I was there. :)
@@joelcositaand what lens?
How much to charge per car for photo and video?
I'm really interested in landing a job like this, any tips on how to go about doing so?
When I applied for the job I had 3 years of experience as a Car Dealership Porter. One of the requirements on the job application for this job was that you had to have experience about how a dealership ran and worked. Thankfully for me my old job as a car porter was my saving grace in landing this job. I think if I didn't have that prior experience they wouldn't have hired me.
I honestly wouldn't have any tips. I had no real photography experience other that personal projects before this job. But it was those small projects combined with my experience as a car porter that got me the job. I never would've guessed that it would've worked out that way but it did. :)
I've always been interested in photography but never had the right resources for the right equipment to turn it into an actual hobby/job. Do you have any advice on good cameras?
Honestly my canon 70D did the trick for me. It's all I've ever taken pictures with since I bought it. I used it on this car dealership photography job for the 3 years I was there so I was very fortunate to say I literally made a living off of my 70D for three years!
My 3 years as a car dealership porter job got my foot in the door as a car dealership photographer.
I was a porter here in TX (we moved back in 2019) for 3 years and when we moved to Cali I was hell-bent on landing a photographer/videographer job and my experience as a porter DEFINITELY rolled over into the dealership photographer because I already knew how a dealership operated but when I interviewed for the car photography job I just showed them a bunch of pictures I had taken and my past experience really sealed the deal for the job.
Photography was a hobby of mine for years before that but I also wanted to make a living off of it (but not forever) for a few years so I really got it out of my system with this job.
I also landed a separate videography job that I had for those same 3 years. I ended up working the videography job full time and the photography job part time for those 3 years as well.
The skills I learned with each really complimented the other.
I made a video of a city called Ventura that basically also helped me land both of those jobs because the managers liked it so much.
Been doing this for the last 3 years. So much fun..... XD i mean i can be its nice to have admin days on rainy days but you shoot in the heat on a lot mid summer to the snow in the winter. I try to hide after a snow fall so i don't have to dig out cars XD. Have you run into it's your fault there not selling cars? My first dealer ship the used car managers always blamed me... Im like dude we got the car yesterday the keys haven't even been processed.
Jeebus, how did I miss your comment?!?!
Thank you for commenting. It means a lot. :)
And the car dealership managers never directly blamed me for low car sales per se but they did on several occasions try and vaguely comment about more sales related to more car photos. Which I guess makes sense but it's not like a photo of a glove compartment makes or breaks the deal.
After both working as a car porter at a different dealership before being a dealership car photographer at this place AND working at this dealership, I saw, over the course of 5 years how car sales managers always tried to find ways to blame others for low car sales.
Heck even when I worked as a porter, those poor saps called sales managers even tried to blame low car sales on the placement of vehicles on the lot.
Yea, they sometimes seem really disconnected from the process of getting a vehicle ready. You'd think they'd know better.
Is this same as inventory photographer
Do you decide where to take the photos or does the dealership and how much editing is required of each vehicle?
When I first started they didn't care where I took the photos, all they cared about was consistency.
Towards the end of my time there they wanted all the exterior shots to be taken in front of the dealership.
I never edited any photos.
The photos in this video are not my "best ones" per say, they are the photos I took while recording the process so I used them for consistency in the video.
I did take a lot of photos I am proud of for it being my first photography job.
I've since moved on to a different career. :)
Not my experience at all being a dealership photographer. I spend most of my day chasing people down trying to get the keys to the cars I need to take photos of. It's extremely demeaning, I feel more like an errand boy than a professional. This is in Memphis, Tennessee.
Dang I chased down a lot of the sales guys too for keys ALL the time at my previous porter job before this one. Although I must say, I got along great with the sales team my second dealership job as a car photographer but they were also a lot more responsible in regards to putting the keys back where they belonged.
I never minded it though, usually I spent 30 or so minutes just rounding up keys.
Memphis is sad
Whats your new career?? This looked like an amazing career path! And also...what did you normally charge? Or did they set what they were paying you?
I'm a firefighter in a different city now. I got paid by the hour in the car photography job as I was hired full time, started out at $15 an hour and when I left 3 years later I was getting paid $20 an hour.
Is videography important for working with dealerships?
Cause I'm just into photography.
I wouldn't think so, unless they specifically ask you to make videos.
This reminds me of construction photography that I wasted 5 years of my life. Don't waste your time with this job - this is not even a job but a gig. You get in starting at low money, at times use your expensive gear, by the time you start to make some "better" money..you are burned out of the same sh$#t every day. You worked a "cool gig" as a "photographer" - not really time to be creative - and left w/o much experience for anything else once you don't even want to hear about doing the same again. For what? drive cool cars? Invest your time in something that will give you a return back. Time is your most valuable resource.
Honestly, you hit the nail on the head with this!!! But my reality was a bit different. When we moved to California in 2016 we knew for a fact we'd be moving back after a few years. This Car Dealership photographer job was the first real paying job I got in Cali. 2 months after I started this job I got hired somewhere else to do my dream job of videography.
Again, to be clear, these two jobs were only ever going to be temporary for me. I always had a different goal in mind but for 3 years this was my life.
When I got hired to do the food videography job I quit this one to start the new job and about a year later the dealership called me back asking if I wanted to work for them once more, I agreed to go back to work for them but only on a part time basis.
They asked me to come back at a very good time since my wife and I needed a little extra income at that time so they hired me at $20.00/hr.
Then for 2 more years I worked my dream job + the car dealership job before we eventually moved back to Texas in 2019.
The end goal was always to move back to Texas. The reason my wife and I moved to California was to try something completely different and new. For me, it ultimately helped me get all my creative urges out through the food videography job during those 3 years.
It was a stable job on which we shot food videos on a weekly basis and if we weren't shooting video, I was almost always editing.
I shot, edited, set up lighting and audio for every food video. After 3 years I shot and edited well over 200 videos.
I struggled a bit in the beginning since I had never done videography to any professional extent but after 3 years I got pretty good at playing with lighting for food and shooting and editing footage from 3 different cameras.
I'd usually have 2 or 3 stationary cameras and I'd roam with another one on set to get some hand held footage.
Put it all together in post along with the audio and sometimes music.
I'm barely scratching the surface though, about the job and I'm leaving so many details out but likeI I said, the dealership gig, as you call it, and the food videography job were only temporary.
If I was looking to do either of those 2 jobs for the rest of my life I would've done my best to eventually move on to bigger and better projects for different experiences but for those 3 years, they were the best of experiences for me.
Now we are back in Texas and I am truly working my dream job as a firefighter.
I will always have the foundation I learned from the 2 jobs and will always be grateful for it.
I really appreciate you taking the time to see the video and read my entire essay of a comment. :)
How many pics did you take a day? Was it a Full time or part time job? What would you do in inclement weather?
About 10 cars on a good day, roughly 30 images per car so an average of 300 images a day.
I HAVE An INTERVIEW SOON... DO I NEED PHOTOGRAPHY EXPERIENCE ...I DO OWN A CANON MARK ii
and ONLY a stock Lense
I'd imagine it depends on the dealership.
The only real reason they hired me as a photographer at this dealership was because I had Porter experience at a different dealership
Well done brother. I've been doing this for 23 years in San Diego. Honestly, you can do all of what you're doing on an iPhone 13 pro max. I also do video on the same. Let me know if you have any questions and want to learn video for your stores as well. God bless!
Is it like a good job
Do they contract out that work, or is it something they prefer to hire an in house guy for?
@Rocio Gamez it depends honestly but I loved the job while I was there!
@Randy Wright a lot of dealerships contract the photo side to companies that specialize in car photography.
@Randy Wright I worked in house for them for 3 years before they decided to go with a contracting company.
Whats the average Earnings per month broo... I really wanna take this as a career but a little worried for Earnings...
I would imagine that it would vary by state. I started off at $15.00 and 3 years later when I left I was at $20.00 an hour.
@@joelcosita thanks for info man 🙌 and all the best to you..
@@joelcosita So it took 3 years to burn out doing this...and when you started to make some "better" money - hmm not exactly a good investment of 3 years of anyone's life.
@@woodant7 I think it just depends on your perspective of what one thinks a good use of their time is. I basically wrote an essay when I replied to your other comment. :P
My perspective and ultimate goals for this job were different from 99% of everyone else working/pursuing similar, or slightly similar, creative experiences with videography and photography.
@@aravwattal4034 did you ever get into this industry? I have been doing this for over 5 years and I love it. It can’t be creative depending on where you work. As well the pay for myself is good but it all depends on where you work
Don’t you got to do the HD video?
You mean HD video for the cars?
@@joelcosita That’s what I said 🤦🏿♂️
@@Bus_211 I was never required to do that. They started doing it after I left that job though
@@joelcosita ok
Listening to that RLX squeak off that curb makes me not want to buy one 😂
it wasn't so bad! :P
I create video content & social media marketing for a Chevy dealer in Louisville, KY. Job is chill, very little oversight. I too am not a car guy, which makes my job creatively so difficult. I want to make a blowup TH-cam channel but fuck man, I have thought about feasible ideas for almost 2 years and there's just nothing.
The default content is vehicle walkarounds but without integrating those videos to your website on the listing of those vehicles- they're not effective. I don't want to try to be a car channel- the space is so crowded, I don't care about the cars. Could be a Chevy news channel with commentary, but those are so shitty to edit.
The number one question, who wants to follow a car dealership? Seriously? on TH-cam? Social media? No one. The ONLY exception is Town and Country TV, but they have offerings other dealers don't, plus a 5 person team to make content.
Content for car dealerships is a lost cause. In the end of the day, price sells cars.
Duuuuuude, what you described was literally my "biggest" unsolved problem for the three years I did the job. The dealership I worked for always wanted to squeeze some form of marketable content out of my job but when it came down to it there was nothing I could ever think of in regards to that. Your usual target audience would be the general population surrounding the dealership but it's not like they're all trying to buy a new car every day.
They always asked me to try and do vehicle walkaround videos but most of the time I was too occupied taking photos of the cars that it was next to impossible for me to do both. If I focused on anything else that wasn't taking pictures of the cars, I would quickly fall behind on unphotographed inventory.
You are right, NO ONE wants to follow a car dealership on any sort of social media platform. I'm only 90% certain that there is some sort of social media content or video that can be made to make people want to follow a dealership that would directly and positively impact their sales BUT no one has found it yet. Ha!!!
Sometimes the car salesmen or women would create short walk around videos on their phones and send those to their few inquiring customers and SOMETIMES that would lead to a sale but it was so few and far in between and 99% of the time most sales men or women had zero desire to actually put their own face on a video for their customers.
There was a salesman, I forget which state, but he has a youtube channel, he would make personalized videos for EVERY person he came across. It didn't matter if they called just to see if a certain car was on the lot, if it wasn't he would still make a 30 second video. He'd just record himself and say something along the lines of "Hi, *insert name here* thank you for calling today..." and just the fact that he made a very short and personalized video for everyone had a lasting impact on people. He was the most successful salesman in his region. But even that was a numbers game. If he came across 100 people and made 100 short personalized videos he'd probably make 20 sales over any other salesman who would come across 100 different people who'd only make maybe 5 sales. Still, a numbers game with more work involved. I just CANNOT remember the guy's name.
Way back in 2016 when I started the job, I found his youtube channel, I actually reached out to him and he said the personalized videos are what made the biggest difference for him.
The last time I took a picture of a car was 2019, it was a fun job while I worked it. :)
How much is the pay??
When I first started in 2016 I was getting paid $15/hr and before I left in 2019 I was getting paid $20/hr.
@@joelcosita How many hours would you work?
You wash the car?? That’s their job not yours lol