Lightroom Processing Tips - Automotive/Car Photography

[David Ivani]

Hi everyone,

I am sure there are many car photographers here and I would like to ask any of you to help me figure out how to achieve “clean” results such as the photo attached.

By tips, I am referring to what values should be untouched and what areas should be addressed in order to even get close to anything like this beautiful BMW edit.

Credit goes to @varography.

Thank You!

[ducle510]

I know many car photographers like to play with the "Clarity" slider.  I would try and use this sparingly. Values of 20+ begins to introduce uneccessary contrast.

[JP Hess]

I suppose it's a matter of personal taste. But if the beautiful car is the real subject of the picture, perhaps it would be a good idea to try to make it more prominent. Just a suggestion.

[ManiacJoe]

While that is a good final result, how to get there greatly depends on where you are starting from with the original file.

Can you link us to an example of yours?

[David Ivani]

Sure,

[David Ivani]

Feel free to checkout @nostalgia.media_ on Instagram. I can agree that my sharpness and clarity values are excessive yet it almost seems impossible to even get close to such results.

[GoldingD]

One tip, after selecting a profile (generally any camera matching one, instead of Adobe defaults) making an initial WB setting, initial tone settings(exposure, white, black, etc), and an initial tone curve selection, adjust the WB again, but use the sampler tool (eyedropper) to accomplish that. Remember you do not have to select a nice white (but not absolute white) area, or a gray area (as in gray card), just a nice bit of image with a near solid color selection. However, what a nice large source of neutral gray in the background of your image.

Small corrections in WB can lead to huge improvements in perceived image quality.

[ManiacJoe]

If we start with this photo from your IG account

https://scontent-sea1-1.cdninstagram.com/vp/0a643bcdc77eaa0c0dddda91efe2bb9d/5E3B3FB8/t51.2885-15/e3...

We can get something like this

with these "basic" settings

exposure: +0.20
contrast: +15
highlights: -15
shadows: +10
whites: +35
blacks: -35
clarity: +5
dehaze: +5
vibrance: +10
saturation: +5

and a vignette 

exposure: -1.0
contrast: -15
highlights: -15
clarity: -15
sharpness: -35