How to photograph a car you are selling

Wash it. Clear it out.

A dirty car photographs as a neglected car.

Buyers read neglect as mechanical neglect, fair or not.

A wash and a vacuum change the first impression more than any camera setting.

Take everything personal out first. Papers, chargers, a child’s seat, anything with your address on it.

It tidies the frame. It also keeps details out of a public listing that do not need to be there.

The angles buyers look for

• Three-quarter front and three-quarter rear. These two show the shape and make a car look like itself.
• Straight on from each side, from a crouch rather than standing.
• Interior from the driver’s door, the dash with the odometer readable, and the rear seats.
• Engine bay, the trunk, and the tires including the tread.
• Anything you have described as a flaw.

Light does most of the work

Overcast is the easiest light there is. It kills the reflections that hide panel shape.

Otherwise shoot the hour after sunrise or before sunset.

Avoid midday sun. It puts hard highlights down the side of a car and blacks out the shadows.

Avoid the garage too. Mixed light turns the color strange.

An empty parking lot with a plain background beats a driveway with trash cans in it.

Photograph the flaws on purpose

This feels backwards. It is the difference between a sale that closes and one that falls apart in the driveway.

A scratch found in person after a two-hour drive costs you the sale and the goodwill.

The same scratch in photograph six costs you nothing. The people who turn up have already accepted it.

It also lines the pictures up with what you put in writing. Anything you list as a known issue on the disclosure sheetwe have this one is worth a photo.

Shoot more than you need

Twenty to thirty photos takes ten minutes and gives you a set to choose from.

Lead with the three-quarter front.

Put a clean interior shot second. Sellers bury the interior, and it is the thing buyers are most suspicious of.

The sheet that matches the photos

The disclosure sheet is where the flaws you photographed get written down, in your words, and signed by both of you. Free, no account.