Preparing the Vehicle
Preparing the Vehicle.
What does prepare even mean?
Prepare means: to make ready beforehand for some purpose, use, or activity. Athletes do it. Sports teams do it. Airline pilots do it. Professional speakers do it. Musicians do it. Event planners do it. Successful people do it. Photographers for Xcite™ will do it.
The following video will quickly show you how to prepare your vehicle.
Prepare.
It’s not always fun. In fact, sometimes the hours may seem long. It might not feel like you’re making any progress. Yet, success comes from preparation. The hours you spend preparing make for more positive, more uplifting and more successful hours in the time when it counts.
Plan For Success
Part of the preparation phase is planning for success. This is about getting yourself into a state of belief. Belief in yourself, and that you can accomplish the task before you. To take this one step further, beyond a belief in yourself, it’s also believing you can be excellent.
Focus
During your preparation, it’s important to focus. Focus on what’s important to know and do. Focus on those things that you’ll need to do to be successful. Work on them until you feel good about where you are. And no matter what it is you’re preparing for, look at both the mental and physical realms that will need your focus.
Understand
Understand what you are preparing for. Ask yourself the question “Do I know what it is I’m trying to accomplish?”. Answer it honestly. If your answer doesn’t make sense, or if it seems out of alignment with what you see the end result is, then focus more on understanding the scope of what you’re tackling. Sometimes tasks/projects/games can be ambiguous. When you encounter ambiguity, take the time to understand. Understanding will then lead back to the focus you need to continue on.
Pace Yourself
Preparation isn’t all about seeing how fast you can get it all done. It’s more important to focus on doing it right and focus on the quality of your work. Prepare for success by pacing yourself. This might mean going over one particular area many times, in an effort to get it “right”. That’s okay. Prep time and practice is exactly for that — for smoothing out the rough edges.
Succeed
If you do all the steps above, you are ready for the big “game”. Success will be waiting for you there. Remember also that at “game” time, as much as you’ve prepared, you may still be faced with something you hadn’t thought of. That’s okay. You do the best you can given what you know. Will you succeed? That’s a question only you can answer. Success is waiting. This is a journey we’re on. And one worth keeping at. Through it all, remember why it is you’re doing these things you’re doing. Whatever it is, it should be something you want to do.
Be Great!
Your moment is now! Find those things in life that have meaning to you. And as you’re getting ready to do these things — prepare. Prepare and put it all out there on the table. No regrets! This is your life. Be great!
Do you think it is important then to prepare a vehicle before you take photographs?
Yes!! It is very important to have the vehicle ready and prepared before you take photographs of the car. The dealership expects you as a qualified photographer to know what makes photographs look better and how to present them in a way that will attract customers to the dealership.
Preparing your vehicle for photos.
It is very important that you have your vehicle set up and prepared before you start taking any photos. By doing this first, it will save you time and energy later.
To prepare your vehicle, you first need to know which vehicle you are taking a photo of, have the key ready and move the vehicle to the location where you will photograph the vehicle.
Once you have positioned the vehicle correctly, facing the sun, you will proceed to prepare the vehicle by doing the following steps:
Ways to prepare the vehicle:
- Park the car in the correct position to take photos.
- Put the car into "P" position and put the handbrake on so the car doesn’t move and roll.
- Straighten the steering wheel.
- Open the sunroof or moonroof if available.
- Unlock all doors.
- Remove all paper items from the car, floors and boot or trunk. eg floor mats, trash, paper items.
- Check the trunk or boot for any foreign items and remove any paper or trash.
- Make sure the seats are correctly positioned. Upright and straight.
- Prepare your camera.
- Take photos of the vehicle.
- Once complete then mark your stock sheet and car.
Also an important step you need to remember is that while filming a vehicle, you need to put the drivers' window down. Why?
Because some vehicles have an automated lock system that locks once you close the doors. If you have the engine running and you close the door without the window being down, you may lock the keys in the vehicle while the car is running and that would be very unprofessional. That is why when getting out of the vehicle, please put the drivers' window down straight away!
All the steps above are very important. Xcite's™ photos are professional and need to look great. By following these simple, easy steps, (Xcite's™ Formula) your photos can turn out great too.
The pictures below will demonstrate some steps for you.
Removing paper items from boot or trunk.
All the steps that you just learned, need to be followed every time you set up your vehicles. If you don't follow those steps before you take photos, it will slow you down and you will have to go back and redo them.
Please keep in mind those important steps to prepare your vehicle. Please refer back to this lesson if you need a reminder.
Xcite™ values professional photographers. By following these simple steps that you have learnt, you will be a professional photographer.
Now please remember this: It is very important to remember that you DO NOT shoot photos in the rain. Why?
You don't want to get your camera wet for starters and when you are taking photos of vehicles, especially new ones, you do not want to get the car wet. The customer looking at the photos and thinking about buying the vehicle does not want to see that their car was in the rain.
If it is raining on the assigned day that you are going to shoot photos, you either have to wait until it stops raining later in the day, or you change your schedule and shoot photos the next day. As long as it is not raining.
If it is raining for longer than two days, you should make a courtesy call or drop in to the dealership and let them know that you cannot shoot their cars in the rain and that you will be in to take photos as soon as it stops raining. Otherwise the dealership will wonder why they are missing photos on their website.
If you are uncomfortable with these steps, practice makes perfect. Repetition is the key to retention. As part of the Xcite™ team, you are required to be professional and communicate with the dealership. This will help you be comfortable when talking to the dealers.
Please remember these important key steps in order (they may be in the quiz):
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Print your missing photo report stock sheet
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Check for vehicles that need photos
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Get the keys to the vehicles
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Position the vehicle correctly, making sure the money shot side is facing the sun.
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Prepare your vehicle for photos.
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Shoot your photos. Always starting with the drivers' side first.
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Then shoot all exterior and Interior photos
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Once complete mark both the vehicle and your stock sheet.
Now that you have completed this lesson on how to prepare the vehicle, you can proceed to the next one.
We are car photographers!
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