Every time I get to work with automotive dealerships for creating virtual tours, the first technical concern is reflections. Shiny new cars, massive windows, glass box offices, mirrors and spotlights all make for a very challenging photo shoot. It means planning the camera position is tricky and often almost impossible to avoid seeing the camera in the reflections. There’s also the challenge of lens flares due to all the spotlights. What that means is a lot more time in Photoshop, in the end, to clean up all those things that the laws of light physics throw at you.
Of course, that’s not the only challenge. As you would have noticed by now, I like to include people in my images as much as possible – not too much, but at least enough to make the business have some life. Admittedly, this is not always possible as not all businesses are suited to have people in their virtual tours. In some cases, the challenge is timing – can’t get the staff or talent at the time the virtual tour photo shoot is scheduled. In any case, when we were planning the virtual tour photo shoot for Lexus of Central Coast, Chris Andrews, their general manager was happy to have staff and himself get involved. We also wanted to give it our best shot at getting some good sunset shots into the tour as their dealership’s location is fortunate enough to be located high enough up to get great views facing west from the front view.
The virtual tour was also shot in such a way that we could add to it and build more data and info onto it over time. We also wanted to show off their very bright new service department.
Have a look around and let me know what you think. And if you’re passing by Lexus of Central Coast, or curious to learn more about what’s new in Lexus cars, drop in and say hi to Chris and the team.