How to photograph a large fleet of trucks
I've just had the opportunity to photograph a lineup of sixteen trucks for Drainfast. We tried to get the entire fleet of nineteen vehicles together in one place for the first time but a few trucks were otherwise occupied. I couldn't find much guidance about photographing large fleets of trucks online so I thought I'd share some tips for anyone else that is planning to do this.
1) Use a large open space
We borrowed nearby business premises with a convenient location and an empty yard. While there was enough space to line the trucks up, it did limit our options a bit. I would recommend getting the largest open space that you possibly can. Perhaps try some disused runways of a local airport or hire a racetrack, for example.
2) Plan some layouts for positioning the trucks
I planned five or six different layouts, to try and get different photos on the day. In the end time and space didn't permit us to get them all done. It was still useful to show the drivers what we were trying to achieve and if there had been more time it would have given some different perspectives.
3) Make sure the trucks are clean
This might be obvious, but don’t forget to plan in time for cleaning all of the trucks before you park them up for the photos. It’s not worth trying to photoshop mud off trucks; it won’t be time efficent. In our case, thanks go to the transport team who arranged cleaning of all of the trucks.
4) Allow lots of time for lining the trucks up
Let me just say, it will take longer than you think. Warn all of the drivers that they'll need to be patient with you as you get them to move over by a few inches. You can really notice even slight discrepancies in the lineup if it’s not perfectly spaced.
5) Keep an eye on the weather
We were dodging the rain during this shoot, it made things a lot more challenging but in the end I quite like the moody look provided by the storm clouds above. Ideal conditions would probably be overcast mild weather for nice even lighting.
6) Use a tripod, and a small appature
To get all of the trucks in focus make use of a tripod so that you can use slower shutter speeds without getting blurred photos. I recommend shooting in appature priority using a small appature (high f-stop number) of around f8 to f16 and put the ISO onto 100 (or the lowest available on your camera) to prevent excess noise in the image. Then in appature priority mode the camera should choose the best shutter speed. Top tip: use the built in 2-second delay timer on your camera to avoid any camera shake from pressing the shutter button.
7) Bracket your exposures
I also recommend bracketing each exposure that you take by two stops brighter and darker. These can then be blended together in Adobe lightroom or Photoshop. This will help ensure that you don't clip any highlights or shadows and gets the most out of your camera. I definitely recommend shooting all photos in RAW as well to give you more editing control.
8) Experiment with different viewpoints
Get creative with different angles and perspectives to show the scale of the fleet of trucks. Get some detail shots of parts of the trucks that feature a logo or branding as well. If you can get some people in the shot it helps lend a sense of scale as well.
9) Get up high or use a drone
A great way to fit all of the trucks into one frame is to get some photos from above. We used a drone for some photos but also made use of a first floor window to get some height.
10) Get some more creative shots without a tripod with a wide appature
I realise that this flies in the face of the earlier points that I made. However you want to get some photos with a different look and feel. So once you've got the main shots done, switch it up a bit and go handheld. Keep your camera on appature priority, use the widest appature that you can (this will depend on the lens that you are using but for example from f1.8 to f4) and put the ISO onto auto mode. Don't worry to bracket the exposures for this, and turn off the 2 second delay onto low speed continuous.
You'll need to chose what you want in focus for this part and be aware that other parts of the image will be out of focus. Using a shallower depth of field like this gives a sense of depth to the photos, making them more three dimensional.
