Sometimes we long for the old days of automotive photography. Back in the era of actual emulsions and cellulose film that has all but gone the way of the dinosaurs. Of course, film is not entirely extinct and like Jurassic Park, there are still those brave souls out there that are still messing around with the medium of film cameras. Of course, at CarData, we are full service automotive inventory photography and video professionals with the most current imaging technology at our fingertips. We produce some of the most dynamic vehicle photography for dealerships all over the southeast, from Florida to Texas. Our photographers and videographers are experts at interpreting your vehicle inventory and translating each and every detail into a highly marketable package. We all know that social media is the latest way to effectively market vehicles for sale. Not to say that print has been replaced, but most of your customers will do research on the internet before buying a car, and many times that means heading to directly to social media to check out what others are saying. If you do not have a highly marketable selection of photos and videos you are going to be lost in the noise. Videos seem to be the key to getting the most content out there for all to see. But lest we forget, there was a time, not too long ago, when all video was recorded on film as well.
The Beauty of Film
There is just something about film, the way it looks is somewhat different than the typical digital images we are so used to these days. Of course, film photographs are meant to be held and viewed, it is more of an experience and at times, more intimate. While today, many of the photographs that we are exposed to are never actually tangible, meaning that they are transferred from one digital device to another, without ever being printed. That is just the way of things and now, images are transferred so quickly that many times they are never found by the intended recipient. With film, pictures can be touched and held, manipulated and enhanced. While the images CarData produces are exceptional, sometimes we long for the days when film ruled media.
The Old Days
Today, all we need to do is pull out a smartphone and just like that, a perfect image. If an image is not perfect, it will be scrutinized into infamy, remember the Vanity Fair image in which Oprah had three hands? Someone messed up. With film photography, you only had the image visible through the sight to gauge how the image would turn out. As is the way with things, what the camera captured was not always what was expected. The lighting was off, the image was blurry, the wrong settings were used on the camera, and a hundred other things could have gone wrong. Unlike today, you never knew what you had until you developed the film, dark ages indeed.
The Way It Used To Be Done
Developing film was much more labor intensive than the way we obtain images today. It was imperative that the film remain away from light to avoid exposure, or the film would be ruined. When you hit the button on a film camera, the aperture opened and allowed the image to be burned into the film, if the aperture was open too much, or not enough, the image was irreversibly damaged. Upon finishing a roll of film it was removed from the camera in a dark room, and then dredged through a bath of chemicals that developed the negatives. When the negatives were developed, they are generally inspected through a magnifying glass to determine if they are suitable to be made into prints. Prints are made by shining light through the negatives onto a special photoreactive paper. The paper is then developed by dredging it though more chemicals. It is quite the process. Much more labor intensive than current digital photography. Today, pictures are instant, without the hassle of development and touch ups. There was a time when the only instant image available was from the Polaroid camera. The Polaroid was a technological marvel that produced pictures right away, and like it or not, you were stuck with what popped out of the camera.
Superior Images
As we said before, substandard images are not acceptable today and at CarData we have the expertise and the skills to provide you with the finest images available. We utilize the latest imaging software that, coupled with the skill of our photographers, produce some amazing content. Photographing cars and trucks takes skill and each and every one of the CarData staff is fully trained in the art. When you need to put your inventory out there, CarData is your number one choice. Contact us today for more information about our photography, video, and editing services, we guarantee you will love the results.