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Cars are mostly reflection

A car's paint, glass and chrome are all mirrors, which means large parts of the image are literally showing the background you are trying to remove. Sky reflects across the bonnet and roof, and the surroundings wrap around the doors.

This is why vehicles are harder than they look. A tool separating subject from background sees sky-coloured pixels in the middle of the car and has to decide they belong to the car, which is a genuinely ambiguous call.

Shoot for the cut-out

Where you park changes the result more than any setting afterwards:

• An open, empty area — an unused car park, an industrial estate on a Sunday — so nothing intersects the outline.
• Overcast light. Direct sun creates blown highlights on the bodywork and hard shadows that read as part of the car.
• A three-quarter front angle, showing one side and the front, which is the view that sells and the easiest outline to separate.
• Wheels turned slightly towards the camera, so the front wheel shows its face rather than a thin edge.
• Shoot from around waist height rather than standing, which keeps the proportions natural.

The parts that need checking

Zoom in on three areas before you use the result. Wheel arches and the gap under the car, where the shadow often gets kept as if it were bodywork. Aerials, mirrors and spoilers, which are thin enough to be dropped entirely. And window glass, where you have to decide whether the interior stays or goes — keeping it usually looks more natural for a listing.

A car cut out and placed on plain white with its original ground shadow removed tends to look like it is floating. Adding a soft elliptical shadow underneath, or keeping a hint of the original contact shadow, is what makes it sit on the surface.

For listings and dealer stock

A consistent background across every vehicle is what makes a small dealer's stock page look professional, and it is achievable without a studio: photograph each car in the same spot under similar light, cut out, and composite onto one shared backdrop.

Buyers still expect honesty about condition. Cut out the car cleanly, but photograph the scratches, kerbed alloys and interior wear separately and leave them untouched — an unnaturally perfect gallery raises more doubt than a visible scuff does.