Men photograph well beside a car when the lines stay straight and the weight stays planted. Unlike the women’s set, which favours soft curves, the shoulders stay square here and the chin drops slightly to define the jaw.

Posing men beside a car works on almost the opposite principle to posing women. Where the women's set favours soft curves and weight on one leg, men usually photograph better with straight lines and a planted stance — feet about shoulder width, shoulders square.

The chin should drop slightly rather than lift. A raised chin exposes the underside of the jaw and reads as haughty; dropping it and pushing it slightly forward defines the jawline instead. It is a small adjustment that changes the whole feel of the frame.

For the arms, folding them is the easiest option but also the most closed-off. If you fold, keep the shoulders loose and do not press the arms flat. Better alternatives: one hand in a pocket with the other resting on the roof, or sitting on the bonnet with both hands braced behind you.

Reference poses

The car is a subject too, and it has a best angle

Unlike settings where the background is only backdrop, here the car is usually something the viewer wants to look at as much as the person. That means the angle has to flatter both, and cars have one clearly best angle: three-quarter, looking in from the front so you see the face of the car and one flank.

Straight from the side turns a car into a long flat rectangle. Straight from the front removes its length entirely. Three-quarter keeps both proportion and volume, and it is the angle every car advertisement uses, for the simple reason that it is right.

Get the camera low

Photographing a car from standing eye level looks down onto the roof and makes the car read as wide, squat and ordinary. It is the default because it is where the photographer’s head happens to be, and it spoils almost every amateur car photograph.

Bring the camera down to headlight height or lower. From there the car looks longer, low in the sporting sense, and substantial. Anyone standing beside it benefits too, because a low angle lengthens the legs. It is the single most effective adjustment available in this setting.

Where you park matters as much as the car

A beautiful car in a supermarket car park with other vehicles either side and yellow lines underneath produces an ordinary photograph however carefully it is taken. The background decides whether a car picture looks expensive or cheap, more than the car does.

Backgrounds that work: empty tarmac, plain concrete or brick, an evenly lit parking structure, a quiet road at dusk. Things to avoid: other cars in frame, signage, bins, road markings cutting across. Driving a few hundred metres to find clear space is almost always worth it.

Poses with a car — men

Reference poses

The car is a subject too, and it has a best angle

Get the camera low

Where you park matters as much as the car

Try a pose with your camera