I'm not a professional photographer and chances are you aren't either. But I've spent countless hours scanning photos and trying my best to digitally enhance photos given to me for the website. So I've been able to analysis the BEST and the WORST conditions for taking photos of your car for publishing on the Internet. Keep in mind that taking a photo for here is completely different than photos you take for the family album or for your brag book. See below for examples of good and not-so-good. Some basic guidelines are as follows:

1. NO PEOPLE. No one wants to see a picture of you. They want to see your car. They also don't want to look through your car's windows and see some guy's ugly beer belly.

2. NO REAR SHOTS. Good for insurance photos but most cars (like most people) have an ugly butt.

3. WINDOWS ROLLED DOWN. Cuts out the reflection and adds depth to the shot. Do this even if you are taking a picture of a convertible with the top up.

4. WAISTLINE LEVEL. A car's waistline is the imaginary line drawn between the headlights and the tail lights. Keep it level in the shot. This means if your car has a California rake (butt up) you put the car on a slight uphill slope. Conversely, a Drag rake (butt down) needs the car on a slight downhill slope.

5. NO SHADOWS. The best is a bright overcast day. But if the sun is out, get it behind you so the shadows are away from you. Watch for glare from the windshield.

6. Best angle is 45 degrees from "dead on". Front wheels should be turned so that the wheel tries to be parallel to the camera lens.

7. Watch your background. Don't just pull the car out of the garage and take a shot of it in your driveway. Take your camera when you cruise and pick a nice scenic spot with contrasting background color. Black cars under a shade tree at dusk make for lousy pictures.