Who wants to see their car in the magazine?

You know that Your Cars bit that we run in the back of the magazines? Lately the submissions have been, let's say, a little on the weak side. So I'm putting out the call for submissions.

How's it work? Just follow these steps:

• First, all info and photos must come to me via e-mail. If you post it here on the message board, then the submission totally didn't happen.

• I just need one or two good, solid photos. What makes a photo good? In focus. Not blurry. No cut-off bumpers. Somewhat interesting background. The car should fill a good part of the frame. Also, a sharp static photo beats a blurry action shot any day of the week. Our absolute minimum spec is 1280x960 pixels, but bigger is preferred. If you didn't shoot the photo, we need the photographer's name and permission.

• Now tell me something about the car. What makes it so cool? What did you do to it? Why does it make you happy? Basically, tell us what was done and why we should care.

• And I guess that's it.

Thanks.

I'll submit mine when I get home. If the pictures were purchased from a photographer do you need the name and permission?

EvanB wrote: If the pictures were purchased from a photographer do you need the name and permission?

Yes, we do need their name and permission.

Hmm I think that can be done. Now David, do you prefer Subaru, Honda, or Huffy?

And a few more photo guidelines:

The car should fill about 3/4 of the frame--it shouldn't be a dot in the background, but the bumpers shouldn't be cut off, either.

We can work from a .tif, .gif, .eps or .jpg digital file, but the images size must measure at least 1280x960 pixels. (This is important: If the image is too small, then we can't use it — bigger is always better.) We use Macs, so a PC-only format can be difficult. Imbedding the photo inside an e-mail message can cause problems, so we'd rather receive the image as an attachment.

We need permission from the photographer to run the photos in the magazine. (If you shot them, then in theory this won't be too hard.)

A nice, clear photo of a parked car always beats a blurry action shot.

When photographing the car, keep the sun at your back — but watch out for your shadow. Better results can usually be obtained early or late in the day, or under cloudy skies. Shooting from down on the ground or above can look cool, too. A fill flash can work wonders. Have fun with it.

Take notice of the background. A busy background doesn't help. Please avoid junk behind and around the car: tents, people (or parts of people), Dumpsters, light poles, etc. A cool background can help, but a busy one doesn't.

If there were anything interesting about my car, I'd be all over this.
Related question, is there any chance of another crack at DORK decals?
or are my options custom dorkiness vs 'regular' GRM decals

David S. Wallens wrote: Please avoid junk behind and around the car:

That's called yard art and I have it in spades.....

Submitted, hopefully the pics work, couldn't tell what size they were from my phone.

Also, no offense, but what's the point of posting our cars/projects in Readers Rides or the Projects Forum if we still have to manually send photos to you for consideration? Shouldn't you be monitoring the site for neat content for the mag? Just curious as I assumed that posting our cars/projects here meant we may catch your attention along with those of our peers, since that doesn't seem to be the case, I don't know that I'll bother as much with my build thread(s).

Yeah, they've got time for that.

Kids, just send in your pics. It ain't that hard. Got my E30 in the magazine a few years back, really easy.

Is there a deadline. I wont get to it untill the weekend

I just detailed my 99 Civic Si for 6 hours over the weekend and took a bunch of pics of it. I'll submit them and see if they're any good.

Damn.... all my cool cars are in pieces.

ddavidv wrote: Yeah, they've got time for that. Kids, just send in your pics. It ain't that hard. Got my E30 in the magazine a few years back, really easy.

Ed Zachery. Got my stump pulling torque Trans Am in it a few years back as well, even with a crappy point and shoot pic!

I'd like to see my car in the mag, but I don't think it's quite what you're looking for yet. Maybe in a couple of weeks, when you know, it moves under it's own power or something...

Need they be pretty, or just moderately-extremely awesome?

Relatively stock cars okay? Or do they need to be "interesting"?

David, thanks again for featuring my car 2 months ago

It works guys, just send in pictures and a write up!!!

Hmmm... I might be interested in this.

In reply to turboswede:

Actually, I regularly look through the build threads to feature in the Hot Builds section of the magazine. David does the same for Reader's Rides, which become the Internet Hot Rod of the Month.

Your Cars is usually a full page, with good placement inside the back cover, not a 1/3 or 1/2 page in the middle like those other two bits.

Do a little more legwork on your own, get better placement. It's that easy.

I want my car to be in the magazine. [sigh!] I guess I have to finish it and get it running first.

Please don't let them get desperate, that leads to bad decisions and hate mail

What about cars we don't have anymore? Can we do a little blurb about the car we should have kept?

The pictures of my two-tone 240SX coupe still get "wows" 5 years later.

Alan Cesar wrote: In reply to turboswede: Actually, I regularly look through the build threads to feature in the Hot Builds section of the magazine. David does the same for Reader's Rides, which become the Internet Hot Rod of the Month. Your Cars is usually a full page, with good placement inside the back cover, not a 1/3 or 1/2 page in the middle like those other two bits. Do a little more legwork on your own, get better placement. It's that easy.

Yep, that sums it up nicely.

There might be a guitar lesson or two in it for a certain editorial director...

And we have gotten some nice submissions--keep them coming.

One thing I do have to stress: The photo quality matters. I'm not saying that you have to hire Ansel Adams, but take a look at our quickie photo guidelines. Is the sun at your back, or is the car in the shadows? Even better, why not shoot in the evening or under cloudy skies?

Also, what's in the background? Is it some kind of cool background--maybe an old garage door or something--or it just a cluttered mess? If it's a mess of parked cars, telephone wires and other stuff, move the car. (By the way, loading docks and shipping containers can make way cool backgrounds.)

Finally, the camera. Use a real camera, not a phone. If the light is totally perfect, sometimes you can get away with a phone, but let's not go there. Usually, a real camera, even a point-and-shoot, will deliver better results. Take a look at that image size, too. Our minimum spec is 1280x960 pixels. Don't know a pixel from a pixie? Set the camera on its "fine" setting. If it's a modern camera, that should be cool.

The next issue's Your Cars is freaking huge. Why? Because we had some stellar photography. Really, the photography is what seals the deal. If it's a great photo, it goes to the top of the pile. At the other end of the spectrum, I have a folder called "already in the mag (or crap)". You don't want to land in there before necessary.

Thanks again for all of the interest and submissions.