ExoticSpotter's mission is to gather and catalogue the very best exotic car shots from around the world, while creating a positive community where enthusiasts and spotters can share, discuss, and enjoy their passion.
Each photo submitted is reviewed by a moderator, and as long as it meets our minimum quality standards, we will approve and catalogue the shot in our database (which is searchable and sortable by make, model, and location).
We feature the very best photos on our home page based on a combination of beauty, rarity, and randomness of the shot. The difficulty of getting your photo featured depends on the flow of submissions we're getting at any given point. The more submissions, the harder it will be to get featured and vice-versa.
BASIC QUALITY STANDARDS AND RULES
- Choose and submit the best 2 photos for each spot - they must be different angles. Slightly different versions of the same spot will not be accepted
- Photos must be correctly categorized - no mislableing of photos or lying. If there are multiple exotics in the photo, you must choose the model that is most represented in the photo (can’t be a car way in the background).
- No closeup shots or interior shots accepted
- No photos from inside car shows accepted
- No blurry, dark, low-resolution, cut-off, or otherwise low-quality shots accepted
- No distracting watermarks or text allowed in photos (minimal, non-distracting watermarks are allowed)
- Photoshoots and Pseudo-Spots (near car shows, events, rallys, etc) are allowed on a limited basis, but must be tagged with “Photoshoot” or “Event”. The quality requirement on these spots are much higher (vehicles must be rare AND photo quality must be high to be accepted, and even higher to be featured). This standard applies even if photographer didn’t know there was an event and it was a true “random” spotting. Basically, if it looks like a car show or event, we will treat it as such.
- EXPLAIN THE SPOT - give us some good details on the spot, exact location, how you came upon the car, etc. If it looks anything like a car show or event, or if there are multiple exotics around, you MUST explain what the situation is, or tag it with “car event” or “photoshoot”.
FEATURED PHOTOS
Getting a photo featured is a mix of how interesting the shot is, the quality of the photography, and randomness of spot - and this will ebb and flow depending on the amount of photos submitted at any given time. The more photos that are being submitted, the higher the standard becomes to be featured. A shot that’s not that great can still be featured if the vehicle or surroundings is rare or interesting enough. And vice-versa, if the vehicle is not rare enough, even though technically it’s an incredible shot, it may not be featured.
Keep in mind this is just a guide, some of our decisions will be based on personal tastes - there is no way to remove all subjectivity from this process.
THE DECISION TREE
When deciding if a photo should be featured or not, our moderators use the following Decision Tree as a guide. It's a series of 5 questions that determines whether a photo is feature-worthy or not. Most photos will end up being “Approved”, and only the best ones will be “Featured”. Some photos will need to be “Rejected” due to poor quality.
1 - How well does the photo bring out the beauty of the car?
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Beauty
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Example
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Action
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Terrible
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If the photo is terrible (blurry, dark, upside down, vehicle is cutoff, it’s a screenshot, etc) or if it’s a bad shot with a low-level exotic like a 911, F-Type, etc
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Photo Rejected
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Average / Good
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Car is completely in the shot, but maybe too close, lower resolution, light or contrast not great, not a good angle, car obstructed by object, too many shadows, etc
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Feature only if #2(is Very Rare or Incredible) and #3 (is Random)
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Great
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Great composition, perfect lighting, great angle, high resolution, crisp and clear photo
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Feature if #2 (is Rare) and #3 ( is Random)
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Incredible!
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The picture just jumps out at you and hits you emotionally, car looks incredible, perfect lighting, perfect landscape, perfect angle
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Feature It
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2 - How Rare is the Vehicle?
Porsche 911s and Bentley’s are easy to spot. LaFerraris and Chirons are hard.
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Rarity
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Example
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Action
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Common
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Common exotics like Gallardos, 360s, 911s, lower-level brands like BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Maserati, Bentley, etc
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Go to Question #3
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Rare
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Mid to Higher level exotic cars, including classics. Generally vehicles that cost more than $350,000
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Go to Question #3
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Very Rare
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Supercars, Hypercars and other low-production models, very expensive
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Feature if it looks good and is random spotting
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Incredible!
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One off, spy shots, prototypes, incredibly rare and interesting
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Feature It even if quality is not good
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3 - How Random Was the Spot?
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Randomness
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Example
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Action
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Photoshoot
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Photographer knowingly setup the shot (must be tagged “photoshoot”)
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Overall beauty needs to be great or incredible and vehicle very rare to get featured
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Near Car Show / Event / Known Area for Exotics
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Spotted anywhere near a car show or event, or known area where exotics congregate (like certain hotels). (must be tagged “event” if near a car show or event - hotels are excluded)
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Overall beauty needs to be great and vehicle rare to very rare to get featured, especially if the vehicle is parked rather than a moving shot
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Parked Garage
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Random spotting of a parked exotic in a covered garage
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If vehicle is Very Rare and beauty is Great, Feature It
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Parked Street / Lot
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Random spotting of parked exotic out on public streets or parking lots
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If vehicle is Rare and beauty is Great, Feature It. Otherwise, go to #4
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Random on the Road
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Random spotting out on public roads
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If vehicle is RARE and shot is Average to Great, Feature It. Otherwise, go to #4
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4 - Is the Spot Interesting or Unique in Some Meaningful Way?
(Is it a rare circumstance? Location where exotics are very rare? impressive shot angle? interesting background?). This is a wildcard that allows lower quality photos or less rare exotics to get featured.
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Interesting or Unique?
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Example
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Action
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Yes
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Very rare circumstance, unique angle, custom car, or interesting thing going on in the photo.
Is the location a place where it’s rare to see any sort of exotic cars?
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Feature It as long as it meets mid-standards for #1, 2, and 3
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No
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Do not feature unless it passes feature-quality standards in #1, 2, or 3
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5 - How Detailed is the Description?
Is the spot believable?
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Detail Level
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Example
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Action
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No Description
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Not likely to be featured unless spot is very rare or spotter has trusted submissions
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Detailed Description
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More likely to be featured, especially if there’s an interesting tidbit or two in the description
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PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS
Getting your photo featured depends on a combination of how rare the vehicle is, the randomness of the spot, and how good your photo turns out. The brand of car isn’t something you can control, but your photography skill is! Here are tips to increase your chances:
- Angle of shot - kneeling down to the car’s level will often produce a much better shot and angle. Sometimes getting all the way down to the floor really enhances a shot.
- Try to take a shot where the foreground and background don’t include distracting objects that take your eye off the subject. Things like poles, power lines, garbage bins, bushes, etc. If the car is parked, walk around the car and pay attention to the different kinds of backgrounds you can capture.
- Avoid shots facing the bright sun and be aware of shadows that may be messing up the shot. Pay attention to the lighting and try to avoid harsh lights, especially if its bouncing off the car directly into the camera - best times to shoot are close to sunrise and sunset.
- Position the car to center of photo - this balances out the photo and centers the subject. Cars that are too close to one side of the photo, almost being cutoff are unlikely to be featured - it can be done, but it's hard to pull off especially if you're new to photography.
- For night shots, it’s hard to get a feature-worthy shot unless you use a long exposure on a tripod. You can get awesome shots like this.
- Edit photos - here’s a big secret: Great photographers know how to edit their photos. It’s unbelievable how much difference this can make. Tools like Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop can do wonders. But don’t overdo it, it’s easy to ruin a photo with over-editing.
WHY WASN'T MY PHOTO FEATURED?
This is a question we get asked a lot. First, realize that there is subjective judgement from moderators and sometimes it just comes down to personal tastes. We never claim that our featured picks are 100% fair - that’s why we also have a Highest Rated section which lets the community vote on the pics. We are asked this question way too often for us to respond to each one. That being said, there are cases where we should have featured a photo that we didn’t. If you go through all the reasons why we may have rejected the photo and none of them apply (and be absolutely certain about that), then you can bring it to our attention.
But keep in mind we have very limited resources, so if you’re bringing obviously questionable photos to us on more than one occasion, we may eventually ban your account. Each photo we are asked to review takes time away from us improving and managing the site, we take that very seriously.
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