# bike pics - initial planning & learning



## Koru (Sep 25, 2006)

i was granted about 10 mins this morning before the heavens opened and took advantage of the time.

i learnt a LOT! and need to make some plans for my next chance.

this is what i had to work with:
right side on









front









right side back









rosesm


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## Koru (Sep 25, 2006)

i just used the basic D80 kit with the 18-135mm lens (no polarizer filter and no shade thing). i wanted the bare basics so i could see what options i have.

from the back left (the side not in the sunlight)


















these next two were taken one at the beginning and one at the end of the few mins i had. i can't figure out why they came out so dark from this direct position.


















i learnt that the reflections are the worst possible things to have. no matter where i angled myself, i still managed to get either myself, or my tripod in the shot. i have to work on what to do about that. also reflected was the right handlebar.

i learnt about getting the 'whole' of the bike into the image, not to chop off bits of wheel or handlebar.

plan:
1. try a shot from a couple of feet back and slightly to the right of the back wheel, from the ground level.

2. figure out how to get that circle thing the right shade/colour. (i wonder if it was because i was wearing a black top?)

3. take some more shots of the reflective areas from slightly skewiff to the reflection to see if that gets me/tripod out of the shot.

4. take a classic shot of bike side in focus and rider in front, out of focus.

5. keep looking and check out places to take the photos. driveway was good for practise and planning shots, but will be no good for the end results i want.

any other thoughts or suggestions will be welcomed 

rosesm


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## Pocketfisherman (May 30, 2005)

I think you did pretty good. Just is this my opinion, and everyone has their own style...but this is what I think would make each of these a bit better:
1) Get the camera lower by about 2-3 feet so you're not looking down on the bike, but getting more of a profile. Watch what's in the background. I know your time was limited with setting these up, but if you have the time, getting the right background makes a huge difference. A plane brick wall, nice landscaping, or even an industrial scene can look good if far enough behind the bike to be blurred and out of focus. That will draw the eye to the in focus bike in the foreground. Shoot with an aperature of F4-F1.8 to get that effect.

2) Watch your cropping, you chopped off the lower half of the front tire. Personally I think this angle works better when you can prop the kickstand up on a block of wood to get the bike as near to vertical as possible. A couple of ice hockey pucks stacked work great for this and are unobtrusive in the shot.

3) Nice shot. To make it a bit better, move the camera to the right a foot or two, and turn the bars on the bike about 10-20 degrees to the right to get a bit of the front wheel profile and forks in the shot too.

4) I would have moved the camera a tad left and down to get the Harley script logo clearly in the shot

5) Perfect, wouldn't change a thing there.

6 and 7, great composition, would not change anything there other than exposing a bit more, or maybe using fill flash to bring some details up from the shadow areas. I took the liberty of doing an edit to #6 shown below. You can still get good images a lot of time with a curves adjustment in Photoshop.


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## sandybottom (Jun 1, 2005)

Your post brought many of my problems to mind. Instead pointing down or not level I find my mistakes are pointing up into the trees when taking bird shots. I have lots of tail shots haha.
I also agree with Pocketfishman on the background bit. Otherwise I think these are nice shots. Hey, I have that problem with underexposed all the time. It's funny I get used to a sunny type day and have everything set on my camera. The next day it will be cloudy and I have to start all over again. Last night I took maybe 300 shots with my D300 and I think maybe 3 turned out. I bought the D300 a couple days ago. I will be referring to the Quick Guide my next outing. I'm one of those people that doesn't like to read instructions. I found out I have to now. Meanwhile my D50 is in the shop. 
No, its not broken just getting cleaned. I tried to clean it myself but no cigar. I have spots all over my pictures. Well, back to deleting pictures. Sandy


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## Pocketfisherman (May 30, 2005)

You make a good point about the cloudy vs sunny settings. Often you get that variation in a single shoot within a matter of minutes. From looking at the sky reflection in some of the shots, I think that might have been the case here too. The Histogram on the camera is your best friend when conditions are changing. Max exposure until your just short of clipping the horizontal axis on the right end. Looking at the histogram for shots you've just taken will help you adjust on the fly to changing light conditions.


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## Koru (Sep 25, 2006)

i can see even in planning and in 'getting a feel' for a subject stages, i should still be fully aware of the composition & background. i didn't think of that. i was just interested in taking some quick and various shots to study to see what i need to do for my next photo opportunity.

Pocketfisherman, that's what i wanted to hear, so thank you for taking the time to comment. 

background - it was totally spur of the moment and i only had 15 mins to shoot so it was more taking various shots and looking at angles and seeing what goes wrong for future study to improve images. it was, here's the bike, you've got 5 mins, go for it. lol so i did. 

i agree with #1. lower down would get better impact, plus it would get rid of any extraneous shadows i.e. mine or the tripod. we are looking at a couple of old warehouse type buildings, maybe a series involving the local railway lines, and some around an old house. the trick there will be to make the background just an incidental in the photo.

#2 good idea with the block of wood. i'll remember that and see what we can achieve. looking front on at the bike doesn't appear as interesting an angle to me. but i'll try a few and see what i can come up with. i'll also have a go at getting a reflection of the rider on the back of the mirrors. (just the quirk in me there, i think)

#3 i see i clipped off the top of the handlebar and a bit of the wheel. turning the front wheel to the right will help with the handlebar but i'll have to make sure i'm back slightly to get the whole bike. i think this is an angle where the background might be difficult to 'compose'.

#4 yes, and i see the bike pedal would have been better fully in the shot too.

#5 now this one bugs me, but i see you like it. i don't like how the rider reflection in the centre is upside down, and i also don't like how i can see the tripod and myself in the reflection. any ideas on how to get rid of these things?

#6 i think i'll have to look at the bike closely again... would it be a better photo if taken just a little lower? i like what you did with that 'curves' thing. i'll have to practise that.

you're right about the changing sky. man oh man it was crazy in that 15 mins. bright, stunning sunshine to dark, heavy clouds. i've been spending a lot of time working on focus points and haven't learnt about using the histogram and making adjustments from the information it gives.

thank you so much for your help, you've given me good stuff to work with. and thanks too Sandy for your comments, it's nice to know i'm not alone in my learning curve.

rosesm


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## huntvizsla (Dec 31, 2006)

Check out this site, I think you'll like it. Its not your average bike photography. The photographer is a prof at UH Clear Lake.

http://www.artbiker.com/

Its all film, no digital, and alot of it is medium format polaroid, wild!


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## Pocketfisherman (May 30, 2005)

For 5, you could take this approach, you could carefully use the photoshop or similar clone tool to remove the camera and yourself from the image. You can also select the area on the air cleaner with the inverted reflection as a new layer, then use the transform tool to flip it vertically and align it back in the photo. Using both techniques would get you something like this...My mind still tells me something is off with the reflections, sort of like an optical illusion though. With that center circle flipped, sometimes it looks concave, other times convex.


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## Koru (Sep 25, 2006)

Pocketfisherman said:


> For 5, you could take this approach, you could carefully use the photoshop or similar clone tool to remove the camera and yourself from the image. You can also select the area on the air cleaner with the inverted reflection as a new layer, then use the transform tool to flip it vertically and align it back in the photo. Using both techniques would get you something like this...My mind still tells me something is off with the reflections, sort of like an optical illusion though. With that center circle flipped, sometimes it looks concave, other times convex.


wow removing the tripod and me works great... flipping that centre reflection looks weird, i agree. the nut thing in the middle seems to be inside out or something. post processing can do some amazing things. thanks for the idea. rosesm

huntvisla, thanks for the link, i'll check it out.


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## Arlon (Feb 8, 2005)

Pictures? Who cares about taking more pictures! I want to take that bike for a ride.. Well, I guess your photos where successful because they really made me want to "twist a throttle".. Arlon


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## Profish00 (May 21, 2004)

Great pictures, I bet that thing is loud.


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## Koru (Sep 25, 2006)

oh yes it's loud all right. 

Arlon, i know what you mean.


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