If you look at the pedals, the left side one is not hanging down like the weight of it should, something was propped under it and then 'shopped out.

Use the lowest aperture and the most Zoom you can to get the background out of focus

Lets dismiss the boring overall scene and just look at the DOF this is what the op is talking about using a 50mm f1.8 lens.



For more DOF on a smaller area this is at 300mm f2.8


This shot is to highlight a particular component the nos brake/shifters but at close distance with 50mm f1.8

Yessir... these pics POP! And of course well done on proper valve stem placement and gear selection. I've seen crank arm position debated between 3 & 9, 2 & 8 or 4 & 10.

I don't remember having trouble getting a shallow depth of field with my ol 8MP point 'n shoot Canon S5 (2007 or 8 I think?). Maybe I'll dust it off this weekend and give it a shot.

Just two examples of selected depth of field I shot recently:



^ Shot with a Canon 5D/EF100-400mm zoom @ 260mm f5.6 on a monopod. I was probably kneeling about 30 feet from Sarah and her Humber, which I found in the trash last year. Bag and pump included.



^ I hand held this using a Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro again at f5.6. I was standing about 5 or 6 feet away and focused on the Brooks logo.

If anybody is on Instagram I post a lot of my bicycle photography (as well as other stuff) [MENTION=77954]ryder[/MENTION]scottryder.

Scott

Take a look beneath the non-drive side pedal, looks like a block or support has been photoshopped out.

jbchybridrider - Nice photography!

Scott

As many have pointed out you need a lens with a shallow depth of field, and others have mentioned zooming and backing up. But unfortunately as soon as you get further from your subject the depth of field increases dramatically. So you need to get relatively close, but that in turn means you can't fit the entire bike in the scene. So my solution for that is doing a panorama, 1-3 rows of images with 3-5 images in each row. This on the other hand requires a tripod and software to assemble the panorama. Microsoft has a free tool called Image Composite Editor that works well. Photoshop does this as well, but the problem with panoramas and blurry backgrounds is that Photoshop can't match detail in blurry areas to assemble the panorama... Here are a couple of examples done with a Canon 300/2.8. Master is made of 15 images (3x5) and the C40 is 6 images (1x6)

Yup.

Real nice photo, Scott.

That certainly is a classy, classically-styled bike despite the modern drive train.

Depth of field - strongly controlled by aperture setting.




Stepping back and zooming in tends to give a flat field (everything in focus).

Kingfishr those paint jobs looks great!

So I just grabbed my old point and shoot. Turns out my expectations back then must have been less because I couldn't get much background blur. I think the good background blur I remember was mostly up close macro shots - which could possibly be done using the photo-stitch technique Kingfishr mentioned but that is way to much work just to get a smooth background for a bike shot. Probably could also take two identical shots on a tripod - one of the bike in sharp focus and one completely out of focus and blend them together in photoshop using a layer mask. Or just pick up a dSLR if you want better photography.

Here is my example I just shot. I just got this Super Sport and hadn't taken any pics of it yet so figured I'd get it out. Note I haven't done anything to it yet or even cleaned it. Only swapped the seat out for a black one since the white one looked out of place. I didn't put too much effort in this just shot the same seen with my point n shoot with largest aperture setting versus my dSLR with 2 different lenses. All 3 images where only auto color balance and resized in The Gimp, that's all.

First, Canon S5 (8MP ~9yr old) f/3.2


Now with Canon 60D and 24-105L at largest aperture f/4


And finally decided to swap on my 50mm f/1.8 lens


Here is another comparison of the same 3...



Either my focus was a tad off or the 50MM lens just isn't as sharp as the 24-105L (or even my p&s). But you can see the difference in bokeh between the lenses. Sharpness does suffer often at wide open apertures.

With the point and shoot I was able to get a bit more blur by stepping back and zooming in but not substantially different and still not approaching my dSLR.

Bah!, as gorgeous as that bike is in all other respects, the fork blades are straight (NOT bent).

I just crossed it off my list.


Photoshop trickery exposed - note left pedal.

What leegf said. You want a big sensor?. Get yourself a Phase One digital back with 80MP and a long lens. Only run you about $60,000 for the back, a camera body and lens but we're talking HI REZ!! I used them in my former career and the backs are pretty amazing.

I am not sure that many pixels are needed anymore unless you are a fine art photographer and want to make BIG prints. File management and back up takes up a lot of time when you shoot commercial jobs with huge files.

When Phase first came out with a 20mp back about around 15 years ago it had to be tethered to a computer and run their proprietary software. Now it's wi-fi. Sweet.