Help with Bicycle Photography.
 

I know this has been discussed before...I think but, in short, what are the "standard" shots for a bike? Other than the full side profile shot. I tried to get a little fancy with my thread http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...-of-my-rebuild

but still....

I am starting another build but I want to take better pictures than this...
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...g/DSC_0092.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...g/DSC_0107.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...g/DSC_0099.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...g/DSC_0105.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...g/DSC_0120.jpg


So if you don't mind, critique the photos above and post your best pic or your favorite pic of a bike or part of a bike and tell why you like it. If you are so inclined, please discuss lighting, angles, exposure, etc.... any help would be grateful.

All you need is a white garage door, and face the geared site to the camera.

Actually those shots above are quite nice. A really nice use of depth of field.

I prefer a light gray or flat white back drop. I find the black to be too dark and hurts contrast for the lines on the bike. Indirect lighting, no direct flash from the speedlights. 2 500W work lights, and a bounce flash is enough to start. Bokeh is good, but I think your aperture is too large as the depth of view is shallow in some shots and the bokeh too harsh. IMHO, bokeh is best with a detailed background, not monochromatic white or black.
There are a bunch of great photographers here who will soon contribute far more useful advice than I could. ;)

Looks like you've got direct lighting on some things. Might try turning those around and bouncing them off some white sheet or panel or something to soften it a little bit. I have more issue with the state of the bike than the quality of your pictures :D.

oil

Ok..just to get this out there.....these will be the "BEFORE" shots.....this was my sisters bike that I talked her into giving me. Spent at least 7-8 years outside leaning against the shed. I assume it's a mid 80's, not sure.

WNG - what is 'bokeh'? IF I understand what that is I might be able to understand your other statements about it being 'too harsh'.

OK, so...whitebackground
Bounce the light and not so harsh bokeh......

What else?

bokeh is the way the out-of-focus (blurry) part of the picture looks and works with (or against) the focus of the picture.

I think the shots are pleasing to look at, and I find t particularly refreshing that someone is willing to take really nice detailed photos of a bike in its *BEFORE* state and not simply in its finished state.
I don't think the dark background is doing you any favors from the standpoint of showing off the bike though. Tan or White would make it easier to see whats the bike and whats the background and would sharpen the line between the two. While it might end up making the bike look rattier than these photos do, it would probably be a more accurate depiction.

Nice photos though, good use of depth of field.

Shrinking the pictures down to a reasonable width before posting would be nice - otherwise a browser resizes the window and you have to scroll off tot he right to read the text.

Then you can link to hi rez pics, for those interested.

gtownviking,

(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh
(2) I think everyone here agrees your photos are pretty good already. I'd suggest you simply work on those few small tweaks first, and then see how things look after that. Just re-perused your shots, and it's obvious from your detail shots that you understand basics of photographic composition. As everyone's pointed out, the depth-of-field you use is working well, and your lighting simply needs tweaking. I'll only add one more comment on top of my previous one about using more indirect lighting: For the kind of shots you're taking here, the more diffuse the light you use, the more evenly the colors and shapes of the subject matter will come out. Not only will bouncing light help, but also, adding additional light sources can help. I have no idea how many light sources you're using, but if you need more, clamp lights from Home Depot or Lowe's are like 8 bucks; if you use 100-watt bulbs (or the 'green' equivalents) and bounce that light, it could help. Note you can enhance certain effects by using multiple sources to highlight things, as well--that is, you don't just have to spread them all round the bike, but rather, you can use them to place certain areas in a "warm glow" and leave other areas darker, etc.

This is simply added suggestions for you. As I mentioned before, your pics are pretty good already.

The only real critique I'll make is that in the first picture it looks like the right handlebar end might be bent vertical because it disappears out of the photo.

Light backgrounds work for many things, dark backgrounds also work as you have shown.

Somewhere on the web is a page showing one person's garage studio, roll up background cloth, portable lighting, tricks for getting a bike to stand upright without a kickstand and without the support showing in the pic.
Here is one I just Googled up: http://www.hetchins.org/503e.htm
Not the page I was thinking of, but nice just the same.
Enjoy.

edit: here is the page I was thinking of: http://www.raydobbins.com/photosetup.htm

You could Iron your backdrop.

Those images are 800x600. Its really only a problem for folks with tiny laptops or old computers.

800 + 200 for the column on the left, plus another 200 for the column on the right = 1200. That's pretty wide. I've got a 1680 wide monitor, but I've got 6 applications open, three or four windows at a time including the three browsers I use...plus all the tabs. 1200 is pretty wide for anyone who doesn't view web pages full screen. Not to mention the load times...

If only I could devote myself to bike forums full time!

First, it's a very nice restoration subject. The old girl's cruiser is quite cool!
bokeh>> compare the 2nd pic to the last pic. Notice the difference in out of focus sections. Harsh may be the wrong term, but note the seat is way out of focus.

Fix'd that for ya ;)

I just assume everyone maximizes their browser when looking at Bike Porn.


@OP the last pic shows good use of bokeh, but the focus is on the tire tread instead of on the much more interesting Seat Tube.

@Zap - yea...I should have taken it off auto focus...which I will next time.

@ everyone else - thanks a bunch....learning a lot here...love this forum. but still....seeing some pictures of what you guys are talking about would help too. Post some pics of shots you really like and tell why.

You should search this forum. There have been a few threads on this subject before. Here's the most recent one.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...and-Techniques

You asked what are the standard shots
This link describes it fairly well
http://bhovey.com/Masi/MasiPhoto/Photo.htm

You really need to decide what you want out of it as that will dictate your approach. Are you trying to catalogue or to create some pleasing photography. Not that you can't do both..why not. But feedback in here varies between these two poles.

Judging from the shots you posted of your Miyata you have a setup there that works quite well and you got plenty of compliments. I particularly like this one. Would like to see that one with the handlebars pointed straight ahead, in line with the frame and with just enough room to show the whole bike. What setup did you use...you have some nice light from the side and also from above.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...g/DSC_0610.jpg

I try to use a background that is not too busy and constrasts in color with the bike's paint so that the deatils show up as much as possible, as there really isn't that much on a bike to compete with a busy background with similar to the bike colors. As others have also mentioned, garage doors can be your best friend when taking pidtures to best show details on your bike. Everyone's familiarity with garage doors also translates to nice scale/size reference in the pics for many.

Chombi

My main problem with that first picture is that that sheet had been folded too sharply. The creases hurt the picture.
-Gene-