[QUOTE=Kowan;9716283]Nicely written. A small tri-pod comes in handy if you've had too much caffeine.

.........or your old and have the shakes! Good info. shu!

 

I'm no photographer, but once in a while I get lucky

 

 

Nice write up Brian.

 

Nice article again, Schu. And as usual, nice pics.

 

Schu nice article.

 

Agreed. I like taking pics of my bike while kneeling down. It just gives the bike a bigger and more appealing look if that makes sense.

 

Good article, Schu. Can I ask if you use a digital SLR or are shooting with a "pocket" digital?

 

I agree, very well done. If I had anything to add it would be these few things.. if you don't want to deal with a tripod, use a monopod.. there are several really good one's available and most of them collapse and don't take up as much space as a tripod. Also, if your using a DSLR, practice shooting on manual settings.. play around so you get a basic idea of say.. a general aperture and shutter speed setting for a sunny day, an overcast day and so on.. bracket your shots, by that I mean if your going to shoot at say, f 8 and 1/125, shoot f 5.6, f 8 , f 11 at 1/125.. I'm a firm believer in having a basic knowledge of manual shooting. Another little tip.. when you get set to shoot and are focused in.. take half a step back then shoot. Usually you have more "depth of field" in front of your focal point than behind it..taking that little half step back, especially at low to mid level apertures, will give you a little bit of a buffer zone as far as being in sharp focus goes. Especially helpful for us old guys with failing eyes.. Finally, most of the serious amateur and pro guys I've ever known use RAW format and do their own photo editing. I use photoshop 10 elements.. it's an abbreviated version of photoshop that works really well.

Cheers

mavrick

 

Mind if I share a couple of other ideas?

When you're paying attention to the background, watch for lines that intersect your bike. Notice that in the first picture accompanying Schu's excellent article the guardrail breaks up the lines of the bike? Use the lines in the background to direct the eye to a highlight of the bike... like the lake's shoreline draws your eye to the beauty in JB4's photo.

And off-center is usually a good thing. Very little we see is in the center of our field of vision. imagine a tic tac toe grid on the lens/viewfinder, and try to put the highlight or focus on one of the spots where the lines cross.

My $0.02 worth.