Honest Opinions and C&C - Motorcycle

[Vicelord John]

This is a 2006 Yamaha R6. Amazing state of the art sport bike. I am pretty happy with the results. I feel that the background with the mural is too distracting and the bike kind of blends into it, but I love that mural so much I wanted to shoot something in front of it. If anyone can tell me what color bike I could get away with shooting there, I'd love to go back.

Thank you for anything you say, even negative.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

 

[WimFoto]

6 is my fav. the dark colored bike you choose is the best one for this busy background which is more a subject on it's own.
a background with less lines would be better.
also they look a tad overexposed, try a warming filter.

 

[Vicelord John]

I increased the exposure in PP on all of them in order to get the lines of the bike to show up. I haven't yet perfected how to position the bikes to get the sun to light them up right.

 

[jubb]

I like your close ups on the individual parts of the motorcycle.

 

[Vicelord John]

thanks.... he was wondering what I was doing taking a picture of his duck but I thought it would be cool.

 

[jnm]

personally i think the bike blends into the graffiti too much and other shots have a not so pleasing background, like #1 & #3. i think #2 would be better with clean gauges, add a CPL and get the one half that's in the sun into some shade.

 

[verticalization]

I actually like the few with the graffiti as the background, the angle that the bike is parked is nice.. however, i think the lighting on most of them is quite harsh. maybe head out near dusk, or in the morning (an excuse for a full day of riding maybe?)

and maybe try a circle polarizer to cut down on reflections from the paint on the bike (tho, i dont really see anything bad)

 

[Vicelord John]

what is a CPL?

 

[jnm]

what is a CPL?

Circular Polarizer. Cuts glare from certain materials including glass.

 

[Vicelord John]

ah.... big money right now for me.

Plus I feel I should get the basics down first before I get one of those. I mean, I should shoot the bike properly and THEN work on getting better equipment, right?

 

[jnm]

it's a matter of opinion (and finances!). a CPL won't help with composure and such, but will make the finished product better. so it depends on your point of view, does shooting it properly entail getting the details correct (like getting rid of glare) or does it only mean composition, lighting, etc? a 52mm CPL (to fit your 18-55 and 50mm, not sure what size your 70-300 takes) can be had cheap. i don't know enough to recommend one brand over another, but you do generally get what you pay for.

52mm circular - Adorama.com

 

[Vicelord John]

Hm those prices arent as high as i thought. For some reason i thought 150+

 

[AG74683]

Number 6 is my favorite!

I think the lines of the graffiti accentuate the lines of the bike very nicely. The colors in the mural on that particular spot dont really take away from the bike like they do in number 4.

 

[jnm]

$150 will get you a thin 77mm B&W for pro glass.