First night shoot - motorcycle - C&C please

[samal]

Went out to the parking lot at work with my camera and tripod - it was last nice day till April so we rode to work:
I did a little PP in Lightroom - some images seemed flat to me and I tried to add some texture and light effects in 2 and 5 and 6
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

 

[stsinner]

They all belong in the bikes' brochures. Nice job.

 

[PatrickHMS]

They all belong in the bikes' brochures. Nice job.

DITTO!

 

[Sgtchavez]

Nice shots...........................I just realized now I should have parked my house with the freeway on the background.

Great shots.

I think the second picture looks a little blurry though.

 

[DRoberts]

#4 is the best imo. # 2 would be if it were in focus.

 

[samal]

Thanks for the CC, yes, the second pic, while the best by composition came out blurry and no amount of PP could fix it, so I cheated and added contrast to make it look textured a bit - I was using manual focus since I could not get good enough AF for some reason - the lens would seek forever or just plane refuse to focus - I was using a fifty. Then I changed to my 18-200 for some wider angle shots and was able to focus better

 

[maulrat]

Nice Triumph bro. They all came out pretty nicely except for #2 being out of focus. If you are using autofocus, try using manual focus. For low light conditions, sometimes I find it a little tough and a little out of focus using AF.

 

[PatrickHMS]

What kinds of settings did you use?

I notice the long exposure on #1

 

[maulrat]

What kinds of settings did you use?

I notice the long exposure on #1

I think they are all long exposure photos. If not, I don't think he might have been able to expose much of the sky and clouds.

 

[ViceOfFire]

I like this series a lot, great work. 5# is my fave, great tones. 2# probably shouldn't be in here as it is very motion blurred, though.

 

[samal]

Yes, these are all long exposure shots - 20-30 sec, some at f/8, some f/16 and ISO 200. it was a windy night and the neckstrap was wiggling the camera on a tripod. I did use manual focus on most of the pictures, but it was my first time doing it.

Thanks for all comments

 

[jwsciontc]

amazing shots man, sick bike too. I like number 2 the best

 

[KCH]

Im new here and wanted to know how you get that affect of the cars in the background. I have been using my camera in manual. Great shots!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[samal]

Im new here and wanted to know how you get that affect of the cars in the background. I have been using my camera in manual. Great shots!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am not sure if you ask about the car lights on the road in teh backgournd or the underexposed cars on the parking lot that are behind the bike?

if first - long exposure takes care of that, if second - I used Adobe Lightroom - brush strokes of severe underexposure were applied to the cars on the background to make them less visible.

Thanks for the compliment

 

[samal]

after 2 days - I took a fresh look at them and really couldn't say that I was happy

So, I corrected white balance, desaturated background on second pic
which ones are better?