moped night shot

goodoneian · Nov 9, 2008

so at my friend's school, there's a section in the yearbook for pictures of students and their cars. he drives a moped though, and wanted me to take a picture of him on it to submit. we played around for a while tonight and came up with this:

i had an sb600 behind the bike to light the ground a little bit and lighten up the area behind the front wheel, and an sb600 shot through an umbrella which i held above him (which blew over in the wind later and broke the umbrella

). the exposure was 8 seconds at f/5 iso 800 if anyone is curious

interested to see what you guys think since i like how it came out

RebelTasha · Nov 9, 2008

Looks cool! Nice Moped

Ls3D · Nov 9, 2008

You shot has it's strengths, the long exposure filling the atmosphere with light, the even lighting... nice.

And,.. there is no action. Yo what up?..

Have your bro grab the handle bars as he does a pretend judo air over the thing! :thumbup:

The distortion of the front wheel and that area feels cramped or forced somehow.. I'd rather see more of him and an interesting angle on the scooter (and some action) than a carefully framed...

Loose the helmet, or find a couple of kids to toss it into the shot on a few takes... like he is loosing it!

Then if you want the long exposure look keep the camera locked down, clear the set and take some background plates for compositing.. I'm going to go get fluid mask 3 right now & will gladly cut it for you.

Just some ideas from your neighbor to the south...

-Shea

STICKMAN · Nov 9, 2008

HOLY CRAP man he's a kid shooting for a year book not a pro shooting for a magazine.

Yo man nice work you did a great job getting this shot together and Im sure it will represent your buddy fine in the year book..

Keep at it, I like your style

goodoneian · Nov 9, 2008

Ls3D said:
You shot has it's strengths, the long exposure filling the atmosphere with light, the even lighting... nice.

And,.. there is no action. Yo what up?..

Have your bro grab the handle bars as he does a pretend judo air over the thing! :thumbup:

The distortion of the front wheel and that area feels cramped or forced somehow.. I'd rather see more of him and an interesting angle on the scooter (and some action) than a carefully framed...

Loose the helmet, or find a couple of kids to toss it into the shot on a few takes... like he is loosing it!

Then if you want the long exposure look keep the camera locked down, clear the set and take some background plates for compositing.. I'm going to go get fluid mask 3 right now & will gladly cut it for you.

Just some ideas from your neighbor to the south...

-Shea

i appreciate the suggestions, the helmet idea sounds pretty cool, i didn't even think of that. if i ever do anything like this again i'll keep it in mind

and thank you stickman for saying you like my style, i appreciate that as well.

kundalini · Nov 9, 2008

I agree with my microdot friend..... lose the helmet or have it in play, but static on the floor looks lame. Oooohhh, wait a minute, I meant it would look better if not in the position it is in. Apparently lame is not a valid word when giving C&C.

Although I am impressed with your result, I am curious why you need an 8 second exposure when you have two SB-600s at hand. Has to be difficult for your models to hold that position.

goodoneian · Nov 9, 2008

kundalini said:
I agree with my microdot friend..... lose the helmet or have it in play, but static on the floor looks lame. Oooohhh, wait a minute, I meant it would look better if not in the position it is in. Apparently lame is not a valid word when giving C&C.

Although I am impressed with your result, I am curious why you need an 8 second exposure when you have two SB-600s at hand. Has to be difficult for your models to hold that position.

lame works fine haha, i agree that the helmet sitting on the ground wasn't the best of choices.

i used the 8 seconds for the background, and he didn't sit still it was completely black where we were on the street so he just got off the bike

Kegger · Nov 9, 2008

^^^ Now that's a way to get it done. I would have never thought that based on the photo.

But great job, I think it gives the Moped riders out there a few more cool points.

stsinner · Nov 9, 2008

That's a great shot, no doubt, but I think I'd call it a scooter, instead of a moped due to the lack of ped (pedals...)

Just an FYI..

You'll probably have the coolest yearbook pic in the yearbook with that one.

goodoneian · Nov 9, 2008

Kegger said:
I would have never thought that based on the photo.

BTilson · Nov 9, 2008

stsinner said:
I think I'd call it a scooter, instead of a moped due to the lack of ped (pedals...)

Haha you beat me to it. I looked at it and thought, "That's not a moped! That's a scooter!"

OP: Very nice shot though, I like it a lot!

SHWELL · Nov 9, 2008

I like the shot..... I am new around here and to Cameras in general so take this input lightly... I think an action shot would make a bigger impact. If it is for a year book, I would go for the best shot possible since you only get one chance at this in life....

But your original shot def looks good to me.

goodoneian · Nov 9, 2008

sorry for the moped title, i didn't know the difference between that and a scooter

i suppose i could have done some kind of "action" shot, but i liked how this was somewhat simple i guess. i do wish i did something with the helmet now that i think about it though

Ls3D · Nov 9, 2008

A moped is like a large woman (or man), fun to ride, but you don't want your friends to see you on it!

With a scooter on the other hand, all you need are a pair of your sister's tightest jeans, a stupid haircut and life long smoking habit to look cool...

Nice technique as revealed.

On 2nd look - Maybe get the mirror out of the face... again I think we all like your work, so much that these are enthusiastic what would I do type responses - AKA inspiration... how often do we inspire people?

-S