Originally Posted by Johnyboy05

Originally Posted by veritas.archangel

I think something that is being missed, at least with some of these later shots, it the idea that this is about sharing photographs, rather than just simple snapshots.

A big part of this would be understanding the difference between the two. Being in the business, I would say that the biggest difference is intentionality. A photograph is intentional. The photographer is taking into account the shot angle, the light angle, the composition, the background, and making adjustments to each of those as much as possible to create the desired image. There are rarely any photographs that are "happy accidents". A snapshot, on the other hand, is done by just quickly "snapping" a picture of the bike without planning, without being intentional about any of those things I mentioned.

My understanding is that this thread was about sharing intentional photographs, and learning from others in order to improve our abilities.

With that, here are some helpful tips to move beyond the "Snapshot".

First is composition. What is the main subject? What are you trying to convey? Part of this is using "The Rule of Thirds". Don't place the bike dead center in the frame. Have it offset a bit. Another rule of thumb is placing dead space in the right place. A motorcycle is typically a "forward moving" object, therefore you want the greater space to the direction of travel. Also, don't let the bike get lost in the overall image. Don't make it this tiny bike at the bottom of the picture, or similarly placed. Try not to cut off important parts of the bike in the frame (there are some artistic images that can be created with just parts of the bike, but make it intentional).

Another part of this is to be willing to move around. Try different angles. Most quality motorcycle pictures are taken from a kneeling position (there are a few of the ones I shared where I was actually laying flat on the ground to get the angle I wanted). Don't get locked into one place to do all of your shooting, experiment.

The same can be said for the motorcycle. Be willing to move it around as needed for background clutter, or lighting, or whatever.

And that brings us to light. Overcast days and shade are your friend. These provide an even light with little to no shadows to fight. Direct sunlight, especially around noon, is the worst light to shoot in. Not only is the light itself harsh, but it creates deep shadows.

And then we can talk about backgrounds. Be very careful about clutter and "noise" in your background. These things can either enhance, or kill, your image quality. Look for things like cars, or people, or powerlines, make sure they aren't cluttering up the picture. Play with your aperture. Opening up the aperture will reduce your depth of field and can blur some of that background noise. Closing down the aperture will increase depth of field and bring that background into clarity.

And lastly, let's talk focus. A blurry image is a bad image and no amount of editing will fix it. So make sure you are focusing on the main subject. Most DSLRs have the ability to adjust the focus point of the camera, use it. Cell phones don't often have this ability so you have to do your best.

So gang, here is my main point, if you want to improve your images get intentional. Learn all the functions of your camera, play with it, experiment with it. Move around, move the bike around. Have fun. Taking pictures of motorcycles is a blast, not much else makes me as happy.

And it doesn't take the top of the line gear. My main rig is a Canon 60D with a Canon 70-200 f4 L. I primarily shoot natural light and use one of those cheap, $3 reflective accordion sunshades for cars that you can pick up at Ace Hardware or the like, to bounce light back at the bike/model.

Here's a link to where you can view more of my images: https://veritasimagerynw.smugmug.com/