As Greg has mention exif data is there, i played with different apertures and shutters basically to achieve the correct exposure, I typically had a shutter speed of 15 to 30 secs and worked around f5.6 to f8, probably using f4 or larger might have been better to isolate the subject.
In terms of gear, I used a LED torch
in this case fenix tk40 (however any LED torch of substance will work) and softbox (
similiar to this but bigger. I used the D80 with 17-55mm lens. Subject is a Kona Caldera, last years
model
. Location, well I will leave that up to ya's to guess.
Method; trial and error will be required, however I basically used two methods, one with the softbox and one without and somethings a combo of the two, ie softbox it for awhile then pull out the LED torch and light up the main bits. Basically I would release teh shutter and start at one end of teh subject and work my way round, making sure light was applied from down low and up high (thats easy for me
), i walked around the camera but you can just go in front if you like. Basically I applied nice even consistent spread of light over as many surfaces as possible, you have to apply more light to those darker items, like tyres and objects further away in teh composition, some objects/colours really suck the light...I think that about covers it..
The first image is with the LED torch only.
The second is a combo one with both softbox and vare LED - I thin this one would have been better with softbox only since you can see some harsh highlights from the LED light reflections.
The last one is softbox only, you can tell this since it has that nice matte fiish to the light, a softbox or diffsuer is essential for this.
I may do this again before the bike gets a flogging, if so i will try and take a setup picture next time.
I am not entirely sure about the background. I would prefer concrete floor with an urban background.
yeah, i had visions of a nice OOF skyline, but it seems to cut right through the middle of the subject and is a bit too cluttered. Concrete / bitumen was an option, but it was pretty windy and the last thing i wanted to was drop the bike on the concrete so grass it was..
How in the world did you prop the bike up?
thats the easiest part, just a short length of cane to prop it up - basically propped up at the crankshaft, you can just see the cane in the last picture, however in the others it was a two click clone.
#3 too much glare off the fork.
agreed, more softbox /reduced light strength required there...
Thanks for the comments - if anyone is keen and in the area let me know - this stuff is kinda fun and ya dont have to stress about the sun going up or down
Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 11:45 pm
Also the lens was Maxf2.8, so it was probably the 24-70 zoom (Not sure why this info was missing - its usually there too.)
