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Hello,
Saturday I have been asked to do a model shoot, with a vintage custom Harley Davidson motorcycle, and 1-2 models. Theme is "Bikie Chick / leather".
Shoot will be indoors, in a "factory/industrial" environment. Bike is very shinny, lots of polish, backdrops will vary from rusty iron roofing, cranes, steel frames. Lighting will be controllable, no external light, 4 monoblocs, reflector, no gels (damn d'store), soft boxes, snoot, graduated backlight.

Looking for tips on
1. lighting a shiny bike, while considering skin tones.
2. composition/perspective different to the traditional portraiture ones...
3. Maybe some examples from members, or others.

I have a 3.5 hour window in this location, so my planning and prep need to be precise.

thanks in advance
Oz

Planning and research - check out the bike mags in newsagents as well as image libraries and photo sites like flickr, shutterstock.com, etc.

If you have a lightmeter, use it otherwise have "fun" metering for the chrome and shiny bits on the bike

Also watch out for reflections of the chrome which may show unwanted photos of yourself in it

PiroStitch wrote:Also watch out for reflections of the chrome which may show unwanted photos of yourself in it

Agree, thinking to use longer lengths to keep out of pic, up to 200mm.

thanks for the sites

anyone have examples of work for bike shoots?

Or indoor "factory/industrial" shoots?

PiroStitch wrote:Also watch out for reflections of the chrome which may show unwanted photos of yourself in it

Dont understand what you mean Wayne...

well that looks alright

also you might want to edit the title to include a risque warning (ie. work warning)

another favourite from the shoot... street sign in background was a pleasant surprise (no PP)

In case you are wondering, the bike is over 50 years old, its a vintage, Panhead / Shovel head combo, with side cart.

Oz_Beachside wrote:In case you are wondering, the bike is over 50 years old, its a vintage, Panhead / Shovel head combo, with side cart.

What bike?

if you look really carefully, in the foreground, you may catch a glimpse of a bike...

on the serious side, I learnt a lot in this shoot. It was my first time working with more than one model, so I had to be much more vocal in giving direction. Two models tends to reduce the number of keepers, since the probability of things like blinks, movement, poor lighting, is increased. With two models, the lighting needs to be a little more balanced with soft light, as they cast shadows on each other if not.

In the past, I have had about 1/3 keepers, this time, of those with two models, probably down to 1/4, but still happy with the overall number, since I took near on 500 shots in this shoot.

Exposure was challenging. with a bike such as this as the prop, I had to compromise between highlights in the polished chrome/alloy, correct exposure for the color paintwork, and then for skin tones. So I chose to measure exposure in this priorities of 1. skin tones, 2. paint color, 3. chrome.

Also would have preferred the lighting of a second softbox, but didnt have one with me.

Generally lighting was a 60cm square softbox as key, pointing down, overhead front of models, with a white reflector under to bounce under chins/bike, white/silver bounce umbrella for fill camera left, and a grid left of bike for rim/fill lighting on bike.

Key learnings, take backup everything! Sync cord was faulty, so missed 10-20% shots due to flash not firing. No backup sync lead in bag, so switched to manual on camera flash an min power (which would only trigger key if I was behind the monobloc). Assistant would have been great to follow models with rim light.

Overall a solid day, good keepers, and most importantly, a happy client.

PiroStitch wrote:Also watch out for reflections of the chrome which may show unwanted photos of yourself in it

Oz i think Piro is referring to fashion photographer Terry Richardson
who usually tkaes pictures with his reflection in them somehow and most times his naked

otherwise wayne could of just been saying make sure you dont get your reflection in the motorcycle

anyway this shoot looks pretty complex as you have to work out pose and positioning of the harley

from what i see of other works it seems like getting the bike in is important as geting the model

I would of like to see more model interaction with the industrial scene
i think those scenes are really cool, would of been great to see sparks and smoke coming from the machinery and don't be afraid to grease the model up

anyway good work i know how stressful a model shoot can be lots of things to consider technically and creatively

Hi Bruce,
I have the feeling this location was rather challenging for you... the main consideration is that, despite getting access to this industrial site, not a lot of it is seen in the images. Going back to what we discussed at the workshop, this is where you need to consider the inverse square law and how light fall off is going to affect the background.

In this instance you really need to consider using big lighting (using a large light area from a distance) so that you get relatively soft light from a reasonable distance that will provide reduced falloff over a distance. Alternatively you can use extra lights to light the background seperately. Given that you have access to four heads I would almost be considering a combination of the both. Aside from that, good effort!
cheers, Ants

Yes, presented me with many challenges, but thats how I learn.

I was not able to get in there before the shoot to prep, so planning was tough. Once inside, there were lots of great backdrops, everything else was BLACK. Wall, floors, ceiling, doors, everything, FLAT BLACK!

The bike was essentially fixed in place, so the only backdrop for those shots was a black curtain, and black stage (like a nightclub).

I have some other shots around a pool table, where the backdrop was rustic tin, so it was worth lighting up. In this one I had one softbox camera right, and a backlight parallel to the wall to show the depth and rust of the lower wall. (I decided to show this pic, so you can see the background, as the models in the foreground can be distracting...). I will need to PP the full reflection of the softbox in the picture frame.



Others against a wall with iron bars, and the model interaction with those worked well.

Third set was on a timber bar, but was not able to set up a second light to light up behind it, so the backdrop was a little dissappointing in those shots.

We were under the pump too, as this was a motocycle clubs venue, and they had a party starting halfway through our shoot.

Agree, I would have loved to have had more time, to set lights up to light the backdrops more but oh well, some good results, and lots of things learned. Now, insanity says, if I dont repeat the same mistakes, I should get a different outcome next time...

Don't overlook the possibility of using natural light outdoors. A cloudy day and an interesting background can often produce spectacular results. The use of longer focal length lenses can also be considered outdoors. Doing this indoors with artificial light makes controlling the contrast essential and keeping reflections and hot spots off the chrome can be problematic.
Antsl gives good advice regarding large lighting sources and diffusion.
Have fun. Your challenge is to do this in a way that is different from the ordinary, run of the mill chick/bike pics. Consider using large fans for windy effect....dry ice for misty look, fog machine etc.

Matt. K wrote:Don't overlook the possibility of using natural light outdoors. A cloudy day and an interesting background can often produce spectacular results. The use of longer focal length lenses can also be considered outdoors. Doing this indoors with artificial light makes controlling the contrast essential and keeping reflections and hot spots off the chrome can be problematic.
Antsl gives good advice regarding large lighting sources and diffusion.
Have fun. Your challenge is to do this in a way that is different from the ordinary, run of the mill chick/bike pics. Consider using large fans for windy effect....dry ice for misty look, fog machine etc.

Thanks Matt, I really value feedback.
We had the good fortune of a smoke machine, looked great to the eye, but the shots all looked like a blizzard had hit. I had never used a smoke machine before, nor worked with lighting around one...

We also had the use of a large industrial fan, which created a good effect of movement, "riding the bike, while hair blowing in the wind". Those worked out well.

The location had a 8m high roller door, which would have been the ideal natural large light source Antsl refers to. I had this in mind, and smiled when I saw the door, but was not able to get it opened for the shoot

Any feedback on my exposure, when considering skin/paint/chrome?

Overall, I think the main area for improvement in this shoot (I am not able to put up too many images), is the backlighting.

Your use of frontal lighting has flattened the image and robbed it of form. I think a change in the direction of the light might have improved the image. The bike itself tends to melt into the background and this could have been improved...once again, by careful lighting. A good trick is to take a white soccer ball into the studio and adjust your lighting until you get the modeling you want on the ball. Then remove the ball and insert your subjects. Generally (but not always) you are looking for lighting that gives your subject the most form, or roundness. The rule is, frontal lighting flattens form (your long-nosed subjects nose will look shorter) and side lighting increases form (your stubby-nosed subjects nose will look longer).

Matt. K wrote:Your use of frontal lighting has flattened the image and robbed it of form. I think a change in the direction of the light might have improved the image. The bike itself tends to melt into the background and this could have been improved...once again, by careful lighting. A good trick is to take a white soccer ball into the studio and adjust your lighting until you get the modeling you want on the ball. Then remove the ball and insert your subjects. Generally (but not always) you are looking for lighting that gives your subject the most form, or roundness. The rule is, frontal lighting flattens form (your long-nosed subjects nose will look shorter) and side lighting increases form (your stubby-nosed subjects nose will look longer).

Great, and Thanks! Exactly the feedback I wanted. I was dissappointed myself with the flatness in this set, around the bike. My lights were too flat, they were only 1 stop apart, measured over the bike seat, this was far too similar, lost any fall off. I intended to have the key, near front of bike, and fill from behind/side. Perhaps at least two stops would have provided a higher "contrast" between the two lights. I kept them close, as I wanted to fill the shadows the front model was casting over the pillion model, but think i left it it too close. Love the soccor ball idea, a patient subject indeed!

As for the bike melting into background, would you suggest some more light on the background to provide seperation, but not too much so as to make the background a subject?