"How To Photograph Your Motorcycle"

Taking the right photos can make your ride look great.

By Steve Bohn
Photography: Steve Bohn, Greg Friend

Bracketing

Bracketing is a photo technique where you take one picture at proper exposure, one or more over-exposed, and one or more under exposed. This technique allows you to get an exposure that will be useable in most situations.

Under exposed one full stop.

Correct exposure.

Over exposed one full stop

Bars

Make certain the bars are not turned to the side in any of your shots. They should be facing straight forward at all times to keep an overall profile of the bike on the same angle. Make certain the bars are not turned to the side in any of your shots. They should be facing straight forward at all times to keep an overall profile of the bike on the same angle.

Tripods

There will be times when you need a steady shot ... that's when a tripod comes in. Vary your tripod height to keep the angles of your photos interesting.

Using the kickstand

Sometimes it is necessary to put something under the kickstand to get the bike to stand up a bit straighter and get a better overall view. When you do this, look for some object that is small and sturdy to fit under the kickstand that will not draw attention to itself, and detract from your bike.

Moving the bike

Most likely you will need to move the bike around several times or more during the photo shoot to make sure the light is hitting it properly (you'll want to keep shadows behind the bike).

Other times you may need to move your bike in order to keep unwanted items from the background that will detract from the picture.

Beauty shots

Include the entire motorcycle, along with some tasteful background (but not too much) in the photograph. Shoot at least one full roll of film for each side of your motorcycle.

When shooting beauty shots move forward and backwards from the center of the motorcycle. This will help create some interesting angles.

This is an example of a three quarter shot. Three quarter shots should be taken from both ends of the motorcycle. These can be shot vertically as well as horizontally. When shooting vertically, place the motorcycle slightly below the center of the frame.

Examples of what not to do.

	Nice statue, but we don’t care about it. We want to see your motorcycle, not your sports heroes. Fill the majority of the frame with the bike.
	We like the fact that your neighbor takes out his trash but we don’t need the trash can in the photo. In addition, straighten the bars, and lose the truck near the bike.
	We need to see the entire bike, here someone decided to crop out a portion of the front tire, but to make up for it he/she included the front tire of another bike. That just doesn’t cut it; neither does the trailer in the background.
	The worst part of this photo is the lighting. The bike is in shadows and the camera’s meter is picking up on the light streaming into the scene at the top left.