So I have had the opportunity to work with a professional photographer who has extensive experience with motorcycles. I thought I would share a few of his thoughts on the Busa:
1. If you are shooting on the kickstand then the right side is the money shot. The kickstand side is leaning into the camera and this ruins the light as well as distorts the proportions of the bike's profile. Most all sport or sporty bikes look more aggressive on a race stand. You can also place blocks under the kickstand and Photoshop them out later.
2. Always shoot sport bikes low. This makes them look powerful and aggressive. I see so many people shoot them standing up but you need to get at seat height or lower. You have heard of actors insisting on shooting their best sides, well up looking down at the seat tank is not the bikes best side.
3. Usually, face the fairings (front) of the bike into the sun. The complex curves of the fairings need light and highlights to read. Place them in the sun or get the sun behind them and the detail is in shadow.
4. Background is important on bikes. Look for something consistent and not to complicated to compete with the motorcycle. Look for complimentary colors and composition. You can clip an image to correct framing but this is wasting resolution. Try to get the shot properly framed when you shoot it.
5. For the Busa, keep the front wheel center for full bike shots and front shots. The Busa stands heavy on the front wheel, almost like a bulldog. Turn the wheel and the shot will look awkward. Take a second to pose the bike, arrange stuff like jacket and helmet.
6. Modern cameras (even phones) pickup a lot of detail so it's less important to get everything just right as far as light in the shot. Generally 8 megapixels is minimum resolution but the highest you can get is best. Good shots depend on post-production. You can make some great adjustments in software like Lightroom and they aren't too hard to learn the basics. If you plan on post production, error on too much light. For architecture we generally shoot late morning or late afternoon. The sun position yields longer, more dramatic shadows in these positions. But for bikes tighter shadows are better so as not to obscure detail so closer to noon can work well.
All of this assumes the bike is the focus of the shot. If you are shooting a location with the bike in it there are different rules. Just thought I would share!
1. If you are shooting on the kickstand then the right side is the money shot. The kickstand side is leaning into the camera and this ruins the light as well as distorts the proportions of the bike's profile. Most all sport or sporty bikes look more aggressive on a race stand. You can also place blocks under the kickstand and Photoshop them out later.
2. Always shoot sport bikes low. This makes them look powerful and aggressive. I see so many people shoot them standing up but you need to get at seat height or lower. You have heard of actors insisting on shooting their best sides, well up looking down at the seat tank is not the bikes best side.
3. Usually, face the fairings (front) of the bike into the sun. The complex curves of the fairings need light and highlights to read. Place them in the sun or get the sun behind them and the detail is in shadow.
4. Background is important on bikes. Look for something consistent and not to complicated to compete with the motorcycle. Look for complimentary colors and composition. You can clip an image to correct framing but this is wasting resolution. Try to get the shot properly framed when you shoot it.
5. For the Busa, keep the front wheel center for full bike shots and front shots. The Busa stands heavy on the front wheel, almost like a bulldog. Turn the wheel and the shot will look awkward. Take a second to pose the bike, arrange stuff like jacket and helmet.
6. Modern cameras (even phones) pickup a lot of detail so it's less important to get everything just right as far as light in the shot. Generally 8 megapixels is minimum resolution but the highest you can get is best. Good shots depend on post-production. You can make some great adjustments in software like Lightroom and they aren't too hard to learn the basics. If you plan on post production, error on too much light. For architecture we generally shoot late morning or late afternoon. The sun position yields longer, more dramatic shadows in these positions. But for bikes tighter shadows are better so as not to obscure detail so closer to noon can work well.
All of this assumes the bike is the focus of the shot. If you are shooting a location with the bike in it there are different rules. Just thought I would share!
