How to shoot motorcycles with all that blinding chrome?

It’s all about light – that’s not too heavy, is it?  I don’t mean the weight of the motorcycle, but the light reflecting off the machine.  In a staged studio set-up large amounts of very soft light is positioned above the motorcycle such as in the custom motorcycle shoot at the Sturgis Motorcycle rally. 

However, out in the field, you won’t have that much control, unless you choose the setting and the time of day.  Some of your best images of shiny motorcycles will NOT be on those bright and glorious days when owners like to show off their scoots.  Instead, an overcast “verge-of-rain” days are best for capturing the bright colors and reflective surfaces.   It’s about as close as you can get to a staged studio set up.   It was what I was blessed with when I shot vintage motorcycles in South Dakota a couple years ago. (Tip: a good software program such as one of the Photoshop or Corel programs can enhance dull colors if it’s too overcast of a day.)

 

You can also use a neutral density filter, but my choice is a circular polarizing filter. However, if your light is soft enough, as mentioned above, you can probably save yourself a few bucks and shoot without.  If you already have one, though, use it!

Watch out for shadows on the motorcycle you are shooting. These can come from trees, people or the bike parked next to it.  They can be hard to minimize or eliminate – except by asking the biker to move his machine to a better location.  Of course, that’s not always possible if you’re shooting that one bike on main street parked next to a few thousand others.  It is possible to carefully use a speed light, but then you run the risk of getting those nasty overblown reflections.  (Again, a good program such as Adobe an merge those two shots, or parts of them in to one evenly lit subject.)

If it’s one bike parked uniformly in a row with others, look for patterns that might enhance the image you’re shooting.  Is there a kind of infinity mirror pattern?  Is the bike next to it is the same color, or a different color?

Get down

Of course that bike caught your eye when you were standing, but can other angles give you a better shot?  Crouch down, sit down, or even lay down to get that scooter from a different angle, one that can highlight its unique features.  Decide this: What is the key element you want to shoot? Is it the paint job? The chrome? The entire vintage machine?  Get in on that part of the machine.  Is it a 1957 Indian, then shoot the identifying features? Is it a 1964 panhead Harley-Davidson?  Shoot the pan, the rocker covers, shoot the wheels, shoot the paint, shoot the leather – but focus on that element that sets this machine apart from others.

Avoid the stadium shot.  You don’t need to shoot the whole football stadium just to show off one player.  The machine you’re shooting should fill the frame – or some would say, fill three-quarters of the frame.

I can see for miles and miles and ….

What is that in that chrome? Is that you standing there, all distorted in the curvature of the chrome?  Sometimes reflections are desirable, such as the bike next to it, but are you sure you want that beer sign reflecting in the air cleaner cover?  Are you in the reflection?  Notice that guy crouching down in the air intake elbow in the top photo of the red custom bike?  Or how about his guy in the headlight bucket?  Oops!

While we’re on the subject of unwanted images – check the background before you click the shutter.  Are you sure you want that fat lady in the fluorescent green pant suit standing behind that motorcycle?  (Yeah, what’s she doing at a motorcycle rally anyway with that green polyester 70’s left over fashion?)

One more time

Like always, especially in photography, just get out there and do it. Practice, refine, and practice some more. You may not get it right the first time, but that’s okay because it’s not your last time.

Crosby old truck collection

Sometimes, spontaneity is the best incentive for creativity. It's freeing and limitless (well, almost).

Take a recent Saturday afternoon trip to Minot to get to the credit union before it closed. It was a gorgeous afternoon -- well kinda. It was chilly, upper 60's but sunny. That's good enough for a cruise and snooze.

Red and I headed northwest from Minot, up the scenic drive of Highway 52, up the Des Lacs river. It's a wide river valley floor with soft hills on either side. Apparently the the railroad company of a century ago decided to follow the long easy valley. So, our ride on Highway 52 was parallel to both the river and the railroad.

It's because of the railroad that the valley is dotted with small towns. Some are only a shadow of what they once were. Others have a few signs of life. Red reminded me that some of the small town cops along Highway 52 are tough on speeding tourists. So, we slowed down for each an every town. A good recommendation, wouldn't you say?

We stopped for coffee and fuel at Kenmare. You don't find many surprises at those cookie cutter Cenex Convenience stores. The front has coffee and a couple of booths to sit in. Behind the counter are the smokes and the chew. Way to the back is generally the hardware or farmer items. In between the smokes and the hardware is the food -- convenient, and priced accordingly. High.

It's getting late in the day. Sunlight in the northern edge of the lower 48 states lasts a long time in June. We jumped up to Highway 5, still cruising west, barely 15 miles from the Canadian border. And though the sunlight was long, it was not warm. So, we stopped a couple times along the road to add more warm layers.

I recommend that any time you head out on a cruise and snooze, you bring a full compliment of hot and cold clothes. That means lightweight layers such as t-shirts, all the way up to short sleeve button up shirt, long sleeve t-shirt, long sleeve button up shirt, vest, hooded sweatshirt, leather coat and rain gear.

We stopped near Columbus, along the side of the road to add more layers. It was really getting colder and colder. We didn't need the rain gear, but we added all the other layers. The fellows I used to ride with from Lake Charles, Louisiana and Beaumont, Texas back in 2004 showed me an essential trick for keeping body warmth where it's supposed to be. The included a crotch rag that they tucked in their belt, draped over their crotch and tucked under their thighs to keep warm.

With our layers, our crotch rags and even face masks, Red and I pulled in to Crosby, North Dakota. (Did you know that Crosby has the longest daylight hours on June 21 of any city in the lower 48? Sunrise is 5:30 and sunset is after 10:00. The long slow dusk blends seamlessly to the early glow of dawn. As one disappears in the west, the other is starting in the east.)

Crosby isn't very big, but it is prosperous. Oil. The Bakken oil play fuels not only petroleum needs in the U.S., but also the local economy. Crosby is doing well. Well enough to afford a good motel, we figured.

We were wrong. The motel left a lot to be desired. But it was cheap. $50 for the night for the two of us. I suppose you don't need a fancy motel if all the clients are oil field workers who just need a warm bed and hot shower. It suited us, but I'd recommend you move on if you're looking for a "nice" place to stay.

The payoff was what we found riding around town, looking for the motel. It's a mortuary or mausoleum of old dead steamers, tractors and trucks. Dozens and dozens of oxidized implements, the heavy equipment of another life 80 or 100 years ago.

The next morning, when warmer weather (55 degrees or so) began to encourage us to hit the road, we paused long enough at the collection of ancient equipment.

Someone had the decency to give these retired iron work horses a presentable lineup. On display, lined up, and framed by green grass and yellow dandelions, the old trucks reminded me of a cluster of old ranchers huddled up, reminiscing about the "good old days." I hauled out my camera and tripod and tried several different exposures. A fill light would have washed out the dark secrets of the oxidized equipment, so I let the darkness blend with the desaturated paint jobs of the old machines.

Free to travel, free to head out in any direction we wanted, we stumbled on these posed models, an opportunity we'd never had if we were bound by limits. But because we spontaneously took the long way home from Minot, we were given the chance to mingle among and photograph some of North Dakota's history.
(Recommendation: If you have a romantic sense of history, you'll find it tickled in the sparsely settled sections of western North Dakota. People are friendly, helpful and non-threatening. They'll talk about most anything. Spring and fall are great times for photographers to tour western North Dakota. Spring displays more shades of green than you knew existed. Fall is a busy time of year, the golden harvest and brilliant sunsets are worth the drive to western North Dakota. Hotels are inexpensive -- less than $50/ a night for a ma and pa motel.)

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