Re: [CR]bicycle photography

(Example: Production Builders:Peugeot:PX-10LE)

In-Reply-To: <12d.53d1ba35.2f19473f@aol.com>
References: <12d.53d1ba35.2f19473f@aol.com>
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2005 12:38:55 -0500
To: BobHoveyGa@aol.com, classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
From: "Sheldon Brown" <CaptBike@sheldonbrown.com>
Subject: Re: [CR]bicycle photography


I wrote:
> > For digital, just snap and then look at the display on the screen.
>> If the exposure is off, re-adjust and take another one.
>>
>> I use Nikons which have a viewing mode that shows a graph (called a
>> "histogram") that shows the distribution of dark/light areas in the
>> image. This is a great way to fine tune exposure settings, if your
> > camera features this function.

Bob Hovey added:
>Great advice Sheldon! A few precautions tho:
>
>Using the display for feedback is great if you are in subdued light, but
>otherwise the LCD is not going to give you a fair representation of
>what the image
>looks like.

In daylight, auto exposure generally works fine. I was speaking of working with difficult indoor light. Indoors, the LCDs generally work fine.
>And even under the best of circumstances you will not be able
>to check important details like highlights (unlike shooting with film, where
>lack of shadow detail is the major pitfall, a digital exposure with blown-out
>highlights is beyond salvaging no matter how good you are with Photoshop...

My Nikon 990 and D70 both have a feature that causes blocked-up highlights to blink in preview mode.
>for
>this reason, people who have some film experience are usually advised to meter
>digital scenes more like they would when shooting slide film than negative
>film).

Since there's no film nor processing cost associated with making digital images, it is generally more reasonable to just bracket exposures (take several shots at different settings.)

With most digital cameras, an external light meter is pretty useless, because most digital cameras have zoom lenses that change aperture ("f stop") as you zoom.
>
>When I'm shooting bikes at a show, I've gotten best results with a long focal
>length and the macro setting. Extreme closeups always seem to generate the
>most interest anyway, especially amongst us lug-lickers. But without fail,
>the toughest shot to get at a show is always that drive side beauty shot.
>Cluttered backgrounds and bikes parked too close to each other
>really makes this
>shot difficult if not impossible. With the owner's permission you can move a
>bike out into the aisle for a shot, but that doesn't solve the cluttered
>background problem. Wouldn't it be nice if bike shows had a walk-around in a
>large open area (kind of like they do at dog shows) where you could meet each
>owner and get a nice flattering full-on shot of the bike (and proud owner).

...or a scheduled series of hangings in front of a seamless background!

Sheldon "One Word Is Worth 31,457 Pixels" Brown Newtonville, Massachusetts +----------------------------------------------------------+ | And what are all these mysteries to me, | | Whose life is full of indices and surds? | | x^2 + 7x + 53 | | = 11/3 --Lewis Carroll | +----------------------------------------------------------+ --
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