| Author | Message | ||
     Danger_dave |
OT pics - sorry bout that - but I just did them and wanted to discuss flash photog. And it's a pretty bike. The game has changed for me again. Now the flash units are compact and robust enough to make it viable for motorcycle only travel and I'm framing differently. I rode around with our Dirt Editor on the Victory 8-ball and took some snaps. I was on an Aprilia RS125. Funny as. Adding the flash with low shutter speeds gets some nice dramatic effects on a moving subject - and all of a sudden shadows can be your friends. In fact I sought some to see what would happen.  Then if you crank it up to as fast as the flash will run, you can tighten it all up for a more conventional effect. I choose shutter priority mode mostly and dialed in the f-stop. The flash auto focuses too.  I got some great results from night time too. Firing the flash and doing some various timed exposures.   And then in the sunlight you can almost shoot straight into the sun.  Just used a normal balance on a manual exposure and even on a black bike and shooting into the sun there is detail. More stuff to lug everywhere. Fortunately it all still fits in a small pelican case. I'll see if I can get that 1125CR back. :-) | ||
| Lemonchili_x1 |
"I'll see if I can get that 1125CR back. :-)" Please try. 1125CR in a shot like the first one would be way cool. With your Darth Vader helmet would be cooler  How big is the flash? Looks like it would have to be pretty powerful for those kind of shots. | ||
| Darthane |
Love the one with the turning van in the background...what was that, like a 10s exposure? I just bought a DSLR to take with my on my honeymoon, and know enough to know I know nothing.  | ||
| Glitch |
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| Danger_dave |
30 seconds on that long exposure. the kit. - I also use an infra-red trigger. Nikon SB600 flash. The thing is with the new tech you can shoot at iso1000+ and it compensates for the graineyness automatically.  | ||
| Bill0351 |
Good stuff. I remember just enough from the photography class I took to know that is some seriously impressive s**t. I'm going to steal one to go with the B&W Buell pic you sent me last year and put it with the other screen savers I have stolen off Badweb. What did you think of the bike? I have always liked Victory motorcycles in principal, but I have never ridden one. Bill | ||
| Sayitaintso |
I like the first of the night shots the best. Out of curiosity, how strong is the flash and how far away were you? There is some real good detail in that one, and it didn't "blast out" the natural shadows of the back lighting. I'm at the very bottom end of the prosumer market and always admire a pro's work and try to pick up pointers when I can. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Consider something like this as well: http://www.amazon.com/SP-Studio-Systems-Battery-Op erated/dp/B0002F2T4I http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/90694-REG/Me dalight_PG250S_PG250S_DC_Slave.html Lots of things like that, they are really simple devices. A couple of those units strategically placed throughout a room before the shooting starts will give outstanding results as well. They will trigger with any flash, so no doubt people in my family were forever wondering why their pictures turned out beautiful when I was around but lousy when I wasn't.  | ||
| Damnut |
Damn Dave I have the same exact setup. The D90 with the SB600 is a great combo. Pretty funny that the manual for the flash is bigger than the manual for the camera. I just need to buy some better glass. I've been eyeing this setup of lenses. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/408518-USA/N ikon_2159_18_200mm_f_3_5_5_6G_ED_IF_AF_S.html http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/335381-REG/T amron_AF08N700_200_500mm_f_5_6_3_Di_LD.html or going with this Sigma for a long lens instead of the Tamron. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/549256-REG/S igma_737306_150_500mm_f_5_6_3_DG_OS.html Decision, decisions.......... | ||
| M1combat |
Nice camera case... I have one of those for one of my rifles... | ||
| Danger_dave |
Taa, Reep. I wouldn't have thought to go cheap end for the slaves. Next acquisition. With some dinky little umbrellas! Damnut - the 18-200 VR lens is fabulouso. I would like a longer lens too - but not on a bike - and going to bike events in a car would put me in the same class as the goobers with the ghey safari vest and camera branded floppy hat look. | ||
| Bosh |
I'm just getting into flash photography a little and have been looking into different portable lighting set-ups. I just picked up a infrared trigger also to do some off camera flash pics. Found a pretty good website that focuses mainly on portrait type stuff but should be useful in your motorcycle photography. http://strobist.blogspot.com/ if you haven't seen it yet. As you were saying you can use the sun to your advantage to get some pretty cool photos. Here's a sunset pic I like (T. Burton's not mine) that he must have used some sort of portable umbrella as the light is very soft with a dramatic sunset in the background. http://www.flickr.com/photos/t0nyburton/3159222040 /in/set-72157613592713185/ He's got some decent shots, not up to your level though in my opinion. | ||
| Danger_dave |
>>What did you think of the bike? << I'm thinking of starting with.... Bill Shakespeare was big on portents, or his characters were anyway. The Oxford says a portent is ‘a sign or warning that something, especially something momentous or calamitous, is likely to happen’ In ‘The Scottish play’ (It's bad luck to say Macbeth) for example, an apparition of a dagger and the sound of a bell are clear messages to the main character that he must kill the King. ‘The bell invites me, hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell, that summons thee to heaven or to hell.’ (Thank you Miss Ralston). And remember what happened to Caesar when he blew the Ides of March gig? What has this to do with a motorcycle test you ask? Well, the portents for this one struck me as quite Shakespearian. The last 3 minutes of the journey to Silver Fern Imports in fabulous downtown Takaninni and collection of the 2009 Victory 8 Ball motorcycle were to the strains of Elvin Bishop’s classic ‘Fooled Around and Fell in Love.’ ..........Tag could be 'Et tu Arlen?' Dunno yet. I'd buy one. No shite. | ||
| Rkc00 |
Damnut, I have the tamron 200-500 and it is a pretty good lens for the price. You do need good light to use it. Mine was on my D200 body and fell out of my backpack while riding the Uly at 70 mph. It was scratched up and I lost the hood but it still works. The D200 also still works. I did get the D200 refurbished and still use it as my everyday camera. I would be willing to sell the tamron for a good price. I will ship it to you and you could use it for a while and than make me an offer if you want it. If not ship it back. Mike 09 XB12X Red/Black 06 VRSCR Blue/Silver | ||
| Reepicheep |
The cheap slaves work decent if you are have a good intuitive sense of lighting and sensitivity (which you probably can't help if you spent years processing your own push processed black and white film in search of that elusive perfect low light shot). You always have to make sure the flash is just fill, and always below the "real" flash illuminating the scene. I do it by either distance, or by having it reflect off of some surface to diffuse it, or even by throwing a white t-shirt over it. Old school illumination control I don't use them so much to illuminate the subject as I do to highlight or bring up general environmental background levels so to make the foreground / background transitions feel less abrupt. $50 worth of little slaves could give me three discrete light sources to spread across a room before the "event" begins, and wherever I happen to point the camera during the shoot will trigger them. Of course, every other flash in the room will trigger them as well, but the slaves will help their pictures just like it helps yours. And if you loose them of can't get back to them after the shoot, it's not a time for tears... they are cheap. For Dave's victory shots above, it would have been cool to try and have one on the ground behind the body of the bike pointing back towards the camera. It could have created some good "halo" effects around the bike and maybe let through some "gaps" to make the bike feel a little lighter or more open. They are fun little cheap supplement toys that fit in a pocket, not a substitution for "real" strobes and slaves. Vics are great bikes. Looking at JB's next to Ferris's Road King in Franklin NC, made it clear that both were world class production motorcycles, and both amazing machines. I'd be proud to own and ride either brand. | ||
| Damnut |
Mike, yes I'm interested. I'll PM you when I return to the States. I'm working in Ireland right now and will be back next week. |
