How to make your bike look AMAZING

How do you take better photographs of a bike? We take a quick look at the basics.

Photography has always been a great hobby, but it often means carrying lots of gear; different lenses, tripods and even lights. Do you need all that? Nowadays the vast majority of people carry a camera around with them at all times – their mobile phone. We look at how you can take great shots of a bike using a simple camera or even a phone.

It’s all about the bike

You want the picture to be about the bike, not about the background or foreground. So if possible, move the bike so you have a clear background with as few distractions as possible. If there is no way to get a clear background, at least try to look for a clean wall, fence or hedge and avoid wheelie bins, lampposts, cars or other distractions.

Get down

Most photographs are taken from eye level – it is easiest after all. But bikes generally look better if you hold your camera lower – so get down on your knees or hold your camera down to the height of the engine. The bike will instantly look better and this often hides the background as well. But as you’re seeing the bike from a lower angle, you may need to clean those parts you don’t often see!

Poser!

There’s no golden rule to taking that perfect image, so if you have time, experiment a little. It’s generally easier to shoot a bike with the sun behind you, as this will light the bike nicely. But if you have a camera that you can turn to manual control, you can get some nice shots if the sun is behind the bike – it just needs time to get the correct exposure.

If you have a choice of sidestand or centrestand, try both – though centrestand (or a paddock stand) is easier as the light will look better. Then play with the angle of the front wheel. Start with the steering facing forward, but also see how it looks with the wheel on full lock, too.

Zoom

If you’re using a camera with a zoom, try standing as far away as possible from the bike and then zoom in to fill the frame with the bike. This does two things – it narrows the angle so you have less background, but it also makes the depth of focus more shallow, so the background and foreground will not be so sharp, helping the bike stand out.

Camera phones and some cameras may have a digital zoom – this isn’t the same. All this does is crop the original image and doesn’t narrow the angle or shorten the depth of focus.