Yamaha XVS 1300 Midnight Star
March 16, 2010 Tags: cruiser, details, midnight star, motorbike, motorbike photographer, motorbike photography, off-camera, Photography, Photoshop, Tips, Tutorial, XVS 1300, xvs1300, yamaha
Category: Photoshop No Comments 
Motorbike Photography
I had quite a few shoots over the weekend so I unwound a little by taking some photos, strange I know! I’ve noticed from some of my web traffic that the motorbike photography gets quite a lot of visitors, not surprisingly looking for the Yamaha XVS 1300 midnight star, it would be handy if they were getting married but I suspect they see the photo and are drawn in expecting a top notch review of the bike and are probably a little disappointed when all they get are a few camera techniques. If you are one of these visitors, no review needed, you should just go and get one of these, I love mine!
Anyway, on to the photo. It was taken in manual (ISO 100, 24mm, 1/160 at f/5.6) This would have produced a very under exposed shot, probably on a level close to the uppermost bricks. However it was lit with a 580EXII and a 430EX either side of the camera, about 45 degrees to the bike. The lights were unmodified and therefore quite harsh (note sharp shadows near the tires, also both going inwards indicating 2 lights) but this gave the spectral highlights in the chrome I was after. It also produced a nice dramatic vignette with the bricks behind. The only problem with this is I got harsh shadows on the wall from the handlebars being lit predominantly by the light on the right. These were cloned out in post production as cloning with bricks is very easy, you just have to remember to pick a brick that has a similar tone but without a great big shadow running through it.
Editing was done in lightroom and then in photoshop. I had seen quite a good photoshop video from a photographer called Calvin Hollywood, he has done quite a few youtube videos about techniques he uses to bring out details in shots, so I thought I’d try some, plus he sounds a bit like the terminator which can’t be a bad thing, unless you are Sarah Connor! Anyway instead of going through all the steps like a recipe book just check him out on youtube if you get chance and use the techniques as a starting point and see what you come up with.
