Simple Bicycle Photography

This is the first in a series of articles offered as a suggestion on how to photograph your bicycle. These are not hard and fast rules and you have plenty of room for artistic expression. There are just a few things that you should know about how to take simple documentary types of photographs for your collection or for sending to your cycling associates via email or for posting on various bike related forums. We are not professional photographers nor professional cyclists but we have a passion for both and want to pass on some of the things we have learned along the way. Hope you enjoy it.

The first thing we are going to talk a little bit about where you could take these pictures. The whole idea about taking pictures of your bicycle is to show off your bicycle. With this in mind you should steer away from type of setting that either draws attention away from your bicycle or is too distracting. Take for example the following picture of our tandem:

Even though the image to the left is well focused and zoomed in so that the tandem fills the frame the background of the flowering bush is simply too distracting. A distracting background takes away from the aesthetic that is your bicycle. So we need to find a relatively sedate backdrop for our bicycle photo. Something that will draw attention to the subject rather than taking attention away. Where do you find a background big enough to fill in the area taken up by your bicycle? Most houses built in the last 50 years all have garages, most of those garages also have plain white (or neutral colored) garage doors. That is the perfect backdrop for our documentary type of bicycle picture. Other fairly plain type of backgrounds such as warehouse walls, concrete abutments, farm buildings, even plain blue sky can be used and colors can enhance the image.

Take a quick look at the photograph to the right . It is properly exposed and it does show the bicycle against a plain white garage door. Good so far, but there are a few things missing. It is time now to bring to your attention some basic guidelines about bicycle photography, these are not hard and fast rules, just a few things to remember to make your pictures more appealing to other cyclists. The first thing we will discuss is the orientation of the bicycle. If you look through various bike catalogs you will notice one universal thing, nearly every bike is facing right, that means if they were rolling they would roll off the right side of the page. Have you ever wondered why that is? Well a bicycle facing left gives you a better look at the components installed on the bicycle, the chain rings and derailleurs are all on the right side of the bicycle. Please note also that some tires are directional (particularly MTB tires) and the colored labels are on the right side of the tire.

Another thing that stands out in a bicycle frame is that many things are in straight lines and those lines we use to extend the components on a bicycle, so the right crank are is usually placed in line with the seat tube. In some cases you might also line up the crank arms parallel with the ground as long as the right arm is extended forward. Note where the chain is located. For the best possible look the bicycle should be shifted into it’s highest gear, the chain on the largest chain ring and the smallest rear cog. This also moves the rear derailleur into a position than is very neutral in about the middle of pulley positions. Note too that in both of the above pictures the bicycle picture is taken from an angle. If we were talking about art the more angles the better, but this is just about documenting your bicycle so we should be sure to take the picture as straight on as possible.

Back to tires for a moment, the tires usually have labels and those labels are usually in color only on one side of the tire. That colored label should go on the right side of the wheel and the label should also be lined up with the valve hole in the rim. There are some practical reasons for this but we are not trying to be practical here only looking for beauty. Valve stems whether they are presta or schreader are not the prettiest things in the world so as a guide we want to hide them from view. The best place to hide the front valve stem is behind the fork blade. the rear valve stem can be hidden in two places, behind the seat stays or behind the chain stays. I usually choose the seat stay so that both tire labels are near the top of the wheels.

You also need to be aware of the framing of your picture, in order to have the most detail make sure that your bicycle takes up nearly all of the frame. If you are too far from the image your bicycle will get lost and if you are too close you may cut off some of the bicycle in your final picture. If you do not have a camera that zooms, then zoom with your feet by stepping backward or forwards as appropriate. If you have a zoom lens then another tip is to zoom out just a bit so that the straight lines of the frame tubes or background stay straight. Too many pictures are taken so close up that bicycle parts start to appear distorted or straight lines seem to bow.

When it comes to what type of camera should you use, that really is entirely up to you. The following examples are taken with an iPhone, a Point & Shoot and a DSLR respectively. Each one is completely adequate for the task at hand.

Each of these examples show what we can accomplish with even the simplest tools, please note that for images like these the more light the better, especially if we are using a camera phone to take pictures with. A steady hand also comes in handy or even better use a tripod.

When you are all done, and have used these simple guidelines you will end up with a photograph that you will want to show others. A photograph of your bicycle that could be used to identify it in case it is lost or stolen. A photograph that will allow you the provide documentation to an insurance company in case of loss. This bears repeating, these are not hard and fast rules but rather guidelines you can use to make for better photographs of your pride and joy, your bicycle.

We hope you enjoyed this article and please feel free to add your own thoughts about simple bicycle photography. Stay with us for the next few weeks as we explore other areas of cycling related photography.