Photographing your Bicycle

In previous posts we explored photographing your bicycle for specific purposes. Documentation and art are two  ways to immortalize your collection of bicycles. There are a few people on the world wide web that have either mastered the craft of bicycle photography or have figured out a way to do it so inexpensively that they merit attention.

Photo Secrets – 43bikes

Jack Bissel (AKA “Mookie”) has set up a web site that explains his photographic set up. He has quite a collection of unusual bikes. His set up is strictly used for daylight bicycling photographing and he has included some how-to tips for use in Photoshop. While you are there make sure you visit the rest of his site as there are many interesting items scattered amongst its many pages.

Photographing your bike – Hovey MASI

Maybe this site should be called photographing your Masi. Bob Hovey documents the set up and steps he takes to get those wonderful photographs of all the Masi bicycles he has ever owned. Bob also includes tips on composition and lighting. Much of the rest of the site is dedicated to everything Masi, from history to one of a kind bicycles. Take a look, it will be worth the time.

MY PHOTO SETUP – Ray Dobbins Bike Photo Gallery

Ray Dobbins probably has the most visited of all the bicycle photography instruction sites on the web. He has everything from what equipment he uses to how to make some post processing adjustments. He talks extensively about his garage set up and what works and also what didn’t work, when it comes to his “studio.” The description is complete with pictures to help any aspiring bicycle photographer recreate his set up. The rest of the site has some of the most beautiful pictures of the most beautiful bikes that have graced the tarmac (and some that haven’t seen an inch of asphalt.

There are a few more sites that can provide helpful hints and tips on how to get the most of object photography, so don’t limit your Google searches to “bicycle photography”. Be creative and look for opportunities to carry your camera and snap off a picture or two. Small point and shoot cameras of today have everything from massive numbers of megapixels to image stabilization and can produce some wonderful images. Even cell phone cameras are better than they were even a short while ago, they can produce adequate images (with a bit more thought to lighting and some post processing). Go out and ride, then every once in a while look around and memorialize what you see with a quick photograph or two. Remember to ride safe.