Legend of the Motorcycle

I know there are several motorcycle enthusiasts here. This event happened the same day as the Ferrari Challenge, so I'm sure many people didn't go to this because of the Ferrari event.

In either case, I just wanted to share my pics from the show. I was unable to view the awards ceremony, but the concours website will eventually post who won the awards.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/funeralbell/sets/72157604882095453/detail/

 

No problem! Glad you enjoyed them! Those definitely aren't fantastic shots though. Those are just with a Sony T1 Cybershot 5mp camera. I just did a little post production work on my Macbook; adjusted the brightness, contast, saturation, temperature, and sepia.

No photo magic by me! I wish though!

 

Just the Apple Preview software. I just go under the "Adjust Colors" option and move the sliders until I see something I like. Usually it is the following.

Exposure: Same or very slightly less
Brightness: Slightly less
Contrast: Slightly more

Saturation: More, until I see the colors are nice and vibrant, but not overly vibrant
Temperature: More, usually until I see the skys turn I nice amber/dusty brown. I really like the warmer effect. Unless the sky is true blue and clear, then I usually do this effect
Tint: Leave it at the middle
Sepia: Slightly more than default (which is none), depends on the photo. You'll see some of the pics really cater to sepia effects, so I really boost it to make it more vintage inspired

Black Level: default
White Level: defualt

Sharpness: default (I know some can be sharper, but the sharpness slider doesn't like to cooperate for me)


Usually I'll do these until I see a pleasing image. I look for a loss in definition in blacks (look at the motors and tires), too much contrast, too much saturation, etc. When I find those levels, I back off until I see it at a nice level. I've found that my camera lacks color depth, meaning it seems like it makes things dull and bland. So that's why I boost saturation as it seems to bring out the colors to what they should be. I don't like HDR shots, so I don't even mess with that (though I don't have this option anyways), and I don't shoot RAW as my camera doesn't offer it. Usually I'll shoot in AUTO mode. Sometimes I'll switch to other shooting options such as night or snow, but very rarely.

I wish I had infinite time and there were less people as I would have loved to have taken close up and macro shots of some of the detail in the motors, original paint, lines, and styling features. I use these pictures more as a reference as bikes I've seen and to remember where I was and the show. If I wanted to do artistic stuff, then I certainly wouldn't try to do it at the show. I'd rather see them privately or at a small gathering to take those type of shots.

PS. I really dislike the iPhoto software.

 

Also, the weather was perfect. Slight marine layer which yielded plenty of light, but no harsh reflections and direct sun. It was cool (59 degrees) and slightly breezy, but ideal shooting conditions as you had no worries for sun "starring" reflections. So mid-day shooting was not a problem, otherwise early morning or late eventing would have been best.