“Other people look at pictures of rustic bridges or mountainous or landscapes and admire the beauty and serenity of the scene—I’m just thinking how I can get a motorcycle into that shot.”
I said this the other day to my partner and she just rolled her eyes and laughed, but to be honest it is totally true. Most of the time when looking through photos I am planning in my head how I could get my bike to this place or how I would shoot it if I was there.
Over the past several years I have spent countless hours riding to places and photographing bikes (mostly my own) and through constant trial and error have come up with several things I thought might be useful to other budding motorcycle photographers. Please note I am in no way a professional, I’m not going to use technical photography terms, probably because I don’t know them, this is simply the three best things that make shooting easier for me.
1. Separate shooting rides and scouting rides
For me, the bedrock of a good day of shooting, as with so many other things in life, comes down to planning and preparation. In the early days, I would just cruise around either filming on an action camera hoping to get good stills or looking for vistas to park my bike and snap some shots with my smartphone. What I soon realized was that trying to ride and look and stop to take photos really wasn’t enjoyable and often I didn’t feel I got the best use of my time. So what I do now is have rides that are simply scouting missions for places that would make good locations. It makes me really appreciate the scenery of the rides and takes the pressure off of having to find a place and shoot it all in one day. It’s not to say I won’t snap some shots on these rides, but it’s not the main purpose.
Planning shooting only rides also helps in coordinating the extra equipment, thinking about where the sun is and how busy the vista or shooting area might be i.e. tourists. Often it’s a lot of jump on the bike, cruise up thirty feet, then reposition and re-set up the gear. So it can be a lot of riding gear on, riding gear off, pack, unpack. So think about that when planning the gear you’re riding with that day. I ride a lot with a bubble shield on my helmet, but this doesn’t breath well and unless I am shooting the helmet on my ride, I try to wear a visored helmet to avoid fogging up and having to remove it constantly. Similarly, the gloves you wear should be easy to put on and take off. Trust me, you’ll thank yourself later.
2. Prep a mental (or physical) shots list
After I have found a place I want to shoot I put together a mental shots list I want to accomplish on that day. Much how they do in movies for how the want a scene to look before they film it, I plan out how I am going to position my bike, where I am going to shoot it from, how I want to set up my tripod if I am using one, etc. All of this prep work will save you a lot of stress and time when you are out in the field actually shooting. Especially if you want to get the shot of your bike in the middle of a road or in a place you shouldn’t necessarily be (not that I condone that) it’s really important to have an idea of how you’re going to run your one person operation so you can execute when you get there.
Going with a friend is great as then you have an extra set of hands to reposition the bike or help watch for cars/cops etc, but I mostly shoot alone as coordinating schedules and finding someone who wants to just hang out while you shoot can be tough. What can be frustrating is that all of these motorcycle magazines and blogs make it look like everyone just rolled up on this epic landscape and were just like “oh this is pretty let’s snap a picture” that is not the case at all. They have scouted and prepped and probably have a crew of people helping them shoot. They are professionals keep in mind. But if I want to try and emulate what they do, alone, then I have to make up for it with prep.
3. Take tons of shots and mix up your angles
One of the most frustrating scenarios is when you think you snapped the perfect shot only to get home and realize it doesn’t look as amazing as it did on your phone. This has happened to me more times then I would like to admit. I’d say the rule of thumb would be to shoot three times as many photos as you think you need. It’s not a film camera, you’re not going to run out of film (though you might fill up your iPhone) so take multiple shots. If you only take one shot from one angle changes are high your finger got in the lens a little, or a car went by and kind of got in the shot, or it was just slightly out of focus. Whatever it is, take a lot of pictures to hedge getting one bad one. Remember you can always delete the ones you don’t need, but it can be painful to have to turn around and go back to shoot all over again. Exposures can very dramatically from shot-to- shot on an iPhone, which will also vastly change the look and feel of a photo.
4. Be spontaneous
At the end of the day keep in mind that more often than not the best shots might not be the ones you planned. Many times I have rolled up on a spot and realized that how I had planned it in my head just doesn’t look right after shooting it. Don’t get frustrated, just adapt to the environment. Change the angle, reposition the bike, add or subtract people, change the camera specs. There is a good shot in there somewhere you just have to find it. But the prep work you did beforehand will ensure you’re thinking outside of the box. After a couple of shooting trips, it will get easier and you will start to have more fun doing it.
Happy shooting.