Two-up at Speed

galaxycowpoke

Two-up into the Sunset

A track rider gives his girlfriend a ride on her birthday.

maczippy

Not bad Shaun, the only thing (for me) would be to try and achive some level shadow detail. Otherwise you end up with just sold blobs of black.

In other words you want to shoot for the same sort of shadow detail you can see on the thigh/leathers...

Maybe some judicious use of the shadow highlight tool will pull some of the detail back out...

Andrew

galaxycowpoke

maczippy wrote:

Not bad Shaun, the only thing (for me) would be to try and achive some level shadow detail. Otherwise you end up with just sold blobs of black.

In other words you want to shoot for the same sort of shadow detail you can see on the thigh/leathers...

Maybe some judicious use of the shadow highlight tool will pull some of the detail back out...

Andrew

Indeed, I really pushed the pixels into the black on this one. I've been trending my post-processing that way this year and especially on this photo (rather radically) featuring the unique shaded stand of trees in the background. It's a 180 degree turnaround from last year when I was using the shadow highlight tool quite a lot. Now it's very seldom I do anything beyond Adobe Camera Raw before going to JPEG. But I definitely took this one to the Edge of Blackness, boosting even the post-capture contrast through the roof.

This image is from last year. I hope to have some new ones in October. I can't believe it will have been a whole year since I shot a bike. I've been busy focusing on wedding, portrait, and equine (I'm in the North Central Florida horse country) for my bread and butter (well, maybe just butter ) and offering myself for the occasional track day (for the shooting not for the big money) . The event stuff really is a bit too monotonous for me, since you are obliged to get a good number of images for everyone and therefore take many of the same angles over and over again. I would much rather shoot editorial where you have more creative freedom and focus on getting those great saleable images.

Anyway, here's a more straight-forward version for your consideration. Very much faithful to the original capture, definitely more detail. I like it. But looking back at "edge of blackness" version, I'm surprised that I still like that one, too; distilled to almost pure black and white, the helmets really jumping out at you. But it was definitely very black.

Thanks, Andrew, for pulling me back from the abyss. :

ian408

I like that shot. Andrew's comments are good but I've got to admit I liked the
darker one. Maybe something that's between the two images?

galaxycowpoke

ian408 wrote:

I like that shot. Andrew's comments are good but I've got to admit I liked the
darker one. Maybe something that's between the two images?

The second certainly shows more detail; and there's merit in that. On the other hand, the first one has a kind of Ansel Adams quality for me. Deep deep blacks. Brilliant whites. That's what I was going for. But I suppose it's not everybody's Earl Grey. And that's okay.

maczippy

Exactly!

As for track days stuff. I'll never do it. I've been asked but I never will for the reasons you mention.

Andrew

ian408 wrote:

I like that shot. Andrew's comments are good but I've got to admit I liked the
darker one. Maybe something that's between the two images?

DoctorIt

ian408 wrote:

I like that shot. Andrew's comments are good but I've got to admit I liked the
darker one. Maybe something that's between the two images?

I agree, something in between - to retain the dark romantic quality of the first, but a bit more detail wouldn't hurt.

pathfinder

Keep the black background of the first image, but blend in some of the detail in the forground with a blending layer and a mask. That should keep the deep blacks and let you control the details in the leathers and the bike in the forground.

galaxycowpoke

pathfinder wrote:

Keep the black background of the first image, but blend in some of the detail in the forground with a blending layer and a mask. That should keep the deep blacks and let you control the details in the leathers and the bike in the forground.

Ah! Good idea!

Jeffro

I like the 2nd one better. Those two really have to trust each other.

galaxycowpoke

I think that's the great thing about nailing the exposure: you can then take it any direction you want.

My old band director used to always say that it's better to be sharp than flat. And with digital, I always try to err on the side of slight overexposure rather than underexposure, since the sensors capture more data in the lighter range.

But overexposure is, from what I see, also the most common error in roadracing images, usually because the photographer has neglected to compensate for the large expanses of grayish black asphalt.

ian408

I think what pathfinder said. That sounds like a good compromise.

Ian

FrankieAng

Very nice capture, Shaun. I am not usually a big fan of B/W conversions, but this capture is an exception. I like it alot and a bit more since it was re-edited and brightened a bit.