On your Bike

Aussieroo · January 15, 2007

Here is a shot taken at an old homestead close by. I converted to BW in PSE5 using their inbuilt BW converter. It has some nice functions to it and I wonder what you guys think of it. Not as Black as it could be quite deliberately, but your thoughts would be appreciated.

Awais Yaqub · January 15, 2007

how to sit on the seat ??
i have seen it on history books but never knew someone still have one !!!

very nice photo

Aussieroo · January 15, 2007

Awais Yaqub wrote:

how to sit on the seat ??
i have seen it on history books but never knew someone still have one !!!

very nice photo

I would like to know who ever invented this and what they were thining!! You needed long legs to pedal this baby!:D

clove · January 15, 2007

Very cool. I would experiment with different b&w conversions filtering different colors so you can get more contrast of the bike against the bricks. The bricks sort of wash out the image as it is.

Skippy · January 15, 2007

Aussieroo wrote:

Here is a shot taken at an old homestead close by. I converted to BW in PSE5 using their inbuilt BW converter. It has some nice functions to it and I wonder what you guys think of it. Not as Black as it could be quite deliberately, but your thoughts would be appreciated.

Wow that's a bit of history, yes I wonder what on earth they were thinking when they invented Penny Farthing, they were not easy to mount or dismount let alone actually ride.

Even the stand the front wheel is sitting looks interesting, I'm assuming it's cast iron ?

Good shot Aussieroo

... Skippy
.

Seneca · January 15, 2007

Wow...now you know...

...I never could understand the logic of those bikes.

But anyway...good shot!

Aussieroo · January 15, 2007

Thanks for your replies and suggestions.
I did have a play with the contrast and BW setting but as the area at the top of the photo is dark anyway it is difficult to get more seperation into it. I may need to go reshoot at some stage with the light in a different place or metered differently. This place is advertised as a "Haunted house" and all sorts of stories have been floating around of people killed etc but that aside it has a great collection of antiques from original old horse drawn carriages to furniture and buildings and everything in between. Last time I went without a tripod on my next visit I will take the tripod and shoot in natural light for effect rather than use a flash.
Now if someone says to you , "on your bike" please don't pick this one, I doubt you will get far!!

Aussieroo · January 15, 2007

Another one taken at the same place and edited earlier into B&W. Also another one I am anxious to reshoot.

David_S85 · January 16, 2007

Aussieroo wrote:

I would like to know who ever invented this and what they were thining!! You needed long legs to pedal this baby!

Not as easy to ride, but boy, those things were fast in their day. Even now, as my friend Steve Stevens proved not too long ago. To tailor the high-wheeler to the rider, one chose a ft. wheel size for their leg length allowing a tad for knee bend.

When safety bikes hit the market early in the 20th century (like those today; equal wheel size + front sprocket, chain and rear sprocket), the difficult sell was the smaller wheels, as people thought "real bikes" had to have the tall front wheel to keep up with other riders with the "real bikes."

The educating bike dealer had to explain that the gearing size was indeed similar, if not larger. The prospective safety bike buyer, when they did the math, realized that yes, the smaller bike's gearing was the same...

Gear inches = (rear wheel size x front sprocket size) / rear sprocket size

81 gear inches = (26 inch wheel x 50tooth) / 16tooth rear

This yields a high-wheeler equivalent of an 81 inch front wheel, which was impossibly large for most people.

On your Bike

Comments