The pic that pushed me to DSLR

[Richard_Miami]

This pic is the one that pushed me to try to take photography more seriously than my old point & shoot. It was accidental and became and remains my favorite photo to date. The bike is mine, and the photo conveys the natural feeling of motion that I feel when I ride. My principal goal in understanding photography is to learn how to do shots like this deliberately!

Being a total newbie - I welcome all C&C you wish, especially tips on how to photograph chrome and keep my OWN reflection out of the pic. In this shot, I used Photoshop to remove an image of myself in the speedometer housing (the tube of chrome rising from the fuel tank right under the right handlebar.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

[Robert_Lay]

I can't say for sure that it will work the way you would like it to, but a polarizing filter is usually good for that problem. Another application in which it is effective is when photographing a document under glass.

There is a bit more to it than just rotating the filter until the reflections disappear. In order for it to be as effective as possible, you will likely have to orient your line of sight to the object and you source of light so that they are perpendicular to one another (90 degrees). I'm not sure how to describe that requirement correctly. So, if I can find better instructions, I will edit this later.

[Richard_Miami]

That is appreciated thank you. I bought a circular polarizing filter as one of my first add ons for that specific reason. I have started to experiment with it on the chrome pics.. any advice is well recieved.

[cosworth]

I like this picture. I appled my own workflow to it and I thought I'd share it with you. I do learn a lot from editing other's pictures and thank you for the opportunity.

http://www.jasonhollister.com/images/tech/bike_edit.jpg

Velvia action at 27%
2 passes of unsharp mask at 15%,100,0
Some contrast, exposure and levels adjustment.

[Richard_Miami]

Cosworth

I like what you have done. If my eye is correct - it seems that you have "deepened" the shine, particularly on the black surfaces. There is more blue sky in the reflection (on the tank and on the fender) than before. Was this intentional?

[cosworth]

Intentional! It's part of the velvia action. I would like to spend some time saving some more detail on the grass and toning down the green a touch.

I do know see the benefits of getting a laptopn with a WUXA screen.

http://www.jasonhollister.com/images/tech/

...the .atn files are photoshop actions that I used.

[archosman]

Looks too hot...

[cosworth]

It is. The action I made long ago has a levels adjustment in it that doesn't work on this shot. I wanted to balance engine details with background without using layers or burn tool. I find the burn tool adds an ugly colour cast to the areas.