Mountainbike shot

Heres a shot i took of my bike in the park, im just not impressed, if you could improve it, suggest how, or if you could think of any shots to show my bike suggest those too.

cheers.

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Two things come to mind right away.

1) If it were me, I think I would have chosen to include the entire back wheel.

2) I might have shifted my shooting position so that the tree did not look like an extension of the front forks.

Rad

Nice bike and nice shot! The background is 'busy.' I'd either find a different background or blur the background in post-processing. Action shots are desirable. Here's my son and his new bike:

Regarding the wheel - i chose to cut it off, it didnt really add anything in my mind, but in future ill take a shot with all the bike, i can just crop i guess.
Motion shot - i was going for more of a portrait, i might get some grey card like you suggest for future use.

for this shot though, perhaps a polarising filter?

The reason why I would have included the rear wheel is because the bike is the subject, and the rear wheel is part of the bike. If you were doing a cropped view where you are trying to emphasize, say, the shock - then cropping off wheels, etc, would be OK, but in this case it works against your stated intention of presenting the bike.

As far as a polarizer goes, it looks pretty overcast, so there would not have been any improvement in the sky. I don't see any reflections plaguing the bike, so again, I doubt if it would have helped.

If you would have changed anything technique wise, I would have suggested going with a larger aperture (smaller f stop). This would have blurred the background some and helped to isolate the subject.

Rad

i agree with all points here, thankyou, not sure why i used such a wide aperture really :S

I thought the rear wheel was cropped because you had something holding the bike up. So what is holding it up?

I am really new to digital photography so please take my comments in the spirit that we are learning together. Also, I am a fellow mountain biking enthusiast.

What is it that you are trying to accomplish in this shot? Is it a portrait of your brand new, incredible, amazing machine? If so, then I might suggest that you angle up to the bike. Put it at the summit of a hill and shoot up. Your bike is the king. It is the best. It should be above the viewer.

Another possibility is that this bike is your "friend". You have lots of miles on it. You have been up hills and down. You have crashed time and again, and you always get back on and keep riding. You are one with the bike. If that is the intent, then I think the bike should look a bit worn and dirty. In your shot, there is a clean bike in the woods on the dirt, so it looks out of place.

These are just some thoughts. Have fun.