Looking at the standard of photography on this forum, it seems that some people could do with a brief primer on how to do it well. I'm talking about illustrative and documentary photos rather than artistic or pretty ones.
You can take decent photos with any camera or phone, no matter how simple.
1. Pick your light.
Bicycles are often metallic or shiny and curved. These surfaces are best illuminated with even, diffuse light rather than camera flash, lightbulbs or direct bright sunlight. Find the "Flash-OFF" control. Cloudy sunshine and bright shade are good. For indoor photos, a large, North-facing window is best. Avoid a mix of bright light and shadow.
Too little light may result in camera shake and noisy image (speckle).
2. Pick your background.
Camera exposure meters work best when the average tone of a subject is medium. Avoid very light or dark backgrounds, esp when taking photo of a whole bike. Grass, wood-fencing, brick, cardboard box are all OK. Keep some distance between bike and background.
Keep the background simple, and free of mess.
3. Pick your subject.
What do you want to take a photo of? If you want to illustrate a detail of the bike, close in on that detail. Pick your angle and distance to frame your photo and show what you need to show. If there is lots of empty space around your subject, get closer or zoom in. If you have zoom, you will probably need max wideangle for whole bikes and a little zoom for details. Hold camera landscape (horizontal) or portrait (vertical) to maximize pixels in the subject and minimize empty space.
4. Position your subject.
Bikes are especially difficult to hold in position. You may have to improvise. If you need to turn your bars or cranks or get into a particular gear to show best, then do it. If you want to include yourself, for fit advice, don't fall over. Position your pedals at a few places, eg 3:00 and 6:00.
4. Focus on the subject.
Many cameras have autofocus. Make sure this picks out the thing you need. Look at the result, and if it is not in focus, take another. You may need to use focus hold (half-press on the shutter release) then reframe your photo.
If autofocus is going haywire (eg trying to focus on one spoke), turn it off and use manual, OR give the mechanism something to grab onto, at the same distance, that is autofocus-friendly (some tape or card, a hand)
Cameras have a minimum-focusing distance (around 10-30cm). If your photo is not focused well, do you need to move back a little? Macro-mode can reduce your min-focus distance to a few cm.
5 Hold steady
Camera-shake produces blur. Many cameras have anti-shake, which works well. If you have camera-shake, steady the camera using a support, any support, it doesn't have to be a fancy tripod; a broom-handle works wonders.
Add more light and your camera will select a faster shutter speed which eliminates shake.
6. Is your photo any good.
If you follow this guide, your photos will probably work out OK. Look at the photo on your camera screen. If it is good, Success!!!. If not, try again. Unlike film, digital is free and instant.
6. Enough pixels, but not too many.
Don't post a massive 12mb image of your saddle. You can take a photo at reduced pixels or reduce them on a PC.
Insurance photos.
Take both sides, front, top, serial no. Fit all lights, accessories, bags.
Crash site: 360 degree documentation, carefully overlap consecutive frames as you rotate, around the camera. Bike final position. View from driver and cyclist viewpoints. Include time/location data (watchface, street name). Damage details on bike and clothing. Driver face and reg. Photos of car to document damage or lack thereof.
You can take decent photos with any camera or phone, no matter how simple.
1. Pick your light.
Bicycles are often metallic or shiny and curved. These surfaces are best illuminated with even, diffuse light rather than camera flash, lightbulbs or direct bright sunlight. Find the "Flash-OFF" control. Cloudy sunshine and bright shade are good. For indoor photos, a large, North-facing window is best. Avoid a mix of bright light and shadow.
Too little light may result in camera shake and noisy image (speckle).
2. Pick your background.
Camera exposure meters work best when the average tone of a subject is medium. Avoid very light or dark backgrounds, esp when taking photo of a whole bike. Grass, wood-fencing, brick, cardboard box are all OK. Keep some distance between bike and background.
Keep the background simple, and free of mess.
3. Pick your subject.
What do you want to take a photo of? If you want to illustrate a detail of the bike, close in on that detail. Pick your angle and distance to frame your photo and show what you need to show. If there is lots of empty space around your subject, get closer or zoom in. If you have zoom, you will probably need max wideangle for whole bikes and a little zoom for details. Hold camera landscape (horizontal) or portrait (vertical) to maximize pixels in the subject and minimize empty space.
4. Position your subject.
Bikes are especially difficult to hold in position. You may have to improvise. If you need to turn your bars or cranks or get into a particular gear to show best, then do it. If you want to include yourself, for fit advice, don't fall over. Position your pedals at a few places, eg 3:00 and 6:00.
4. Focus on the subject.
Many cameras have autofocus. Make sure this picks out the thing you need. Look at the result, and if it is not in focus, take another. You may need to use focus hold (half-press on the shutter release) then reframe your photo.
If autofocus is going haywire (eg trying to focus on one spoke), turn it off and use manual, OR give the mechanism something to grab onto, at the same distance, that is autofocus-friendly (some tape or card, a hand)
Cameras have a minimum-focusing distance (around 10-30cm). If your photo is not focused well, do you need to move back a little? Macro-mode can reduce your min-focus distance to a few cm.
5 Hold steady
Camera-shake produces blur. Many cameras have anti-shake, which works well. If you have camera-shake, steady the camera using a support, any support, it doesn't have to be a fancy tripod; a broom-handle works wonders.
Add more light and your camera will select a faster shutter speed which eliminates shake.
6. Is your photo any good.
If you follow this guide, your photos will probably work out OK. Look at the photo on your camera screen. If it is good, Success!!!. If not, try again. Unlike film, digital is free and instant.
6. Enough pixels, but not too many.
Don't post a massive 12mb image of your saddle. You can take a photo at reduced pixels or reduce them on a PC.
Insurance photos.
Take both sides, front, top, serial no. Fit all lights, accessories, bags.
Crash site: 360 degree documentation, carefully overlap consecutive frames as you rotate, around the camera. Bike final position. View from driver and cyclist viewpoints. Include time/location data (watchface, street name). Damage details on bike and clothing. Driver face and reg. Photos of car to document damage or lack thereof.
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