Chopper: Nice Ride

Picture by holden


  • 3170
  • 3
  • 0
  • August 19, 2010
  • Nikon D80
  • Tokina 12-24 f4
  • Shooting Style Tripod
  • Shoots Number Multiple Exposure
  • Exposures Number -1, 0, +1
  • Editing Software Photoshop / Photomatix Pro / Others
  • File Format RAW
  • Notes So...there is this bike. Motorcycle. Chopper. Whatever. It sure isn't a "Harley Davidson" -- if it ever was in the first place. I always see it parked on 10th and Pine in Seattle. And it is BADASS. I mean, Bad. Ass. Perfect condition, exquisite airbrushing, gleaming chrome. The other night Keegan and I were out getting ice cream at Molly Moon's and...well, I had my camera and had to take some photos. The best part about the chopper...well, maybe not the best...is that there's a little sign on the gas tank that says "Please don't touch" and that makes me wonder: who the hell would touch a bike like this? It's obviously owned by some kind of uber-badass. It has a giant demon/devil airbrushed on it. It simply screams "I will kill you without a second thought if you mess with my bike or me and I might just knife you for kicks if I'm bored. It will not bother my conscience in the least because I kill people all the time for no reason at all". That being said, this bike is as sweet as Molly Moon's ice cream, and just as smooth and yummy. I might not touch it but I sure as hell wanna taste it. Nom. This is an HDR image comprised of three source images: 8, 15 and 30 seconds, shot RAW at f13/ISO 100 with my crunky Nikon D80 and Tokina 12-24 lens. I merged the raw images to HDR in photoshop, did some basic tonemapping in Photomatix, pulled the resulting TIFF file back into photoshop for some levels tweaking and saturation adjustments, ran it through Topaz Clean for a de-noising pass and then did some final touches in Lightroom. I liked how it turned out. Seriously, check out the full-size image, look at the engine block...it's smooth...especially when you consider that I shot this with a D80 that has been to Burning Man 3 times. ;) A lot of HDR images are seeming seriously overtextured and crunky to me these days and I'm trying to develop techniques to make everything more buttery and smooth. Like Molly Moon's ice cream. - See more pics on my site at www.michaelholden.com
motorcycle chopper seattle lens flare harley night

4 Comments

19 Aug 06:51
holden

This was picked up by CapitolHillBlog.com and then it hit StumbleUpon.com...seems like people like HDR shots of nice bikes!

19 Aug 07:51
pilisblack

Fajn!

19 Aug 12:57
lorenzo

!

19 Aug 19:44
mlibrescu

It's a nice photo of a bike, but it doesn't have the look of an HDR photo. The yellow sign in the background gets in the way. You need more of a range than -1, 0, +1 to get good HDR. Try -2, 0, +2.

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