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The Amazing Technicolor DreamRide

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Hope you like it.
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Jun, 2015

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Awards

Contest Finalist in Holiday Lights Photo Contest 2017

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Contest Finalist in Bikes and Motorcycles Photo Contest

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Contest Finalist in 500 Electric Shots Photo Contest

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+90

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+20

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Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken just off the main street in front of a small bicycle shop in Crested Butte, Colorado. Crested Butte is a truly beautiful little town with great atmosphere and plenty of photo worthy scenery throughout the year.

Time

This photo was shot on a cold night in mid-January of 2015 at about 10:00 PM. The town was settling down for the night and the moon started showing itself through cracks in the clouds, illuminating the slowly falling snow flakes.

Lighting

As you can tell, this photo could not have been possible without the colorful lights from the bicycle and shop window (you can see a little of it in the left side of the photo) illuminating the wooden walk way. The only other light sources were the minimal amount coming from the street lights and the passing headlights of a few cars. There was no other significant light source.

Equipment

The photo was taken with a Sony A35 and an 18-70mm. It was shot at 800 ISO at 18mm and 1/15 sec. at f/3.5. I also used a Vanguard Alta Pro 264AT tripod. This photo, or any of my night and macro photos for that matter, could not have been possible without the aid of my tripod.

Inspiration

I had been walking around the town for over an hour taking photos and enjoying the evening and the snow after a great day of skiing. I was just about to go back to the Hotel, seeing as most of the town was shutting down for the night, when I came to a small bicycle sales and repair shop (that I had seen earlier that night from across the street but to I which had not paid much attention). Now, in front of this shop, an old and very brightly colored bike was posing, offering itself as a model and at no charge, if you can believe it. It was an offer I could not refuse. So I set up the tripod, made a few adjustments to the camera, and voila! Out came one of my favorite photos and one that won a contest for me. Oh and yes, I had the bicycle’s permission to publish and use this photo.

Editing

This photo looked great as shot, but I thought I would try to make it even better. I think I made the right decision. I first used a preset I had created in Lightroom (which is the only editing software that I use) for a higher contrast effect. The preset is set to +100 contrast to emphasize the color and light of a photo, -100 on highlights to counter the brightness that the high contrast causes, and lastly +100 on the shadows to brighten the severely darkened parts of the photo, due again to the high contrast settings and the lowering of the highlights. After that I increased the saturation to +19 and the clarity to +100 (for that grungy and weathered look), and lastly I lowered the vibrancy to -45. And that was that, I exported it as a JPEG and then a couple of months later I uploaded it to ViewBug and well . . . the rest is history.

In my camera bag

At the time, I only had my Sony A35. Although a great camera for its class, I now own and use a Sony A7ii. The lens I almost always have attached (via a Sony LA-EA4, A-mount to E-mount AF adapter) is my Minolta 100mm f2.8 macro lens (I mean who knows when you would need a great macro shot of well . . . anything). The Minolta 100mm is one of the best lenses I own and remains my favorite lens with which to shoot. It has great clarity and depth, and though old and a little heavy, I would not part with it for anything. After that I keep a Minolta 50mm f1.7 prime in my bag, a really fun lens to play with at high aperture. I also use a Sony 75-300mm f5.6 zoom lens. Lastly I have a Sony Zeiss 24-70mm f4¬¬—a real beauty. I received this as a gift to go with my new camera body and to replace the 18-70mm with which I shot the photo. The 18-70mm is a cropped sensor lens and incompatible with the A7’s full frame sensor. I really enjoy using the new Zeiss lens. The clarity and quality of the photos produced with it are amazing. I also have my tripod with me at all times. After that I keep a couple of extra batteries and a car charger (I recommend all photographers have an extra battery or two on them as it has saved my skin several times after forgetting to charge one of my batteries and needing more juice for that amazing shot), a set of lens pens and a lens cloth, a small microfiber cloth for my camera or whatever gets dirty while shooting, and lastly a tool and extra-parts for my tripod. I should add that all my lenses have clear UV filters-- either Hoya, Tiffen, or B+W—and I also have a Hoya circular polarizing filter which I occasionally use. And all this is in my camera bag at all times.

Feedback

Always be willing to learn and keep your eyes open at all times because you never know when a great scene or shot my present itself to you. Something to remember is that anything can make a good shot (not always a great shot mind you but a good shot as long as you can see and capture the angles. Photography is all about the angles and your ability to capture them. For example the bike was tipping to the right as bikes are prone to do, and so to make the bike appear as though it were standing upright and straight I imitated the angle of the bike with my camera and set my focal distance to 18mm (to get the distorted effect that allows the viewer to dismiss the oddity of the walkways angle because of the distortion). Thus, from the “photos point of view” the bike looks as though it were even and upright (with a little 3D effect as well), and the walkway and shop window slanted at a crazy angle. Lastly (if you don’t already do this) learn to shoot all manual. It is amazing the range of possibilities that will open up to you when you take full control of the camera and thus by extension, your photos.

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AWAAphotos

AWAAphotos

The Amazing Technicolor DreamRide

Hope you like it.

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow AWAAphotos

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