Thursday, December 31, 2009

The rest of the story.


As most of you guessed, the new FJR is actually a model. A most excellent one, I must add. The photo below is a good example of why you should take a peak at the background when you take a photo. This is the same photo as in the previous post. For the last one I zoomed in. With a wide aperature and shallow depth of field the background was unrecognizable. This is the same setting but with less focal length. I know it's a great shot of my garbage can, but it does add scale for the bike in the foreground. So I left it as is.

The model was a gift from a good friend. He said he thought I would enjoy it. Yes, I'm enjoying it immensely, Ray. Thank you so much! I'm very impressed. The detail is amazing and accurate. The handlebars turn and the wheels spin. The mirrors are on flexible stalks so they don't easily break off. As you can see, the sidestand deploys and actually holds the bike up.

This seemed a perfect opportunity to play with the D40. It's amazing how switching lenses and aperature settings can affect the photo. You can make a toy look almost real. The Nikon has settings to change where the camera focuses. Not only the distance, but the specific spot in the view. This was an exercise in utilizing that option plus others. I enjoyed playing with composition and depth of field. It's tough with both a very large object and a very small object in the same photo. I find that selective framing worked best.

Some views are from above but most are right down on ground level. That's been another revelation about making photos. You have to move around and look at things from different angles. Somewhere I read that you can't be afraid to get right down on the ground or wherever you need to be in order to get great shots. One can't worry too much about what passersby think. Of course, I've never cared about that, anyway!

The box claims the model is on a 1:12 scale. The recommendation is that it be enjoyed by kids three and up. I know, here come the jokes about finally having a bike I can handle. Go ahead and take your jabs. Just remember that I'm taking names.

Here is the website for Maisto, which the box says was the birthplace of the model. Click here. The motorcycle page is here. According to the website, this model is diecast. It feels nice and heavy in my hand.


I tried to capture the little brother trying to copy big sister by having both bikes with the front wheels tilted toward the sidestand. Hmmm, I see that Elvira's sidestand is scraped pretty good. I wonder how that happened.

I was gratified to see that Photoshop made no adjustments when I asked it to automatically fix the exposure. At least something is slightly coming together in my photographic journey. I made use of a fill flash with a diffuser for the shots where the model is underneath Elvira.

Like I say, the scale of one subject compared to the other made perspective difficult for me.



>

Anyway, this has been a lot of fun. At least for me. It's also been an enjoyable learning experience. I'm proving the adage that one sometimes has to take many photos to get a few good ones. In my case, a whole bunch. I took somewhere near a hundred over two days to get a few good ones. The term "good" is pretty subjective at times. I didn't get the sidestand and sidestand idea until I reviewed the previous shots. In those poses Elvira was on her centerstand and the front tire was straight on the model. Then I had this flash that it would be kind of cute to show the little bike with the front wheel tilted like it was trying to match Big Sister. It was back out again for some more shots.


Don't be surprised to see the baby FJR pop up once in a while in the future. The learning process never ends.

Miles and smiles,


Dan


P.S. Stay tuned. I owe Dave, aka old f, a waterfall photo.

10 comments:

SonjaM said...

Dan,
Nice pics. I like the combination of the tiny bike and its big brother (or cousin?). Your previous pics were just too shiny too be true ;-)
Take care an Happy New Year! SonjaM

Mike said...

Okay, Bobskoot has his pink crocs and you have your mini FJR. Hey, Elvira could call it "Mini-me".

I like the black background BTW.
Happy New Year!

Orin said...

I guessed a Maisto 1:12 scale model when I saw yesterday's post. They do good stuff, though in this age of Computer Aided Design it's quite easy to do very accurate scale models of just about anything...

__Orin
Scootin' Old Skool

irondad said...

SonjaM,

That shiny look was really hard to disguise. As you say, it gave away the plot. Happpy New Year, back at you!

Mike,

Have you noticed that Bobskoot seems to be a trendsetter in several ways? Not all good, I might add. :)

The decision to use a black background came on a whim. I thought the photos would show up better against it. Thanks for noticing.

Orin,

You're doing better than me. I had never even heard of the company before I got the model. Probably because they don't sell them in sporting good stores!

Take care,

Dan

Dave said...

The neighbors are shacking the head and thinking Dan really lost this time take a look

He is out on his belly giving a riding class to the neighborhood mice
: )


Old F

Unknown said...

Mr Irondad:

My ears are just aburnin'. I like to be a trendsetter. Take a look at Chuck

Link:
http://wetcoastscootin.blogspot.com/2009/09/dear-chuck-pefley.html

just past half way. All photographers eventually end up rolling around on the ground, because we only have G10's. The G11 has the articulating screen so all Dan has to do is lean over.

I do have some model motorcycles on display, I may have to resort to posing them

luv
bob
bobskoot: wet coast scootin

Anonymous said...

To play with depth of field...
go to the local stone orchard, and focus on vertical tombstones, and keep changing the aperture. It helps if the camera sits on a tripod.

Grave markers (at least in modern graveyards) are laid out in rows
as are the burial spots, and looking down a row will allow you to vary the aperture and of what you see.

Macabre perhaps however part of our
life and afterlife.

The G11 as well as the D40 will allow you to play with settings.

Maybe place the die-cast FJR on top of a vertical flat top stone, then play with distances and aperture.

As to the garbage can in your first photo, it's your garbage, no ours!

And speaking of garbage, it's a new year and the start of a new decade.

Now you did remember to write cheques with the correct date and year eh?

Lightly snowing here, temperature about minus one degree Celsius, slippery under foot. All the neighbours have been out to walk their dogs, cats do there business without human assistance for stoop and scoop. However somebody has to clean the litter box at some point.

Next year is here, chronologically the start of another decade; remember all the fuss ten years ago when the world could have stopped when we moved from nineteens to the twenties? Didn't happen.

So we've had ten years and now another ten; let's just keep going.

SheRidesABeemer said...

just too much fun. I want a model of my bike. Maybe I'll go play in the snow with the GS I have. :)

irondad said...

Dave,

I assure you it wasn't the first time the neighbors were shaking their heads at me.

take care,

Dan

irondad said...

Bobskoot,

Thank you for the link. Interesting to learn more about Chuck.

Just for the record, I took the photos with the Nikon so I was actually on my belly on the ground.

I do appreciate the tilt screen on the G11, though.