Back Seat Photography

[Bob Hughes]

We have ridden through 43 states and 4 Canadian provinces and my wife has been our constant photographer. During this time we have tried a few cameras and and different settings and found what works well for us. We are always looking for good tips for taking pictures, these ours so far.

Of course size is formost. Like everything that we buy for the bike the first thing that we want is small size. This is also good for me when we get off of the bike and take to the trails and I have to carry the camera on my belt.

The best feature is automatic shutter control. You push the shutter and the camera takes a photo every half second or so. This is done in manual mode on our camera. This way we take 5 photos of the same scene but in between the one with the stop sign and the one with the telephone pole we have a really nice shot. We do not set the flash for "on" but rather "auto" to speed up the cycle time outdoors.

Lastly we are going to take a lot of photos so we need a large memory card, like 1 or 2 gigs. In addition to that setting your camera to a medium compression size and a medium pixel size will allow us to fit many more photos on a card, to cycle quicker and will not change the image if we are posting to the web or computer or are not going to blow up our picture past 5x7.

 

[Highrider]

Bob

It's nice to hear about how other riders deal with recording their trip images. I have settled into strapping an old junk HP315 around my neck, I don't care if I drop it or get caught in the rain, it allows me to take those moving shots that really bring the feeling of the trip back home. The only complaint I have is it is sooooo slow, but it works ! You don't need a high end camera to get good pics.
All those pics of being stopped and standing by the bikes got old in a hurry.

 

[KenBobPDX]

That's great info Bob! Thanks for the posting. My wife and I took a trip to the coast together for the first time on the new ST and we forgot to take the camera! Ugh. I guess we were in such a rush to get on the road, we completely spaced. :

Kelly's the consumate photographer and has a great little waterproof camera that she usually has with her 24/7.

Having it around her neck and shooting pictures as we ride with your suggestions will make recording the trips much better. Thanks again!

 

[EagleSix]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the post and photo ideas. It's nice to have your own personal onboard cameraman (oooh....cameraperson.....actually I like photolady!).

Having a small size camera ready and available, setup for automatic with lots of memory and the resolution set for your most useful size are great ideas. Having an onboard photographer reduces the risk of spiltting our attention between snapping and piloting and allows the photographer to concentrate more on framing and tracking. Your hint about bracket exposures are neat as well.

I would probably add setting the camera on "Sports" program mode, or shutter priority automatic mode (I'm sure you already do this). While shooting stills from a moving platform the higher shutter speeds available (stop action) in "Sports" program or shutter priority modes can help reduce movement blur caused by the movement of our platform, the jar of bumps in the road, as well as the slight vibration from the seat transfered to the camera.

Maybe you could post a few of your wife's favorite photos?

.

 

[Bob Hughes]

Maybe you could post a few of your wife's favorite photos?

EagleSix you are all welcome to check out our photos online on my web space here:

http://www.goldwingusa.com/gallery/v/Bob/