After having worked with a professional photographer on an upcoming book, I found that the secret to good photos, beyond a lot of skill, is a lot of equipment:
- medium-format camera with Polaroid back. That allows you to "pre-view" shots before you take them. - 6 flash bulbs of 900 to 1200 Joule each. - Off-white background paper for background, bottom and ceiling. For tandems, this needs to 12' wide.
Renting the lights alone comes to at least $ 200/day.
Then you need to get the lighting so that it is even, without having reflections in the shiny bits. That is where the skill and experience come in. What amazed me most is the amount of time required. To take a profile plus 5 or 6 details of a bicycle took about 3 hours each, on average, after the "studio" was set up! (Setting up the "studio" took another half-day.)
The results are worth it, but it's a lot of work and money. For an
example, check out the Dujardin in the latest VBQ, or at
http://www.mindspring.com/
The other bikes in the "Image Archive" are amateur shots (bedsheet,
lightly overcast sky, 35 mm camera), and the difference is noticeable.
--
Jan Heine, Seattle
Editor/Publisher
Vintage Bicycle Quarterly
c/o Il Vecchio Bicycles
140 Lakeside Ave, Ste. C
Seattle WA 98122
http://www.mindspring.com/