Obsessive Compulsive Poser (OCP) guide to bike photos

antster94

Say hi to a terribly composed photo. :P

Love my bike though.

RoadyForever

2011 Scott CR1 Team, but with Fizik Arione seat and Spesh bottle cages (the colours match), oh and 105 pedles (pedles help!). And yes, I will be trimming the excess headtude shortly..

Apologies for the wheel orientation, camera phone and angle (the car was in the drive).

proto

Simon E wrote:

[
A snap of a motorised two-wheeler in natural setting here. 35mm SLR, short telephoto lens, cheap print film and a little patience is all it took.

Nothing to do with the quality of the photo or bicycles, but just wanted to say I had a Fireblade just like that. 1998. Fab bike. Thought it fantastic at the time but after my 929 and then my 954, in hindsight it was a bit of a bus. Big and comfy though.

MikeyScott19

Heres my attempt at a nice picture of my new custom built trek madone

WTF

A helping hand is an advantage......

napoleond

Not in big ring.
Collar and cuffs don't match.
Try again

Yeoer

My Boardman Team Carbon 2010. Doesn't quite follow the OCP picture rules but hey.

polarhare

my road/ beer bike! yes i own it!

Aurelien

maddog 2 wrote:

crank angle a little off....

Respect.

oliverb

What about paintings?
Did this one of my old custom Geoffrey Butler back in 1997 (nearly as old as this thread) a few years after I got the bike.
Took me forever drawing each part to scale on a CAD package including the correct teeth on the front rings.
I gave up drawing teeth on the rear cassette. I then printed it and painted it in water colour.


GButler plan backup by Brett Oliver, on Flickr

napoleond

Chain not in big ring.

oliverb

No problem I'll just re-paint it. Will post the correction in a few months.

napoleond

oliverb wrote:

No problem I'll just re-paint it. Will post the correction in a few months.

That's the spirit!

oliverb

OK. Chain now on big ring. May as well add a white garage door as well.

napoleond

Nice work

Redhog14

Aint got no white bits big enough...

TommyEss

What is going on with your saddle and bar angles?!

napoleond

Redhog14 wrote:

Aint got no white bits big enough...

How in the heck can you ride on the drops like that :shock:

cwcb

Think I've abided by all the rules.....


Untitled by cwcbatchelor, on Flickr

Let me know what you think.... I realise the standards are very high

napoleond

Cross chained :roll:
Oh, and I assume they're clinchers? Tyre logo not lined up with valve, get a grip man, get a grip!

Redhog14

NapoleonD wrote:

Redhog14 wrote:

Aint got no white bits big enough...

How in the heck can you ride on the drops like that :shock:

- Failed experiment looks a bit different now.



please note the blue ferrules...

Redhog14

- sorry no white background.

SRAM RIVAL chain set - 53/39 - 12/25
Barelli Handlebars
Barelli Stem
Shimano SPD SL
Barelli Saddle
Barelli brakes
Kenda Kaliente 700 x 23c
American Classic Wheelset

oliverb

To avoid the skirting boards and floor showing on your white wall stand your bike on a couple of boxes, lay some white paper on the boxes and shoot.

Crop it down in a paint package and you are done.


Ribble 7005 Audax / Winter Training 2012 by Brett Oliver, on Flickr

Spec.

Ribble 7005 Audax / Winter Training
• Ribble Audax 7005 Horizontal Frame Blue 50cm (C-Top)
• CSN BlackStorm Mguard eyes Winter Forks 1 1/8" ITS
• Ribble Headset Branded Ribble 1 1/8" Hidden (ITS) 45 x 45
• Shimano Tiagra 4603 10 Spd Triple Groupset
• Shimano 4600 BB Cups (double/triple) Eng
• Shimano Tiagra 4600 Brakes
• Shimano 10 Spd Tiagra 4600 Cassette 12-30
• Shimano 10 Speed 4601 Tiagra Chain
• Shimano Tiagra Triple 4603 10 Chainset 170 30/39/50
• Shimano Tiagra 4603 10 Triple Front Gear Braze-on
• Shimano Tiagra 4600 10 Spd Rear Gear Medium
• Shimano STI Levers Tiagra 4603 with cables Triple
• Wheels Mavic Aksium Race Clincher
• Deda Zero 100 Oversize Handlebars 42cm
• ITM Alutech 6061 31.8 Stem Black 100mm
• CSN Headset Spacer Alloy 1 1/8 10mm Black
• CSN Superleggera K10 Saddle Black
• CSN Superleggera Alloy Seatpillar Black 27.2 350mm
• Continental Ultra Gator Skin Folding Tyre 700x23mm Black/Black
• Yaw Butyl Inner Tube 700x18/25 SV42mm
• Zefal Narrow Guards (pair) Black
• Pro Gel Handlebar Tape Black
• Shimano Clipless Spd A600 Pedals
Weight inc pedals 22.5lbs

napoleond

Excellent work!

oliverb

Once you have your bike on a plain background you can use a paint package to "cut it out". Your bike pic can then be added to any background you like.

I am not an expert but this is what I do.


Photoshop demo 1 by Brett Oliver, on Flickr

Use "magic wand" tool (I have set Tolerance to 15) and select the background then press delete. You will ned to do this on all parts of the background bit by bit until it is all gone. See below.


Photoshop demo 2

You may have to use the eraser tool for some complex parts.

Save as a tiff or png file as these keep the transparent background layer.

The image can then be copied and pasted over a new picture.


Photoshop demo 3

As the background is now transparent your background picture will show through with your bike on top.
Just scale your bike image to suit add a little shading and overlap on the tyres and your are done.


Ribble 7005 Audax Winter Training Bike 2012

This example shows the bike over a white gradient background with drop shadow added to the bike to make is stand out from the page.

napoleond

Pretty similar to my Look pic that used to be in the first post...

me-109

Are the rules on backgrounds different for white bikes, otherwise it may just look like a picture of a garage door?

napoleond

No.

alihisgreat

Me-109 wrote:

Are the rules on backgrounds different for white bikes, otherwise it may just look like a picture of a garage door?

white on white looks fine to me..

proto

Okay, so what do do with Conti GP4000S tyres? Do I fit them to rims with 'CONTINENTAL' centred on the valve hole, or 'GRAND PRIX 4000S'?

I need to get this right!