My Dad with his restored 1960's Motor Bike

[Diana1979]

(Not sure if this is the correct thread that I should be using)
My Dad was so proud of his restored bike today, he asked me to take a photo. This is big for him to ask for a photo. Anyway, I took two shots (would have done more, but was lucky to get more than one with my Dad since he hates getting his photo taken) using different settings, one in the RAW, the other jpg. I want to give him an 8x10 as a gift, but I can't decide which one. Please help me out and feel free to tell me any PP that would help. I would like to give the photo a lens blur for the background. I was even thinking about making it look vintage, but not sure if my Dad would like vintage or normal.

I had to correct the exposure for both of them before posting them on here, so they already have a little PP.

Here's the photos:

Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT
f/5.6
1/500 sec.
iso 400
50mm lens
metering mode: pattern
No flash



Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT
f/2
1/200 sec
iso 100
50mm lens
max aperture 1.6875
metering mode: pattern
Flash

[veritasimagery]

The color on the first is better and the pose on the second is better. That said, both have some issues with distraction in the shot. The car in the lower right of both shots needs to be gotten rid of. Problem with cropping it out is that it will leave no room on the right side of the picture between the edge of the photo and the exhaust. Also, I would have found a "cleaner" backdrop for the shot. Maybe, since it's a "Scrambler" it would have put them up in the rocks that are in the background and had just the grass as your backdrop.

Kevin
Veritas Imagery NW

[gomer4378]

I like the first, the second looks a little over exposed which looks like less detail (or it could have been the flash)but from the brightness on his shoulders I would say exp.

I also like the detail in the rocks behind him in the first, just wasnt close enough to get that good blur going on in the second and to me looks a little distracting along with the car. JMO!

Great shot though, I think he will really enjoy hanging it up in the house nomatter what you do to it.

[edbayani]

they are both good shots but with some distractions that can be edited since you are going to have it printed 8x10. the first thing is to level the image which is leaning to the right a bit. then you can remove the pole that is growing out of his head. clone out the car end and the rocks to have a cleaner look.
i attached a copy of what i did. hope you don't mind. i'll delete this after you have seen it.

[Diana1979]

Cool ideas, thanks! I went ahead and played around with it a little bit and this is what I've come up with . . .

[veritasimagery]

I really like the top one. Looks much better without the car and the green pole. And blurring the background makes it less distracting.

The second one is cool, kinda like it was shot back when the bike was new.

I'm not sure it works as well in B/W just because there doesn't seem to be enough contrast. Your dad kinda blends into the background.


Kevin
Veritas Imagery NW

[Diana1979]

Better?

[subsonic]

I think the top one in the previous set is the best of all of them. The three immediately above are a bit too far on the background blurring, IMO.

The vintage toned image is also really cool, but since the bike has been restored (presumably) in the "now", I like the shot with the distractions edited out, a bit of burring and that's it. Shows the bike and your Dad quite effectively.

Beautiful bike, he did a fantastic job!