Go ahead...be brutal...I can take it. Hint: there are a bunch of things wrong.

You're ridin' the RT instead of the GS?

One thing that I always try to remember is to not leave the helmet on the seat or hanging on the mirror. I think it detracts from the bike. Then you got the under exposed bags and a filter might have helped the haze. YOu could photoshop out that shadow on the left.

David

OK, I'll take a stab. (Then in fairness, I'll post a bad one I took on Wednesday. Many to choose from.)

Composition.
What's the subject of the shot?
Is it the bhe bike? If so, it's poorly placed in the frame. It has no authority. That's mostly because it doesn't meet the rule of the thirds. It's on a horizontal third but not a vertical third. Because of its weak positioning, its small size accentuates its lack of authority.
Is it the landscape? If so, what is interesting about the lower third of the shot? Just a boring road, and then an oddly placed machine. The eye is drawn to the machine, not the landscape. The distant hills might be interesting, if they weren't obscured by haze and rather flat in the background.
A bit of plantlife is just visible in the lower right corner. Had it been more carefully incorporated, it might have provided a bit of foreground, and a sense of depth to the photo. As it is, it looks like a mistake.

Lighting.
The side of the bike facing the camera is in the shade. So not only is it weakly positioned, it's also poorly lit. The shadow is potentially interesting, but the screen has a lot of real estate for such a small shadow. The lighting of the rest of the landscape is flat and dull. There's nothing hidden, shadowy, contrasty or interesting about how the scene is lit.
In the lower left corner is a partial shadow. Something's there and its shadow is intruding into our shot. Either include it or exclude it... it looks like a mistake as is.

I'm sure there are many more things wrong. But if I could tell you what they were, I wouldn't take so many shaky photos myself.

Originally Posted by fish Go ahead...be brutal...I can take it. Hint: there are a bunch of things wrong.

Here is what I see:

Composition:
I am assuming this is a "hero shot" of the bike. As such, there needs to be more emphasis on the bike itself. One variation that could do that would be to drop the camera down to the height of the middle of the bike, bring the bike away from the edge of the road, more toward the middle to inside edge of the road. That would allow the sweeping vista, but the bike would then dominate the scene, and the point of view would put more dominance to the bike.

Lighting:
The shadows are very dark, some fill with a reflector or flash would help, but you could also lighten them in post processing if need be. Getting the shot closer to sunset or after sunrise might give a nice look too if the day is kind of hazy.

Originally Posted by wxwax OK, here's my bad one from this week. I rode by at sunset and saw long corn and a romantic dilapidated shack. The corn had great shadows. This is reduced in size and rotated, otherwise untouched.

Hay...no hijacking my thread!



This is good. You got equipment, composition, lighting (and time of day), filter (or lack of), exposure, cropping (nobody said that explicitly, but it could have helped). What else? There are at least three more things way wrong in this photo.

Here's another version of the same scene. (Actually, these could be used to illustrate the difference between vertical vs horizontal framing too.)

Originally Posted by fish Hay...no hijacking my thread!

Oh, OK den, I'll move it to a Part II.

Originally Posted by fish Hay...no hijacking my thread! This is good. You got equipment, composition, lighting (and time of day), filter (or lack of), exposure, cropping (nobody said that explicitly, but it could have helped). What else? There are at least three more things way wrong in this photo.

Lessee, we're looking at the bike's ass, not exactly its best side. The machine doesn't stand out very well against its background - the rear blends in with the dark bushes. And it's a RT.

Originally Posted by fish Go ahead...be brutal...I can take it. Hint: there are a bunch of things wrong.

Let's see. You're parked the wrong way on the road. I think Johnny Law
should give you a ticket :)

Ok. Composition wise, the bike is in the center of the frame. Would have
been better if the bike occuppied more of the frame. I am generally not
a fan of shooting down on my subject either. Too much blue sky. The bike
also blends in with the background. The shadow implies the sun is somewhat
in front of and behind the bike. I'd guess around 11am?

And Waxy, the RT is a beautiful machine. To be babied. Unlike the mighty
GS which demands a fine flogging. Ok?

Ian

You guys are just too much

Flogging.... I like that word.

Originally Posted by fish Hay...no hijacking my thread! This is good. You got equipment, composition, lighting (and time of day), filter (or lack of), exposure, cropping (nobody said that explicitly, but it could have helped). What else? There are at least three more things way wrong in this photo.

************************************************** *******
Fish - You clould have moved in much closer to the bike with a wide angle lens and thus emphasized the bike overr the view. A polarizing filter might have helped darken the sky since the sun seems to be at about ninety degrees to the left. And since you moved in closer to the bike with the wide angle lens fill flash might have been added to wake up the shadows on the bike. And a lovely girl also always helps add interest.
And you could have ridden a GS too......

Pathfinder

Originally Posted by Tuesday You guys are just too much Flogging.... I like that word.

I thing what he really ment was Flugging