The rest of the story.


As most of you guessed, the new FJR is actually a model. A most excellent one, I must add. The photo below is a good example of why you should take a peak at the background when you take a photo. This is the same photo as in the previous post. For the last one I zoomed in. With a wide aperature and shallow depth of field the background was unrecognizable. This is the same setting but with less focal length. I know it's a great shot of my garbage can, but it does add scale for the bike in the foreground. So I left it as is.

The model was a gift from a good friend. He said he thought I would enjoy it. Yes, I'm enjoying it immensely, Ray. Thank you so much! I'm very impressed. The detail is amazing and accurate. The handlebars turn and the wheels spin. The mirrors are on flexible stalks so they don't easily break off. As you can see, the sidestand deploys and actually holds the bike up.

This seemed a perfect opportunity to play with the D40. It's amazing how switching lenses and aperature settings can affect the photo. You can make a toy look almost real. The Nikon has settings to change where the camera focuses. Not only the distance, but the specific spot in the view. This was an exercise in utilizing that option plus others. I enjoyed playing with composition and depth of field. It's tough with both a very large object and a very small object in the same photo. I find that selective framing worked best.

Some views are from above but most are right down on ground level. That's been another revelation about making photos. You have to move around and look at things from different angles. Somewhere I read that you can't be afraid to get right down on the ground or wherever you need to be in order to get great shots. One can't worry too much about what passersby think. Of course, I've never cared about that, anyway!

The box claims the model is on a 1:12 scale. The recommendation is that it be enjoyed by kids three and up. I know, here come the jokes about finally having a bike I can handle. Go ahead and take your jabs. Just remember that I'm taking names.

Here is the website for Maisto, which the box says was the birthplace of the model. Click here. The motorcycle page is here. According to the website, this model is diecast. It feels nice and heavy in my hand.


I tried to capture the little brother trying to copy big sister by having both bikes with the front wheels tilted toward the sidestand. Hmmm, I see that Elvira's sidestand is scraped pretty good. I wonder how that happened.

I was gratified to see that Photoshop made no adjustments when I asked it to automatically fix the exposure. At least something is slightly coming together in my photographic journey. I made use of a fill flash with a diffuser for the shots where the model is underneath Elvira.

Like I say, the scale of one subject compared to the other made perspective difficult for me.


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Anyway, this has been a lot of fun. At least for me. It's also been an enjoyable learning experience. I'm proving the adage that one sometimes has to take many photos to get a few good ones. In my case, a whole bunch. I took somewhere near a hundred over two days to get a few good ones. The term "good" is pretty subjective at times. I didn't get the sidestand and sidestand idea until I reviewed the previous shots. In those poses Elvira was on her centerstand and the front tire was straight on the model. Then I had this flash that it would be kind of cute to show the little bike with the front wheel tilted like it was trying to match Big Sister. It was back out again for some more shots.

Don't be surprised to see the baby FJR pop up once in a while in the future. The learning process never ends.

Miles and smiles,

Dan

P.S. Stay tuned. I owe Dave, aka old f, a waterfall photo.