Photograghy on a bike

[the Ferret]

I have been taking riding shots for almost 40 years, hundreds of thousands of them, the oldest riding shot I know I have is a pic of my brother on the way to Florida on our bikes in 1977.Think I have it down to a science now. Couple of things... point and shoot cameras are great these days, simple and nearly idiot proof..and cheap. My camera cost maybe $50 and I have been using it for years. Hard to take a bad pic with one. But like ride4now said they are digital now so if you missed the subject, it's blurry, or you just don't like it, just delete it after it's down loaded. I have done both aa battery models and rechargable battery models. I currently use a rechargable with a spare battery. Always have a charged battery ready to go in when you get the low battery symbol. I would suggest getting a camera that's waterproof to a certain degree and with the lens in the middle of the camera body and the on off and shutter button on top. My current camera (a gift from my wife) has the lens up in one of the corners (see sellfie pic) and I keep getting my gloved baby finger in the pic. Delete!.

Hang the camera on a lanyard in front of your stomach, but not long enough to ding your tank. I run a tank bag nearly every ride and often lay my camera on my tank bag. With a point and shoot all you have to do is turn it on with one finger, point it toward the subject and hit the shutter button with another finger. You can then either turn it off or drop it and let the lanyard catch it and the camera will shut itself off after a bit. as far as keeping both hands on the bars, it's no biggie I ride a lot with one hand. Sometimes it's lifting or shutting my helmet visor, or removing a dead bug that just smashed in my field of view on my face shield, sometimes it's just resting on my thigh, sometimes I am pointing at something for my wife or a riding companions to see, and sometimes I am waving at a fellow biker as he passes. There are all kinds of reasons for taking a hand off the handlebars and taking pics is one of them for me. I have never had a scary moment from taking a pic while riding. I ride every day and I take pics every day. You will not see me without my camera hanging around my neck. Having a camera around the neck also means it's there for those shots when you are stopped.

If you want to try it, practice turning on and off the camera and hitting the shutter button at home. It is second nature for me, like hitting the horn or cancelling the turn signals or hitting the high beam switch. And practice your first shots out in the country on a straight road with nothing around. Don't take your first pics while lane splitting in Cali lol.

Blue camera hanging on lanyard around my neck

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taking a pic on the fly

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taking a pic of oncoming riders and my riding companions in front of me

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my riding companions taken over the shoulder

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portraits of riding companions (this one my son)

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Cool scenery

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left mirror shot of companions following

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right mirror shot of same

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cool atmospheric conditions seen while riding

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artistic kind of shots

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unusual angles (I think it was Cormanus or Empty Sea that showed me this technique?)

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a selfie

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Candid shot at a stop while putting on rain gear

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Documenting rides is not only fun, but I love going back thru albums and looking at all the pics, places I've been, people I've been with, meals I've eaten, conditions I have ridden in. 600 pics in a week of riding vacation is not unusual for me. 1,000 a week when I went to Europe or out west.