Don't Believe The Hype

 

How we got the shot.

First of all, this shot only exists because of the pass that we get for posting prank images on the morning of April 1st. Which means that the posted image is what is commonly known as an April Fool’s Day prank.

I regularly collaborate with @dualsport_emma and her business, Motorbike Rentals & Alternate Adventures - Hopkins, Belize. Emma is well known for her willingness to push the envelope in all that she does so a shot of her performing an x-games type motorcycle stunt would not really be too unexpected. The only issue with getting the shot is that she isn't able to do these types of stunts, at least — not yet! But on April 1st, anything goes so we set out to do  the shoot.

Emma came up with the props and equipment. At first we were going to use an A frame ladder as part of the set up but after doing some trials Emma found that a safer way of providing the support she would need meant constructing something to be used specifically for this shoot. So off we set with Aidan and Dennis to a location Emma had found in the bush in the Hopkins area.

The flaring of the nostrils shows that I wasn't quite happy with the lighting yet.

At the spot, we unloaded the motorcycle lift from Dennis’ truck. While the bike was being secured and the frame to support Emma was being taken care of, I was setting up my camera and lighting. The sun was setting and still bright and I wanted to capture some of the glow but without making the shadow areas too dark, hence the lighting. I was also looking for a good camera angle that would help to place the bike higher in the frame. 

Once the motorcycle was secured and the frame was properly set up and supported, Emma climbed up and we were ready to begin shooting. 

Almost every shoot I do with Emma involves a workout for her and this was no different. We worked through a series of poses trying to move quickly in appreciation of the changing light as the sun lowered. Once we had a selection of poses, we rapidly dismantled the scene so that I could capture a clean shot of the location to use when cleaning up the final image.

Emma had a look through all the proofs and made her final choice of shot. Looking at the image, I felt that it was not dynamic enough and also the bike need to be higher in the air to make the performance believable. This would mean carefully extracting Emma and the bike from the current background and repositioning on the clean background I already had.

Even if we didn’t agree to do the repositioning, the set up for the shot meant there would need to be some repainting and retouching needed to complete the image. Specifically the front wheel, tyre and spokes, the areas where the straps secures the bike, the back tyre tread hidden by the bike lift, the spokes among the grass and Emma’s stomach area where she is resting on the supporting frame.

And after all of this, we have this simple but believable stunt image. The only thing that nags me is that the rear suspension should be free but unless you are really nit-picking I think the image still works.

Aperture: f/8

Shutter: 1/250

Lens: 34mm

ISO: 100