A buyer abroad cannot walk round your bike. The photographs are the walk-round, and the quality of them tells the buyer how much care went into the bike. You do not need a professional camera. You need good light, a clean bike, a plain background and a complete list of shots.
Light and place
- Shoot in soft daylight: an overcast day, or open shade early in the morning or late in the afternoon. Direct midday sun creates harsh reflections on chrome and black paint.
- Choose a plain background: a garage door, a brick wall, an empty car park. Remove cars, bins, people and clutter.
- Put the bike on level ground with the front wheel straight, on its stand. Do not photograph a bike leaning on a wall.
- Clean the bike first, including the wheels, the tank, the seat and the underside of the mudguards. Polish chrome, but do not over-polish a bike that wears its age with honesty.
Camera settings and height
- Hold the camera or phone at the height of the tank, not at standing height. It shows the bike in its natural proportions.
- Use the main lens, not the ultra-wide, which stretches the bike. If you have a zoom, stand farther back and zoom in a little.
- Wipe the lens. Keep the horizon level. Shoot landscape, and some portrait shots for details.
- Do not apply filters or heavy edits. A buyer who sees colours that do not match the bike in person will feel misled.
The shot list
Take at least these. Epic Motor Trading asks for a minimum of ten photographs including the frame number, but more is better, and twenty to thirty is common for a bike with history.
- Front three-quarter, left.
- Front three-quarter, right.
- Full side, left.
- Full side, right.
- Rear three-quarter, both sides.
- Straight from the front and the rear.
- Cockpit: handlebars, switches, instruments and the odometer showing the reading.
- Tank from above, including the filler cap and the paint.
- Seat and the rear light.
- Engine left and right, and the top of the engine, with carburettors and the air filter.
- Exhaust system, both sides and the silencer end.
- Front brake and fork, rear brake and suspension, chain or shaft drive.
- Both tyres, with the tread and, if possible, the date code.
- The frame number, in focus and readable. See frame and engine numbers.
- The engine number, in focus and readable.
- The registration document, with personal details covered.
- The tool kit, the manual, extra keys and any spare parts that are included.
Show the flaws
Take a close-up of every scratch, dent, crack, rust spot, oil leak or worn part you know about, and name it in the listing. This is not self-harm. It tells the buyer that the rest of the photographs are honest and removes the reason for a price argument at the handover. A bike with five shown flaws sells better than a bike with none shown and three found.
Video
A thirty-second clip of a cold start, then the bike idling, then a short ride-by, answers the questions that buyers ask the most. Do not run the bike in a closed garage. Ask someone to film while you ride.
Organise the pictures
Put the best photograph first, the one that shows the whole bike from the front three-quarter angle. Then follow with the rest in a logical order: outside, then details, then the numbers and documents. Number the files, and use landscape for the cover photograph.
