How to look fast in a photo

RIDING motorcycles is cool, so it follows that you’ll want a sweet picture of you looking like a hero on your bike, right? Of course!

But if you’re anything like me, perhaps on the odd occasion when you’ve grabbed a mate with a camera to take a few shots of you out on the road on your new bike, you've been disappointed with the results.

Or perhaps at the end of a track day you’ve scanned through the photographer’s shots and felt a pang of dismay that, even though you were riding as hard as you could have, you looked soft in the style department.

But thankfully, that’s easily rectified with a few simple tips - style Viagra, if you will.

Now, we’re not the sexiest looking riders on the planet, but in the time we’ve been riding bikes, we’ve figured out what works when it comes to looking like we’re on the pipe.

It all comes down to body position, which means starting to exaggerate things so you look a bit more aggressive and purposeful.

A tight corner (or making as if you're entering one) will mean your body position will be more extreme, and will give you more opportunity to get your knee out and down, and your elbows out. In a faster, more gentle turn, being low and close to the bike, while positioned to one side will help make it look like you're on for the lap record, even it’s the lap record of your favourite roundabout.

Remember that attempting a Marquez-inspired body position will be easier and safer to do on a circuit and that depending on the turn, you might only need to do one or two things to make yourself look faster.

Here we go…

Head

GET YOUR head off the side of the bike so you're looking at the apex and through the corner, past the mirrors.

Doing this will not only make you look more purposeful as you eye up the best line, it’ll also help you achieve a better position with your torso because it when you stick your knee out and move some of your arse off the seat, with your head off to one side, your core will follow and your spine will be more parallel with the centre line of the bike.

Shoulders

WITH YOUR head to one side, your corresponding shoulder should follow. As you position your head, allow your inside shoulder drop down as the bike drops in to the turn. Dropping your shoulder into a turn and using it to help lead you into a corner is one of the things that’ll help your bike turn willingly and effortlessly, plus it’ll help prevent you from feeling twisted on the bike.

Arms

IN A RIGHT hander, you left arm wants to be resting across the tank, and vice versa for a left-hand bend. You right arm will be bent and with your shoulder dropped, you can start to experiment with stick your elbow out a bit and moving your head lower for added style points.

Don’t lock your arms either – you’ll feel stiff and look it in photos.

Torso

YOUR TORSO is important because you want your body to be straight, not twisted.

We’ve already said that moving your head off to one side will help your torso into a more natural position instead of you looking crossed on the bike. Being aware of your torso is as simple as imagining a line through the centre of the bike, and getting your spine parallel to that line, while being to one side of it.

Bottom

APPROACHING a bend, you want to shuffle about half a cheek off the seat in preparation for hanging of. However, even in a straight line, a shot of you riding with half an arse cheek off the seat will also make it look like you're approaching a corner with purpose.

Legs and feet

WITH UP TO half a cheek off the seat, stick the balls of your feet on the ends of your pegs – as if you’re trying to grip the end of the pegs with your toes. This will enable you to stick your knee out towards the tarmac and even if you can't yet get your knee down, you're sure to look like your riding with more intent and when your mates see the photo, you can tell them it was taken seconds before you graced the tarmac with your slider.

Relax

DON'T FORGET to relax - tense up and you'll look and feel uncomfortable and awkward.