Motorcycle Live at the NEC Birmingham is the largest indoor motorcycle show in the UK. Over 100,000 people went this past week and most comments on Twitter and Facebook were about the car parking costs. This was also true whilst I was queuing to get in.

They had a point, £16 is a lot. This is a theme I'm seeing a lot at headline events in the UK. Is it me or do they ramp up the carparking charges just before an event? Add £20 to get in and it seems a lot, so is it worth it?

Let's have a look at why you might want to go to this event as a photographer and a motorcycle enthusiast. As a photographer it has bags of subject matter. Every major manufacturer has their latest road bikes on show as well as their race machinery, so it’s a target rich environment.

The classic bikes are also out in force as well as the custom crowd so you are well catered for whatever your motorcycle passion. The title on your ticket says Motorcycle Live and that is true. 

There are off road areas with professional rides and the general public having a go, as well as interviews with the two wheel stars of the race track, stage shows and bike builds. 

I got chatting to Martyn Ogborne who with the rest of the Suzuki team were rebuilding the iconic Suzuki G-54 at the show. This machine would evolve into Barry Sheen's Championship winning RG500. 

Martyn was Sheen's chief technician who also worked with Hailwood, Mamola and Kevin Schwantz. Explaining to me the limitations of chassis but combined with a bit of luck and Sheen's determination on its first outing, it came second at the Clermont-Ferrand Grand Prix of 1974. 

Throughout the day Moto Cirque were putting on a motorcycle stunt and dance light show. 

Being conducted in near darkness means it was difficult to get a good shot but ramping the ISO to 8000 and then exposing for the highlights allowed me to manipulate the images later for something usable.

Back in the main hall the Black Horse stage has interviews with motorcycling personalities all day. Who is up on stage will depend on that day's theme; we went on BSB day. The vast majority of the riders were out and were happy having selfies and signing autographs after the interviews. Jamie Witham and Steve Parrish did a sterling job of entertaining the crowd and asking the awkward questions.

On the stage when we arrived were Xavi Forés (on the right) and Andrew Irwin who will be team mates racing the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP2 in the 2019 British Superbike Championship. 

Glenn Irwin, Andrew's brother and team mate in the 2018 Ducati team will ride for JG Speedfit Kawasaki in 2019. A lot of the stars have commitments to sponsors so they can be found on stalls throughout the halls.

Christian Iddon will have a new team mate in the TAS Racing Tyco BMW team. Keith Farmer, the 2018 Superstock 1000 Champion stays with BMW but moves up to show what he can do in the Super Bikes class.

Going on a Saturday to chat to the BSB rides was a good idea, but trying to get a decent shot of any of the bikes on display proved challenging, due to the thousands of people who turned up to check out the machines. 

A very wide angle lens is a must - have for shows like this. I used a 10-20mm which allowed me to get in very close and keep the background distractions to a minimum. A kit lens will work but a f2.8 will give a better depth of field and allow a faster shutter speed, which is needed due to the lighting conditions.

There are two schools of thought on people in the pictures; as a piece of photo journalism it will work, it all depends on your style. I much prefer detail shots as it allows me to get my art out. For the close - in shots standing well back using a 70-200mm f2.8 telephoto zoom is the best weapon, it is also invaluable for papping the riders.

The Triumph 765 triple Moto2 development machine certainly caught my eye - the lighting on it was just right. However, it did take some time to get the shot. Patience is a virtue at these events. Next season's Moto2 bikes will all be powered by the Triumph triple. The sound of the 131bhp triple attached to open pipes is going to be awesome. 

The Harley Davidson stand was also well lit with some great bikes to photograph. One of the problems you can have taking pictures inside is the colour cast from the artificial lights. Selecting auto white balance will work 90% of the time. 

However, check your shots as there can be a mixture of light which can be corrected later but it's better to do it in camera. The other way of getting a clean picture is with a flash. Just blasting away with the flash will give you a harsh image so don’t do it. 

I could write a whole article on flash but in short, bounce or diffuse the light with a soft box or reflector. I attach a card to the top of the flash and angle the head at 45deg and reduce the output just to put a hint of flash in the image. 

This has the added benefit of getting rid of any colour cast and darkening the background. If all that fails, break out your photographic manipulation software and get busy with dulling down the background. Or in the case of the photo below cut out the background and blur it, very wide lens aren't great for Bokeh.

The carbon fibre £90,000 ARC Vector was the most unusual bike at the show. This British electric powered machine will be hand built for each customer. Including the helmet, which has a heads up display just like a pilots and connects to the bike and acts like a key to start it.

So in conclusion is Motorcycle Live event good value? Looking back at the images I captured, for me, it’s a yes. It’s a difficult venue to photograph bikes but if you can get a few images that will enhance your portfolio and papping the race stars has always got to be worth the time and effort.

Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings and a big thank you to RP Watkinson Photography for helping out.