As with Birds, It Is With Planes

If there is one rule in wildlife photography, especially when it comes to birds in flight, is DON’T photograph against gray skies. Besides being an exposure nightmare (the range between the gray sky and under the bird too large for one click), it simply looks like shit! Well, swap out the bird and put in a B-17 you’ve waited all year to photograph and guess what, it still looks like crap! Damn!

Did I know it would look bad when I went click? You bet but I did it anyways for two reasons. First, it’s to break the jynx. That’s nothing other than something in my own head and that’s to at least photograph something for the first time so I won’t get skunked in the future. The other reason was to determine what the shutter speed I would need to blur the props when I have a real photo opp with the B-17. I think 1/90 to 1/125 will do just fine.

Now you might be looking at these photos and saying to yourself, “They don’t look that bad” or as someone emailed in asking why don’t I just stripe in a blue sky with clouds and not worry about the gray skies? Well here’s the deal, I know and that’s all that really matters. I know that better is out there so why settle. I know that with all the digital darkroom tools out there and that most are mastering them now, the only difference will come from the great capture. So that’s why I don’t settle, why I don’t swap out backgrounds and why I push my craft. I mean here is a classic WWII scene, P-51s escorting a B-17, even if I swapped out the gray sky for blue, the Mustangs would still be out of focus because they are traveling perpendicular to the direction I’m panning. I just don’t see why one should put in time to fix a crappy capture. So whether it’s birds or planes, gray skies just suck!

Photos captured by D3x, 200-400VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film

PS…why can you see into the bellies of these planes if the exposure range is as I suggest? Because I used the Fill Slider in ACR…a marvelous tool when you learn how to use it!

A Little Jet Action

Typically in June, Reno is HOT, like 90-100 hot. Typical though for my year, the heat I wanted for the afternoon thunderstorms was only 69 the first day. Not makin no clouds when it’s that cold. On Thursday, a little thermal action happened and the clouds began to form.

We were at Pylon #4 and saw the clouds forming. When there are great clouds you wanta be at Pylon #5. But you just can’t drive wherever you want on the course whenever you want. FAA and all that stuff. So, we had our eyes on Pylon#5 but didn’t make the move until we knew it was the place to be. Pylon#4 don’t suck so didn’t want to leave a great place but we didn’t dare jinx ourselves and move early.

Above is a L-39 Albratros which soon was joined by a TS-11 Iskra (with a hot paint job). You might be looking at the clouds and thinking, “did they move?”

Nope, we didn’t move this day, the clouds just never got to have any real drama to them. There were little wisps here and there like you see here which were nice, but you had to watch very carefully in the viewfinder as you panned to capture those small wisps in the background.

The color of the TS-11 Iskra against the blue sky with the hint of clouds just rocked though. And it was great fun and a challenge to capturing it in front of the right wisp of clouds. It makes shooting at the pylons fun!

Photos captured by D3s, 200-400VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film

What About Exp Comp?

My blog about using Vivid in Picture Control brought in some interesting questions. The first one I want to address is what about exposure compensation, why not just use that rather than switching to Vivid? The main reason I didn’t use exposure compensation to obtain the contrast I wanted because that just moves the curve, doesn’t alter it. Sliding the curve up or down doesn’t change the relationship between black and white. I wanted to alter that relationship even slightly which is what was accomplished by going to Vivid. For my taste (which might not match yours which is fine), I’m not satisfied with just a “brighter” image. The upper image is 0 exp comp, the bottom image is +.5 Exp Comp.

A number of folks threw out the “why don’t you just set it in post” or “isn’t it the same so just set it in post” or “fix it later” which is always my favorite. Since it’s Raw, can’t you do that? Of course you can and in fact, it’s your photography, you can do whatever you like which is one of the greatest things about photography. Personally, I take the time to set all the settings in the camera because the camera is still the best processor of our images and that includes Raw. The camera does not process the Raw file in camera but does create the Instruction Set that programs like NX2 use to first generate an accurate preview of your image and then if you do just a Save As (and not change settings because you screwed up at capture), the Raw file is finished using those settings set in the camera. And lastly I’m a photographer and take great pride and challenge in being a craftsman. It’s an old fashion thing I’m told.

NX2 – 2.24 f/Windows Posted

You could say a few issues have been addressed, might just be work Window users to grab.

DLWS New York Day1 – PM

After that great start, the DLWS Staff walked downtown to have a killer breakfast at Norma’s. We then proceeded down to Adorama which was kind enough not only to open its door to their Ed Center to us, but gave all the participants a store coupon which was quickly put to us. So with batteries charged and new goodies in hand, we boarded the bus and headed to Canal Street.

It was a challenging shoot for me, just wasn’t feelin the love so I just walked and looked for patterns. Seeing the shadow of a water tower caught my eye so I made a click.

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After a stop at Ladder 6 House (mk on that) we got back in the bus and headed to the Brooklyn Bay Bridge. This was a totally different walk across from the other day with a killer sunset lining up for us. Joe surprised the whole group by having a ballerina waiting for them on the bridge. Some marvelous images were made of her. We didn’t get there in time though, along with some of the participants, we were involved with photographing the Wall St skyline in the fading light.

Then there was the sunset it self. Let’s just say it didn’t suck. The city was a silouhette and since tripods just don’t work on the bridge, I pulled the lights out using NX2. It’s not the best option but it works here. What a day, what a group and we still have more to come!

Photos captured by D3s, 70-200VR2 / 24-70AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film.

Mt Battie, MMW Day 2 – AM Shoot

The gang rolled out at about, oh…Dark thirty this morning, guess they hadn’t heard about my reputation. We headed up to a locale that was new to me, but my very capable MMW assistant Brendan knew it very well. We headed up to Mt Battie which overlooks the small hamlet of Camden, ME. I wanted up us there well before sunrise because that’s when the best shooting occurs.

The capture was pretty straight forward, -2 exp comp, cloudy WB and simple arrangements of elements and click. I like that kind of photography so early in the morning.

On top of this mountain is this “tower” which is a memorial to WWI vets from Camden. It’s a kinda cool structure especially at sunrise. The one problem is that the sunrise didn’t come up and kiss the tower like I wanted. The light on the tower was all done in NX2, lightness, contrast and warmth all done with one quick and easy Color Control Point. I love NX2!

Photos captured by D3x, 24PC-E on Lexar UDMA digital film

The Barn And The Rain

After the Solon School house, we headed to a really cool barn on Hwy72. This is just a great structure. The one problem with the morning shoot was: great subject but suckie, suckie, suckie light. This means that while detail shots are possible and can be really cool, the overall landscape shots required some digital darkroom horsepower.

Yeap, this is it, straight shot. You might not even stop if you saw this kinda light but as you can tell, we did. This was in part because I knew that the detail shots without direct light would really be cool. I also stopped because of the cool clouds over the barn. How to make it all happen?

The finished photograph was done entirely in NX2. First, W/B Point was done to remove the color cast. Then a Color Point was dropped in the sky to bring it down which brought out the blue. Lastly, a Color Point was dropped on the barn to bring out the contrast and color. It took less than a minute in post to finish. When you get everything done in camera that you can to make a finished image, finishing in post should be real simple and fast.

Photo captured by D3x, 24PC-E on Lexar UDMA digital film

Solon School House

You might recognize this structure, it’s not the first time it’s been on the blog. Maybe because I first shot this with one of the 1st D3s around, it’s in the middle of nowhere or it’s just cool, whatever it is I really enjoy photographing this part of history.

We arrived well before dawn to the locale leaving most of the gang in the dark why we were out in the middle of nowhere. While standing in the dark, a school bus came and lit up one side of the school house casting some really cool shadows. Once it was gone, McNally took one of the vans and tried to imitate the bus light but it wasn’t as bright. Something to remember and come back to redo.

This photo was taken in really, really, dark, flat light but that didn’t phase me. To finish this photograph, I went into NX2 and did W/B Point and removed the color cast from just the school house. I then went into PS and used Nix Silver Efex Pro to convert to B&W. The final image turned out pretty cool. I was planning on making a video lesson of this today for you but realized my recording mic wasn’t with me so, I owe you one.

Photo captured by D3x, 24PC-E on Lexar UDMA digital film

MI DLWS Had A Great Start!

Starting at a place called Fishtown, sounds kinda fishy to the newbies but the photography at this small locale smells pretty sweet! Arriving prior to sunrise, the surprise that the old dock town has in store is hidden. Once the light starts to come up, the possibilities abound.

The clouds had so much promise, the light was encouraging but it ended up being a promise unanswered. So I turned to the digital darkroom. This photo was taken at -1.5 so capturing all the highlight detail in the sky was tricky because the 16Fish takes in so much. That meant the fishing village went into shadows and black. That was a plus and minus. The plus was some of the yuck disappeared, the minus was some of the cool stuff disappeared as well. So I simply went into NX2, dropped some Color Control points on the buildings, brought up the brightness, contrast and warmth and called it finished. It was a lesson that the class thought was pretty darn cool. Especially since it only took a minute to finish.

And then there is my hero, Joe McNally. From this sleepy little village Joe enters and finds subjects, situations and of course, killer images. I was on the other end of town and got in only during the last few minutes but I like the one quick portrait I was able to capture. That guy, he just works magic!

It’s going to be a great week!

Photos captured by D3x 16Fish / 200f2 on Lexar UDMA digital film

2 Second NX2 Finishing

We revisited a favorite MI scene of mine today. This very tranquil farm just screams to be photographed. But unlike our last visit, the dramatic lighting was missing this time. Drama is incredibly important to a strong landscape photograph, without it they simply suck, suck, suck. So without drama in the light falling on the scene, this is what the camera recorded.

Most would see this and rightly so enjoy the scene but not make any clicks. You have to admit, the light is pretty boring. But with knowing NX2 and its Color Control Points, you can “light” the scene by simply working the colors that are available in the scene. This photo was finished entirely in NX2 and took less than 2min.

Yeah, I would rather mother nature did all the heavy lifting and light the scene for me but there are times when that just doesn’t happen so you need to turn to the tools in the digital darkroom to finish your passion.

Photo captured by D3x, 24-70AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film

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