Bringing the sense and feeling of motion to a jet, that requires a bit more thought. When you have an afterburner like the MiG17 has, it’s a tad easier. That red exhaust tells the viewer the plane is moving, we mean, really moving. But that’s a small sense of movement. When you have clouds, and they are slightly blurred, you’ve got more sense of movement, and we make some progress. I find, though, that changing the presentation of the jet in the frame truly helps the most. In this case, pushing the MiG to the extreme side of the frame, one can’t help but feel it’s moving and climbing. When you tap the imagination, much of the challenge to tell a story is solved for you. In this case, to the stars and beyond.

Basically a converted B-24, the wing span of the PB4Y is truly impressive at 110′! I truly wanted an arse shot, but the background was way too busy, so I decided to go forward. Not really what I had in mind, especially when I saw I would be shooting directly into the sun. I kept walking and walking, backing up and backing up to get those wingtips in the viewfinder. The Z50f1.2 creates a grand starburst when shot closed down, but the exposure range I knew was going to hurt. I went with -2 exp comp, and the final results weren’t what I thought nor, that I would like it. But as it turns out, I like the mood. Turns out getting further away was a good thing, so much wing!

We sat on the far, far east of the flightline, where aircraft would come the closest doing their banana pass. The clouds were slowly floating away, leaving a solid, blue sky, my favorite (not!) I watched the “replica” YF-16, tracking it in the viewfinder with that solid blue sky background. I made some clicks, but they just had no depth or feel of speed. Then it started to set up for its banana pass, and at that moment, a small cloud popped up. My hopes climbed. I panned with the Falcon, hoping it would come down a little in altitude so the little cloud would be in the background. As it started to get close, I hit the hammer and kept until it was well past the cloud. It’s a shot I so wanted just because, and I was so happy to have a photo of the iconic YF-16.

It’s true, size matters! But it might not be the size that first comes to mind. I have found it far more challenging to have the subject physically small in the frame and still have it smack the viewer between the eyes, AND fill the rest of the frame to keep the viewer’s interest. To tell the story with more than just the subject. When you have a common object, in this case, the clouds in the background, the mind naturally assigns scale to those clouds. Adding the magnificent P-51D Mustang, they now become bigger in the mind while being small in the frame. The incredibly simplistic background makes those birds pop! It’s all a simple illustration that size tells a story.

I shot every arse at #OSH26 with the Z50f1.2 for three days. I was quite happy, very happy with my results. Then on the fifth morning, I revisited the Douglas World Cruiser. The background had changed, and to control it better, I decided to go longer. When I compared the two photos back on the computer, 1st day Z50f1.2 vs. 5th day Z70-200f2.8II, I found I liked the long lens photo better. Took me a while to figure out why I liked it better. But the bigger and higher profile aircraft looked bigger in the photo because I was farther back and therefore, shooting more wing surface. The tree in the background becomes larger in the frame as well. I had gotten in such a rhythm that I didn’t stop to really think about what I was seeing and saying. Makes me happy I learned something about the arse.

Speed, elegance, and the feeling of romance, bringing that to one click is a successful shoot! Blue skies dotted with white puffies and a great yellow plane darting about is a killer visual combo, so that was checked off the successful list. What else then? Putting you, the viewer, in the pilot seat, which required being tight. Cropping is just not my thing, I like to do it with my feet and focal length. Putting you in that seat required being tight, but being tight really opens the door to tips and tails. Tips and tails? That’s where you crop into part of the plane and by doing so, hit the delete button. When aircraft are performing, they are anything but flying slow and level. It’s all the twisting and turing that brings in the gesture, bringing life to the photo, so I went tight, real tight. I did have a couple of tips and tales from this pass, the good news is, though, I have a few images that I previsioned. The gamble paid off.