A new piece has been posted on the Nikon Learn & Explore site, Shooting for Better Photos? Details Can Make a Difference. As I’ve mentioned many times, macro just isn’t what I’m good at so I keep pushing it. This piece written by my dear friend Barry tries to explain how I approach getting better at something I struggle with.
There were many reasons why I was at PRS this past week. One of them was to use the opportunity to practice and try out some new gear and techniques. One of those was shooting video with the D4 on the 600while tracking the aircraft going around the pylons. I’m here to tell you, it wiped my butt something fierce! The rig was the Gitzo with Wimberley with D4/600 mounted with SmallHD DP-6 used as the monitor (with hood attached). There is no doubt the Wimberley is the right head for this, but that’s what I own. We walked to the top of the Grand Stands for a vantage point and clear view of the entire race course. But my panning skills to track the entire course just wasn’t up to the task. By the end of three hours I was getting better but far from perfect. I learned what I did wrong so now the challenge will be to find other subjects to practice on so when Sept comes, I’m good to go.
As the T6 go along the back stretch, you’ll notice they most definitely become fuzzy. That’s caused by the heat shimmer rising off the sage. No matter how sharp the lens, the number of megapixels or the technique, there is nothing we can do to remedy this problem. Understanding and seeing this can be a challenge. Hopefully the next post will help you out.
The flyin & photography at PRS is just flyin..crankin and I’m jumpin. Sorry, no real time to blog today but wanted to just encourage you to go out to a airshow this week and show your support and shoot. Much more to come!
That’s what I want to say with one click…came up with this idea which is in its rough draft form here. Can do better, time will tell.
“Welcome Home!” was the greeting we got from Val when we pulled Monday to PRS, precursiour to the Reno Air Races (which are more definitely happening this Sept!). And home it is as this is where my passion for aviation was wed with pixels five years ago. When we were new to PRS & Reno, everything was new and photographically, finding new images was not a challenge because it was all new. But now with our fifth event, finding the new image from old at first seemed to be a challenge. Jake, Brent & I thought about it and in a short time we decided we wanted to try a new perspective. Normally at pylons shooting up at the aircraft, we thought we’d trying shooting across at them. The only vantage point for that was at the top of the Grand Stands. So we packed up our gear, a lot of water and headed to the top. Damn is it hot up there in the full sun at 91 degrees! We only spent a couple of hours up there but the potential was obvious as our dear friend went screaming past in #43. With the D4 attached to 600VR w/Tc-14e worked well. No problem with the FPS or images quality even with the heat shimmer. The focal length was good, might go with TC-20eIII tomorrow. But we did find something new from the old, now to exploit it and make it ours.
photo courtesy USAF
photo courtesy USAF
photo courtesy USAF
I’ve started a long term project and starting the research for it. Part of the project is talking to, interviewing and photographing hopefully crew members of the A-20 Havoc (pictured above). Veterans from WWII in which this aircraft flew are disappearing and part of the work we’ve been doing is to get these vets stories recorded before they disappear. Even better is to get aircrew vets back in the aircraft for a modern day flight. If you have a family member who was in a A-20 Havoc or a A-20J in particular during WWII, I would love to talk with them. If you could put the two of us in touch, I would be very grateful. Give us a call 760.924.8632 / 661.204.1506. Thanks!