I whole bunch of your asked to be notified when articles I had done on the Super Corsairs were out. The great folks over at EAA Warbirds were good enough to post the PDF of the entire article here. This was a once in a lifetime event for the aircraft and me. It would have never happened without the friendship of Robert Odegaard, the man responsible for these incredible aircraft to be able to fly again. Enjoy!
I have a very well earned reputation for getting up early to greet the sun, be it critters, landscapes or aircraft. In FL there is always the possibility of ground fog along with the great light so I just can’t pass it up. So last weekend when at Stallion 51, we were there on the tarmac to greet the sun. One of the coolest things is to see the morning color reflecting off the polished planes, I just LOVE that! The problem is, how do you show that in a photograph? You can see the progression of light in the three photos with the one I really love being the last. That’s when the clouds came in briefly with the morning color. All of these photos have one thing in common, well two things. The P-51D and they are all 5 image HDR. Why HDR? To capture ALL the nuisances in the fuselage, I have found that HDR just does the best job. Looking in the bottom image, just look how that baby glows…I love it!The processing is pretty simple, Photomatrix Pro then into Photoshop and hit levels. I love great light, I love simple.
Now hopefully, you’re asking yourself why, when the exposure levels this early in the day are really not that wide, does Moose feel HDR is the way to go. True, the light levels really aren’t that big and a single click would do a good job, especially if you used a split grad filter to pull down the sky. I do it for one particular reason and that’s for under the wings. I’ve have found that when there is a shadow or under the wings are dark as they would be without HDR, the overall “aluminum” feel is not as strong. They spend a lot of money to have that polished look to these aircraft and I want that to come out. It is of course a personal thing and you might not feel like or want that feel to your aircraft and that is perfectly fine. I do though which is why I use the method and techniques I do.
There’s just something about an airport before the sun rises. It’s calm, quiet, cool and the runway lights take your imagination to the horizon. We’ve been the guests of Stallion 51 for the last few days for a little business, a lot of pleasure and for our Air2Air Workshop. One of the cool things we get to do at Air2Air is play with the planes. We start early in the morning, before the sun is a hint on the horizon unstacking aircraft and pulling those out we want to photograph. This is the iconic “Crazy Horse,” the pride and joy of Lee Lauderback.
I started shooting at the very first clue of color in the east. The exposure time was 15sec. “Crazy Horse” wasn’t moving but Dave, who was busy positioning the Twins was and I counted on that when I went click. It’s that movement that made me want to click. It gives life to the scene, movement to a still image. Just 10min later and the whole scene changes as the sun rises.
Then at sunrise, the Twins (“Crazy Horse” & “Crazy Horse2”) are parked to have their portraits taken. The first two photos, I shot down low to incorporate the ground fog. The last image I went to a second story balcony to element sky. The folks at Stallion 51 are simply amazing, providing not only their aircraft and logistical support, but permitting us to basically have our way as we shoot to our hearts content. Of course, knowing we’d be flying air to air with them ina few hours does provide a bit of electricity to the atmosphere and a purpose to the statics.
Hey, I admit it, I have to sneak up on portraits. I guess if I had a day or a week to think about it, I could set up the scenario for the scene and make a good or great portrait on the fly. But when I have 5min to place and shoot, I feel totally useless lacking any real skill. I had three things going for me that saved the moment. The background just don’t suck, the B-25 “Maid in the Shade” is a one of a kind background. Two, I’ve got a great model dressed as a WWII bomber pilot. A tad old but otherwise perfectly dressed and more then willing to pose. Finally, I’ve got sweet light for the whole thing, no flash or fill used. I shot wide open, f/2.8 and long, 200mm to control the background. Being a member of the famous and amazing AZ Ground Crew, I know I’ll have another opportunity, but great light never comes around twice. This is a skill I’ve gotta improve dang it! I know I’ll have more opportunities like this and I want to make the most of them. Sometimes knowing there is more photography I’ve gotta master drives me nuts!
Flight, I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be a bird. I mean, there’s a Peregrine on a cliffs edge and without what seem no forethought, it seemingly falls forward, opens it’s wings and then rip ass through the sky without a beat. Just what the hell is that like?! You sure don’t get the sense of flight in a commercial just and while I’ve been spending a lot of time hanging out of an aircraft, that doesn’t give the sense of flight. So when my good friend Bob told me we were going to fly in a Breezie, my first thought was, “Will this be like what birds feel?” So we pulled Ode’s Gullwing out of the hangar, jumped and and flew down to where the Breezie is hangared. This is a simple 5 image HDR of Bob flying the Gullwing down to the Breezie. He loves to tell you what you’re seeing out the window and below as you fly!
01.01.2013 Pages are in the process of being updated. In the meantime you can watch our videos on our YouTube Channel as well as all Videos are available on iTunes as Podcasts!
The video will start and on the left you’ll see the Gullwing we flew over in. This is just a small clip of the 30min flight. I posted a compressed little clip of this flight a couple of weeks back. That compression lost a few things in translation. You might notice now for example that some of the time, we’re flying below the cactus and the fence. We saw coyote, rabbits, snake and a whole lot of earth as we screamed along. You’ll see we even rip past a car on the highway, we were going fast. I shot it all with a D3s, 14-24AFS that I just handheld. Flying with Bob which I’ve done a lot now, you never think about the “flying” thing, just the sheer enjoyment of the act of flight. And I can honestly say now, I have a slight idea what it would be like to fly like a bird. My arms never got tired but the sensation of freedom while cruising over the landscape is something I will never forget. Thanks Bob!!! Enjoy!
So I had seen some pretty cool images taken at night of planes with their props turning. Working on an article, I wanted a photograph of the TBM Avenger so it appeared to be on the flight deck of a carrier for a dawn launch. I just so happen to be incredibly lucky to have become dear friends with Dale who just happens to have a TBM Avenger.
Prior to heading down to AZ where the TBM is home, I started to do some homework. The first thing I did was to contact Dale and see if he was up for such a crazy shoot. Understand, working with aircraft at night with the prop turning is extremely dangerous. I only considered it because the folks I was working with are the best! With Dale on board, I then contacted an aviation photographer I have a lot of respect for, Tyson Rininger. He was a HUGE help giving me some great places to start. So with those pieces in place, I went to AZ ready to go.
Everything was going great, had place and airplane so the plans were coming together. Then it came to that day and I started to look for water to wet down the tarmac. I looked for a bib for a hose and you know what, there was none. Why did I want water? Well, flight decks were often wet and because dry tarmacs suck (much as dry rocks suck). Dale asked me what I was up to so I told him. He then asked what about the fire dept. I said that would be great but how do you call to ask that? He pointed and said, “That’s our fire dept right there, dial 911 and ask them.” Beaming me that big Dale smile, I said, “Here’s my phone, you call.” He said he would go knock on their door, what time did I want them? I said, “18:30.”
After messing around with some other little projects and moving some planes, we tugged the TBM into place and I started to get lights set up and gear in order. Right at 18:30 this giant, airport hunking fire truck comes up the tarmac heading our way. The house capt is driving the truck no less and with a big smile asked what I wanted. I showed him the area of the tarmac I wanted wet. He said, “I’ve got 1500 gallons, standback!” And just like magic, the tarmac was soaked!
And that’s where the story has to end for now. That’s because the final photos won’t be online until the article comes out. I can say that when the Capt say the wings of the TBM unfold, he thought it was the coolest thing he’d ever seen. After all was said and done, we shook hands and the Capt said, “When are we doing this again?” To the Falcon Field Fire Dept & Dale, I say thanks for some really great fun!
PS….you’ll never guess how I lit it…too much fun!
In the Bag