Sep 15, 2011 | Aviation
With my success yesterday with the 600 w/1.7x, I thought today I would test the 600 w/TC-20e3. While I like the image size and intensity of the action, the heat shimmer killed me. I didn’t get one, not one tack sharp image. I have some that are sharp but they would fall apart if I were to make a 24×30 print of them. And that’s just not acceptable. So that means I need the temps to fall to kill the heat shimmer, get closer physically or just not use the 2x if I want tack sharp. I think I’ll go with getting closer with shorter lens while still incorporating the new angle.
Sep 15, 2011 | Aviation
One of the most amazing aircraft I’ve had the privilege to photograph is Bob Odegaard’s Super Corsiar. #74 is an aircraft that I’ve been involved with for a couple of months. I should rephrase that. I’ve been involved with the family that has given life back to #74 and it’s been just a marvelous experience. The world gets to see for the first time this amazing plane this week at the Reno Air Races and to say it is a hit is an understatement. Well, this morning at o’dark thirty, the Odegaards arranged for #74 to be on the ramp for a portrait session. The killer clouds of yesterday afternoon were gone leaving me with my favorite, bald skies. So I went to one side to get a little color. Not happy with this click at all.
So with no love on the other side, I went to the sunny side. Still same bald skies but at least the color is better. The problem from this angle though is the background. You’re probably asking what’s wrong with the background, looks pretty clean. Well that’s because I spent 7min nuking all the homes on them dar hills! All those purty white walls drive me nuts! While this photo is alright, in my book I think of the photo as being “forced.” What I mean by that is, the photo didn’t just come naturally. I had to make the angle work, make the light work, make the background work. Force the photo come to life rather then it coming alive. I can do better!
Photos captured by D3x, 24-120VR on Lexar UDMA digital film
Sep 14, 2011 | Aviation
I have thousands of images of Rod Lewis’ F7F Tigercat, but these are the first with the new paint. You can see it as “Big Bossman” on both of my sites and even air to air, today was the first time I got glass on its new color. I wasn’t too sure at first but then once it hit the sky, schweet!
But it was the going away shot after running the course that I liked the best shooting with the big glass. The thunderheads made for a great background and in this case, a monochromatic one. Great first day!
Sep 14, 2011 | Aviation
One aspect of shooting with the big glass that I really enjoyed which I’ve not been able to do in the past is follow aircraft more closely. This gorgeous F8F Bearcat is seen here landing and then later, much further down the ramp pulling into the pits. Neither shot is possible with 400mm, the image size is simply too small. Changing up glass, smart thing to do at times. I hit 35k images for Reno today and this is the first time to use the 600mm. Sometimes it takes a 2×4!
Photos captured by D3x, 600VR w/TC-17e on Lexar UDMA digital film
Sep 14, 2011 | Aviation
T-6 Texan
T-6 Texan
T-6 Texan
T-6 Texan
T-6 Texan
Yeah, it’s that time of year again for the Reno Air Races and man, is it going to be great this year! There is an amazing group of aircraft here racing and my favorite, the “warbirds” are thick with some gorgeous aircraft. We’re here for the week with today being a “saying hello and working out the bugs” kind of day. With the change of the end of the hangar shooting location, I decided to change things up and try something I never have in the past. I brought out the big gun, converter and tripod to work the planes coming around Pylon 8. The goal, use long glass to communicate more speed. Now swinging the big glass is slower then shooting the 200-400VR2 handheld and once I got the flight path into mussel memory, I just shot. Now my overall shooting percentage went down but I figured it would because I was seeing a whole lot more heat shimmer with the bigger glass which is normal. I like the results but they aren’t perfect. I think the main problem is I didn’t move enough as in, pick up the tripod and move to get more in sync with the line pilots were flying. I’ll be spending some time tonight looking at the 1800 images from today looking for patterns. I know there is more here.
Photos captured by D3x, 600VR w/TC-17e on Lexar UDMA digital film
