How’d You Do That One?

Jun 27, 2011 | Aviation

After my post over on warbirdimages in regards to being present for the crank over of #74, a number of emails came in asking how I did that. The how questions ranged from how I got there to how I shot it, so I wanted to answer all those how questions at once. I met Bob and his son Casey at our Air2Air workshops, owning and flying a number of the subject aircraft we photograph. Bob in my mind is a aviation legend in what he has accomplished and restored already in his lifetime. I interviewed him for an article I wrote on him as well and that’s when we got to know each other better. Well upon learning they were bringing #74 Super Corsair back online, I said I would love to be there for that. Last Wed Casey called me it was roaring back to life on Friday, so Thursday I was on a plane to ND.

This photo still makes me laugh, even the lawn mower knew to stop and watch, it was something special rolling by! I would be going on the trip by myself and the timing of the phone call was such that there was no time to FedEx gear to ND so I have to carry with me all I would need. All my years working with wildlife and biologists has totally prepared me for these new challenges with aviation for which I’m so thankful. Darn those biologists, they save the day again! You see, to prepare myself and pack the right gear I just think through the problems that might exist and go from there. Like biologists working with an endangered critter, the Odegaard family would be working on a Super Corsair. My job is to document this and stay out of the way, get intimate photos without getting in their face. The first and major concern was light. I had no clue if the hangar door would be open or closed. Closed and the lighting would be on me so I packed 5 SB-900s, SD-9s, Justin Clamps and a ton of eneloop batteries (which I love, recycled all others) along with a couple LumiQuest Softbox LTp, snoots and gaffer tape. If the hangar door was open, then life would be easy! All of this went into my two carry-ons which with my 100k status works out perfectly.

Once at the hangar, I was relieved to see the hangar door open. Light flooding in from the hangar door is the softest, big light source you can ever want. All I had to do was have one SB-900 on a SC-27 always with me for like the photo above when I was shooting the shadow side. There were putting on that massive, gorgeous prop and I wanted that action. The shutter speed was 1/15, f9 and the flash was set to underexpose by -2/3 shooting with the D3x with the 24-120VR. The flash was held in my left hand with my arm held up and out to fill in the shadows on the left. Easy click! The brake test lap I had the D3s on the 200-400VR2 and shot from 1/25 to 1/80 to get a prop blur. That big ol prop turns real slow especially when first cranking over and it needed to be blurred to show it was turning. That’s when I was at 1/25. When Bob took #74 around to test the brakes, he had the RPMs up so I went to 1/80 and panned.

It really is easy stuff when you think it through. First question is what’s the subject? It’s bringing to life #74 which is a combo of people and plane. Next question is how do you bring the subject to the attention of the viewers of the photograph? The first answer to that question is light so you plan on that. Next answer is focal length. I had my normal ThinkTank Airport packed with the usual so that was covered. Lastly there is simply making the images and that’s like falling off a log for me at this point, working with biologists for 30yrs prepared me for that. The only difference is with aviation when you get your hands dirty getting involved, you really get dirty. There’s a lot of oil and grease! And just like biologists at the end of the day when you count your blessings and reflect on the good work done, the beer comes out. And that was the best part you can never be prepared for, the sitting around afterwards and the telling of stories and celebrating. We celebrated until well after midnight. And that my friends was how it was done.

Oh yeah, I forgot to answer one question (thanks for the reminder Mike). I also shot video during the run up, 14GB worth. I was on the ramp with the 24-120 on the D3x, 200-400VR2 on the D3s and D7000 with 14-24AFS on a tripod during the trials. I was running three cameras at once. And at one point, I took some iPhone video and sent that home and to a couple of friends. It is history brought to life so wanted it covered and shared. And yes, files, prints and video go to Odegaard Aviation for their archives and PR needs. No charge, just as a simple thank you.

That Tigercat Purrs

Jun 23, 2011 | Aviation


I LOVE shooting on the ridge! Long before you see them, you here the Unlimiteds racing up behind them. Then they burst over and just 100 feet above your head go screaming by. It’s when you experience this that this large plane seems like grace in the clouds. Can you say…PAN! You surely get your workout keeping up with them but oh man, what fun! Notice how with clouds, the plane seems to moving faster then the image without clouds. Tuck that one in the back of your head, it’s important.

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

Your Aviation Trivia for the Day

Jun 23, 2011 | Aviation



The Tigercat was designed to be carrier based but size and other issues kept it from seeing that duty. But the folding wings is still present which you can see opening up here on the way to take off taxi. This is one big ass plane and it’s always hard for me to imagine that it is not only a fighter but was purposed to be on a carrier. A piece of trivia, it was originally called Tomcat but that was change because it was felt to be too racey. I just think it’s cool to watch the wings and wanted to share that with you.

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

The Tiger Morning

Jun 23, 2011 | Aviation



The morning I had with Rod Lewis’ F7F Tigercat “Here Kitty Kitty” was really killer. I say morning but in reality, we had only about 50min with her when we had light to work. We (Scottie & I) arrived long before sun up to get things like the ladder and Gtizo set up, trash cans moved, ropes lowered so when the light start to happen, we’d be ready to go. As you can see, we had bald skies which means the light would change fast and not for the better. I had talked to Rod the evening before and he was very kind to have Here Kitty Kitty parked how you see it and with the wings left down. I asked for the plane to be parked as you see because of past experience shooting in the morning. See the light on the nose of the plane, those nice highlights on both side? That’s a common thing at Stead for a short time each morning. It’s great light and I wanted to take advantage of it.

Photographing a dark blue subject against a black background can be a crazy scenario. I have that combo because I went up on the ladder. Many have asked why did I do that? The main reason is because it’s a vantage point you normally don’t get. Having the plane to ourselves and parked as I wanted, going up made sense. Normally it’s parked wherever it’s parked and you’re shooting from eyelevel. Once I went up, I had that color combo to deal with. With that, the yellow tips on the props became pretty important. The hint of color really catches the eye. That’s why I kept moving the tripod up on the nose to make that final vertical which I really like. After all of that, there is the light itself and the desired results. I blogged on Monday two images from this seen and commented on how I went. Well, the question I have for you now is, are these single clicks or HDR images? I’m actually not going to say, you’ll have to look, think and feel the answer out. I’m just glad it’s one of those morning when I was able to grab the tiger’s tail and hold on!

Photos captured D3x, 70-200VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film

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