Jun 3, 2011 | Aviation
What do you do to top off an incredible flight? Well, when you have great light you shoot some more. When Mike came taxing up, I got the signal from Kevin to stage the Stearman for a sunset shoot. One of the great things about Stearman Field is all the grass and there was a great strip in front of the hangar or other then aligning the Stearman in the light, it was a snap. Now of course there was a little more consideration then that. You guessed, you know me to well. Yeap, the background was everything so parking the Stearman took a little hand signals, a little gas and then a little more gas just to get the Stearman parked with the best possible background. Kevin hopped out, grabbed his camera and we started to shoot. As the light changed as the sun set, I kept moving about the Stearman looking at just the glow on the side of the Stearman. I was using the RRS Ground Pod which has become my favorite for shooting static aircraft. The question I have for you is, how did I take and finish these images? And do I have a favorite? Not yet actually but the top image is in the contention. mtc
Photos captured by D3x, 70-200VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film
Jun 2, 2011 | Aviation
A favorite shot, took a second to do. Is it in your arsenal of techniques? If not, come to class! mtc
Jun 2, 2011 | Aviation
I no sooner was on the ground and Kevin was in the Stearman and taxing down the grass strip for his trip. Stearman field is so cool, a step back in time in fact. Kevin has brought me there before and I’m making friends with some of the plane owners so I have no doubt you’ll be seeing more images from this great field in the future.
This is on of my favorite shots! The Stearman, you can’t help but see it in the frame even though it’s a microdot in the frame. Its yellow wings against the blue sky make it really pop. But what’s really cool is the story of the smoke trail. That’s what it looks like when you do the wing over. I can feel the G’s jsut lookin at it!
And when you’re all done with the maneuvers, the smoke tells the story. It goes by so quickly that it’s hard to remember it all once you’re back on the ground but seeing the smoke trail, I can relive the how thing. I wanna thank Mike and Kevin for making the flight happen. It’s one I won’t forget!
Photos captured by D3x, 200-400VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film
Jun 2, 2011 | Aviation
Mike took us on some wing over maneuvers that were sick! Oh man, better then any roller coaster ride you might ever take. Before we took off, we talked a little bit about our flight. It was a huge help to have Kevin there since he had flown with Mike before and had great ideas for these Hero shots. The plan was during the wing over, Mike would turn on the smoke. As you can see I had a headset on so during the whole flight we were in communication so when it was time for the wing over, Mike told me and into the turn we went. Weeeeeeeeee!
The horizontal shot above is how the camera was in relationship to me the whole time because a vertical Fish portrait is just nasty! But the bottom shot is how the plane, me and the camera were when I went click. The smoke trail is cool because it shows where we just came from and the path we were flying. I’ll probably not use the bottom shot for other then fun because I think the viewer not aviation oriented would be visually confused by it since most don’t fly in that orientation. But for me, the client, I like the bottom because it really tells the story of the flight.
Photos captured by D3x, 16Fish on Lexar UDMA digital film
Jun 2, 2011 | Aviation
In aviation photography, the self portrait taken while doing an air to air is called The Hero Shot. Not sure where the name came from but I was in desperate need of a new self portrait, aviation style so this seemed like a great opportunity to work on it. So, have YOU ever taken a portrait of a person with a fisheye lens? Well, if you look up good portrait lenses, the 16Fish doesn’t usually make the list unless you’re trying to make someone look really funny. What it does to eyes and noses is just not complementary. But in aviation when it comes to The Hero shot, it is the lens!
The top shot shows the first thing you must guard against, putting yourself on an outside edge of the photo. While it’s not a total distortion of the face, it’s not perfect. Since we are the best judges of what we look like, we know when it’s right or wrong. Moving past that, there is the light and the story. You have the subject, that’s you of course since it’s a self portrait, but you need to be in good light. When you’re in a plane that’s flying around, the lighting never stays the same. The best light often is when it’s in your eyes so to make the most of that light and not have slittie eyes, I wore sunglasses. And the story, I was torn between it looking like I was being flown or I was flying. I’m still torn after seeing the final images. I do like seeing Mike in the background and his being smaller in the frame make him part of the story of a great flight.
Of these three, this bottom one I like the most. I’m smilin, that’s a rare photo but when I’m in the air, I smile all the time. I like the story being told but most importantly, I like the drama in the lighting. Did I know at the time I went click that was the lighting pattern? Not at all. Did I have a guess as we turned back into the sun but I didn’t know. I did move my head about with the plane, made sure my hair was in the slip stream to make it look as good as I can, but otherwise it is by guess by golly shooting. As for the actual picture taking, the D3x with the 16Fish was held with both hands (real tight) up against the wind screen. I put it dead center. I then would place myself centered in the cockpit because being a plane, those things are all squared up. The only trick was getting the finger on the shutter release.
Photos captured by D3x, 16Fish on Lexar UDMA digital film
Jun 1, 2011 | Aviation
You might be wondering, “Is it hard to sit in a seat in the wind and shoot?” It really isn’t, it’s not as windy as you might think, at least it wasn’t as windy as I thought it would be. What was hard was to think about photography and not just sit there and enjoy the flight. In fact, there were many times when I did just that, sat, look, stared, dreamed and watch the countryside slip by. I can’t thank Mike enough for not only the opportunity but the amazing night. Whata flight!
OK, back to work. With the limited buffer of the D3x and since we were flying which means things go by quickly and there is no repeats, taking care with picture taking is important. So the first think I watched was the lighting on the wings and the ground. Look at the top photo, see how the wings are in shadow? This to me isn’t light and airy and doesn’t communicate the sheer joy of being in an open cockpit plane flying. With that in mind and Mike did the wing overs I would first enjoy the banked turn and then watching the light, bring the camera up with the strut shadows could be used to lead the eye into the frame.
After that, it was all about the background (it’s always about the background with me) and in this case, it was earth. I wanted the curved horizon which from our angle and the 16Fish was easy to do. If the wing weren’t in the middle of the frame like the top frame, you see the curve of the earth looking a little off to say the least. This meant the wing need to be centered so the curve would look correct. So you add up lens, light and background in the bottom photo and you get the kind of images I was after while having the time of my life!
Photos captured by D3x, 16Fish on Lexar UDMA digital film
