Mar 9, 2011 | Aviation
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DPAZCAF2095.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
There we were in the hanger just talkin, just enjoying being around aircraft with great company. Bob was doing some maintenance on Stang, Scottie was in Cripes A’Mighty getting his first lesson on a Mustang and this little boy cruising around in a peddle airplane. I was paying attention to everything but the little boy. Sharon, my amazing second set of eyes though saw the little boy enjoying his ride and made me aware of him. His mom was there so I asked if I could take his photo (you can see it on my FB album), made a couple of snaps and then went back to the “grown up” fun.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DPAZCAF2085.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
Then like most kids, the fun was over and it was time to move on. It just so happen that from where I was standing, the little boy left the peddle plane in the perfect place! Instantly the caption, “When I grow up.” How to make that photo happen? The first and major problem is the range of light, it’s huge! I have no tripod but I wanted the photo so standing there, I took 9 frame HDR exposures. The D3x is pretty slow at 1.8fps and while I can handhold pretty good, I questioned whether I had a sharp HDR. So I laid down on the floor and there, it was really easy to make a 9 frame sharp HDR. But what happened when I went low? The whole story line falls apart. Luckily I got a sharp set standing up. So in solving the problem to tell the story in a snap, angle and exposure had to be dealt with. You see my final results and the logic behind why I did it. Now it’s up to you to see if that works for your style of photography or not.
Photos captured by D3x, 24f1.4AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film
Mar 9, 2011 | Aviation
Last weekend I was afforded an amazing opportunity. I was provided a $2mil subject to work by myself for a couple of hours at sunset. It was an extreme honor to be so trusted and it put the pressure on. I wanted to get the shot really, really bad. What you see here though isn’t the shot I was working on.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DPPBOMS0035.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
These are “killing” time waiting for the light shots. Yeah, the light doesn’t suck so we were able to make a couple of nice clicks. In both shots, it’s the same, gorgeous, amazing P-51D “Stang.” The difference in the success in my trying to communicate one message. “I’m a bad ass and I belong in the sky hauling ass!” I was working on saying that and a lot more but with just one click, no caption, just using light, gesture and color. The Jay Maisel recipe for success and it works even with aviation!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DPPBOMS0052.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
You can apply this killer formula any subject and succeed and if you don’t know how, go to Jay’s class at Photoshop World in a couple of weeks and learn. I have the light and the color but there is a difference in the gesture. It’s not like you can say to Stang, “Turn your prop to the left and lift your wing a tad.” The gesture comes from YOUR moving and turning the camera body. I’m always amazed how many photographers feel they need to keep the camera body plum to the earth. The slightest turn in the camera body can make all the difference in the world. For me, the top image says it all. So next time you’re out shooting and the photo isn’t turning out the way you like, move a little and turn the camera body and introduce some gesture to your subject!
Photos captured by D3x, 24-120VR on Lexar UDMA digital film
Mar 7, 2011 | Aviation
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!
Our Saturday afternoon flight was one that, if we were shooting editorially or commercially, we probably would not have flown. That’s because the light just wasn’t great. When the props turned, $8k instantly hit the bill. But this is a teaching, learning workshop as well as just producing great images so we went up. We had a great group of photographers with us which includes Jakub from the Czeck Republic (we have a number of int’l participates this year which is fun!). You’ll see in the video I was pushed around a bit from the occasional turbulence, you’ll see Sentimental Journey a bit sideways coming down the runway from the crosswind. Even with these little bumps, as you’ll see, we had a great time and a great flight.
We have three more Air2Air Workshops on the board for 2011 and we’re scheduling our 2012 flights as I type. We have some spaces available in all the workshops:
Apr 29, 2011 – Fantasy of Flight, FL
Nov 04, 2011 – Lonestar, TX
Nov 11, 2011 – AZ CAF, AZ
We’ve got B-17s, Ducks, Bearcats, Corsairs, Mustangs, GA and a lot more on the schedule. To our repeaters, welcome back! And to the rest, come experience your first photo mission today!
Mar 4, 2011 | Aviation
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DPA2A500s1097.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
You might recognize the “Red Baron” as it was one of our subjects last fall at our Air2Air. It was the last plane up and as such, it had the really hard light. Well, it was scheduled to be the last plane up again and all I could think was, “not again!” That’s because the light was so hard I really didn’t like the final results except for this one. Many are happy with just getting that “one” solid image. But there is something very wrong with me, I’m always looking to make the better image.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DPA2A500s1113.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
We were so lucky that there were some clouds still floating around, enough to diffuse the light and make for some great opportunities. Oh, there were times in our orbit when we were in strong sun and at those times, I wouldn’t shoot. But when the light mellowed, I hit the hammer. We had the amazing Casey at the stick providing us with some great gesture in the great light. It’s the magic that our workshop is becoming well known for. We’ve announced the rest of our 2011 Air2Air Workshops dates and we have a couple of openings at each one. We are working on our 2012 schedule already so we’re not going anywhere. In fact, we are waiting for you to join us, get bitten by the bug and let your photography take flight. As I told Jake the first time I took him up, “Don’t blame me if you get hooked!” Speaking of which, be sure to head over to Jake’s site, he’s got some amazing images from the flights as well.
Photos captured by D3x, 70-200VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film
Mar 4, 2011 | Aviation
Our next subject Sunday morning was this gorgeous T-6 Texan. This gorgeous plane is a polished, painted to match the original scheme for Falcon Field (where we’re based out of) during WWII when it was one of many training fields around the country. It’s owner and pilot Brian did an amazing job flying for us in the great conditions we had.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DPA2A500s0709.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
That great polished body is a two edge sword. When the light is working like it was this morning, with the light filtering through the clouds, shooting doesn’t get any better. When you light sucks, that gorgeous polished body reflects the yuck and you’re toast. If anything, we had marmalade on our toast this morning! I wish I could share with you all the magic but I just picked a couple of images and ran the poster action on them to create the posting.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DPA2A500s0739.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
As it turned out, it was a 2788 image morning and still, I’ve not got them all edited or processed. Can’t thank Brian enough for sharing his great plane with us.The one aspect of aviation that I really enjoy, the people! We finished again with our patented drag down the runway which was still wet from the earlier rain making for a killer flight! This was a magical addition to our photo mission.
Photos captured by D3x, 24-120VR on Lexar UDMA digital film
Mar 4, 2011 | Aviation
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DPA2A500s0285.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
Background, what background? DOF, what DOF? You’ve heard me rant about how I hate bald skies and how I love clouds, well, let me tell you about clouds! When it comes to air to air photography and they say the sky’s the limit, they weren’t talkin about having clouds!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DPA2A500s0431.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
The only real challenge as I saw it was my buffer. Shooting with dual D3xs, I would go back and forth between bodies as the buffer would fill. One body had the 70-200VR2 w/TC-17e and the other had the 24-120VR. Both were set to ISO L1, Shutter Priority with a shutter speed of 1/125. All I did was focus on the clouds, the whites, blacks and all the shades in between. When the Shrike was amongst those that seem to be magical, I would hit the hummer.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DPA2A500s0483.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
It was great while it lasted. The storm was moving fast and the clouds moving out while dissipating. It is the desert and as one of the AZ CAF folks mentioned after we landed, “we only have clouds like five days out of the year.” It was the amazing foresight and talent of our fellow instructor and 2nd seat pilot Doug that we had this amazing shoot. The best part, this was just the warm up, we had more great stuff right around the next orbit.
