Jan 10, 2011 | Aviation
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DPPSAM0007.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
I write this after seeing Jake’s statics and I’m feeling a little low. The kid just knows how to shoot ’em! The museum had some great planes out on the tarmac, this F8F Bearcat being just one of them. The museum doesn’t open until 10am and by the time we got out to the aircraft the light had long gone and there were folks sauntering around. So with those two challenges and my big one working with statics, I sent out to clickin.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DPPSAM0007bw.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
I shot this knowing that I would have to remove a person (Content Aware) and I was going to B&W. The sky was pretty funky because of the winds kicking up a bunch of dust but otherwise it was bald. The light was on the hard side. That combination dictated how I finished the image, going to B&W. No matter your subject, you should look at the pluses you have and make those work while ignoring the negatives. Too many photographer see the negative and never click to start with. Looking at the positives and make the most of them. The worst that could happen is the image doesn’t work. The most that could happen is you come back with the image and you learned to make the most of those elements you do have in your photograph.
Photo captured by D3x, 24-120VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film
Jan 10, 2011 | Aviation
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DPPSAM0061.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
It was time for a little R&R (yes, I did some work too) so Jake & I checked out the pretty new Palm Springs Air Museum. It boasts one of the largest collection of flying warbirds of any museum so we had to check it out. We chose this day because they had a series of talks, The Yamamto Shootdown and Pacific Air War being presented by WWII vets who were there. We ended up spending five hours at the museum between the presentations, the great exhibits and meeting new folks. This is an example of their exhibits, a F4U Corsair with this amazing, giant painting of one coming into land hanging behind it.
Jake & I enjoyed all the displays. Many of them were classic warbirds in the hangar just dying to get into the air. A very cool aspect of this museum was the local out reach to young kids. This includes many things the most impressive is the 7000 aviation book library. Not only are there book and Dvds for check out, but there is a dozen computers with flight simulators and flight games. It’s great! Stick around, some more fun to come at ya from our R&R.
Photo captured by D3x, 24-120VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film
Dec 14, 2010 | Aviation
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/dapfafb2085.swf, 585, 473 [/swf]
I was a guest this day, guest of the Navy and of Richard’s so I stayed in the background. Near the end of our visit the crews were getting ready for a night mission before their 30hrs flight the next day back to fleet. I found it fascinating and frustrating. Fascinating to watch these professionals at work and frustrating because I saw photographs and couldn’t do anything about them. Case in point.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DAPFAFB2070.swf, 585, 473 [/swf]
The human element, I’ve written about that many times when it comes to aviation and this is a prime example. Look for example at this lower image on the left. See that arm working the gun? It was those little moments I would have loved to work more but I needed to stay in the background. While the Cmdr was pre-flighting the helo, panels would be open and you can’t photograph that, period. The light damn it would slip away right when it was needed most and then stay away until there was no photo and then reappear. As you can see I clicked away when I could anyways and that’s for a couple of reasons. The main one being, never know if I’ll be afforded this amazing opportunity again so I take nothing for granted. I do the best I can with what’s at hand, say my thanks and then mentally think what I could do better if given the opportunity again. That’s how photography, no matter the genre should work.
Photos captured by D3x, 70-200VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film
Dec 14, 2010 | Aviation
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DAPFAFB1927.swf, 585, 473 [/swf]
Damn that sun, it danced back in behind the clouds. OK, let’s get in close and use that angle to bring some drama and bad ass attitude to the helo. This is a start but looking to he background, this just isn’t strong enough yet. Time to imitate beached whale and move closer.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DAPFAFB1930.swf, 585, 473 [/swf]
See those two helos in the background? I moved up to incorporate those more with the helo in the foreground showing there’s a “force” here that comes from numbers. It’s OK but when the sun came back out I quickly changed lenses and moved way back and kiss the dirt, again.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DAPFAFB1886.swf, 585, 473 [/swf]
Now I’ve made the click that I want! It might seem it took a while to get here but actually I knew where I wanted to be from the get go. I just saw the opportunity with the dancing sun to perhaps helps some out with this basic principle with a number of illustrations. The bottom line is to always ask yourself, “What’s the subject?” and then do the dance to eliminate unwanted elements while including those that tell the story. It’s a combination of lens, light and photographer that makes it all come together.
Photos captured by D3x, 24-120VR2/70-200VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film
Dec 14, 2010 | Aviation
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DAPFAFB2121.swf, 585, 473 [/swf]
I am really surprised I wasn’t called out on my Facebook wall with yesterday’s posting about Angle. Because those two images were to put politely, damn weak. They might have been a start though if you recognize it’s a weak angle before you leave the photograph! Great light can only help so far so when the sun slipped behind a cloud again, I walked around the helo looking to the right angle for the length of the helo. This click here. But it’s no better then a “I was here shot” which in my book is a notch above shit.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/dapfafb1951.swf, 585, 473 [/swf]
So the first thing I went for was seeing light was coming out was if I could make the helo look bad ass. I went down low and lined up all the lines so you can’t help but make contact with the cockpit. Real clean background, dramatic clouds and soft light (barely see a shadow on the side of the helo) so I was happy with this click. But better can be had.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/dapfafb1872.swf, 585, 473 [/swf]
OK, sun came out making it a little brighter so I darted back over to the side, hit the ground and made the click. We are getting much better but…but we should never settle so we keep looking for the better shot. mtc
Photos captured by D3x, 70-200VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film
Dec 13, 2010 | Aviation
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/dapfafb1734.swf, 585, 473 [/swf]
With out time with the Top Gun school limited, we headed over to the Helo squadron to spend some time. We spend time with them out last adventure to Top Gun school so improving on the past was important to me. To make that happen, the first thing I did was to review the images I took on my last visit to see the mistakes and success I came back with. The one thing I didn’t do enough last time was get down low. So the first thing I did with this MH-60L Blackhawk gunship was get down on the ground, as in literally kissing the tarmac. For this one helo, it was pretty cut and dry but as we moved on to others, things would change. mtc
Photo captured by D3x, 70-200VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film
