Nov 17, 2010 | Aviation
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/dpa2ab170669.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
“Lit’l Buddies,” that’s what some of the air crews nicknamed the bomber escorts over Europe during WWII. They were there to help defend the giant thousand plane armadas that went across the English Channel to bomb Germany. I really wanted that same escort for our B-17 and luckily, we got it.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp2007.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
Once we had a couple of orbits of the four ship formation, the B17, two P-51Ds and Supermarine Spitfire and then the B-17 peeled of and went back to base. After that, it was time to photograph just the three planes. Here is the Spitfire and P-51D against the Superstitious Mtns.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/dpa2ab170772.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
Here are the same two planes on the next orbit. One of the goals we teach at Air2Air is variety in the formations. This is for many reasons from editorial to keeping photographers interest.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/dpa2ab170860.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
When the light level dipped I decided to go for broke by lowering my shutter speed. I had been hovering between 1/125 and 1/90 for prop blur but with the angle of the sun really lighting up the props, I went for 1/45 to 1/60. You can see the different here as the arc is nearly 360degrees. Man, this was a great shoot!
Photos captured by D3x, 24-120AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film
Nov 16, 2010 | Aviation
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp1867.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp1889.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp1910.swf, 402, 600 [/swf]
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp4160.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
And then out little buddies showed up, two P-51D Mustangs and a Supermarine Spitfire. In air-to-air photography, you don’t have a lot of time with any one subject, plane. You have to choreograph the flight before you even leave the ground to make the most of ever minute of the flight. We had just 1 1/2 orbits with the B-17 and the Lit’l buddies, a classic European WWII view. With that knowledge I clicked around the entire orbit and liked all that I captured. It was an absolutely magical moment for me!
Photos captured by D3x, 24-120AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film
Nov 16, 2010 | Aviation
Background, background, background, we shoot at sunset at the Superstitious Mtns for a reason. Can you see why? That color was just outstanding and I wanted it in my images. Once you have the background in place, the rest just falls into place.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP1963.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp1813.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP1771.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
The bottom image is my favorite, it includes the great background and the silver body of Sentimental Journey. It reminds me of old Army Air Force training films of low terrain training missions in the desert. And, I don’t need any words to tell the story, the click does it all. Why is the top image darker? I underexposed an extra -1/2 stop.
Photos captured by D3x, 24-120AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film
Nov 16, 2010 | Aviation
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp1974.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
After the first orbit it’s time to settle down to business. The key with air-to-air is the same key to wildlife photography in my mind and that’s background. It’s really, really hard to keep the background in mind with the excitement of a B-17 Flying Fortress in the viewfinder but you’ve gotta. Since you keep making orbits in this scenario, the background repeats itself and you’ve gotta keep track of that. It’s when I saw this background I knew the good stuff was coming up. I went light on the finger so the buffer wasn’t full and held my breath.
Photo captured by D3x, 24-120AFS on Lexar UDMA digtital film
Nov 16, 2010 | Aviation
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp1714.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
There are NO words for the moment you first look out the back and you see a classic warbird pulling up behind you. I had that experience when I photographed the P-38 / F7F a month back and now again with the B-17. Seriously, I get lost in the moment and simply take it in, and then I comeback to earth and get to work. This is a workshop so teaching is what it’s all about. One thing we stress is when you first see the planes, make the money shots. Use a fast shutter speed to assure a sharp image and with those in the can, move one to more daring techniques.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp1730.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
This is still photography where light is everything. And even with that in mind, I make shots that aren’t the best light because you never know if all of a sudden the flight will come to an end. These are aircraft, machines and there are any number of mechanical, flight or personal reasons why a flight can end so I click the first orbit kind of like a mad man to get images in the can. My prime lens for all my air-to-air this weekend was the new 24-120AFS and in this role the lens did a killer job. I also shot in Vivd the entire time.
Photos captured by D3x, 24-120AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film
Nov 15, 2010 | Aviation
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP3966.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
That’s the amazing Russ piloting Sentimental Journey on our air-to-air evening flight. Even mtc!
