Nov 15, 2010 | Aviation
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp1092.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
It’s really easy to be seduced by the battle harden warbirds but there are more to the AZ CAF wing then those which includes this great DC-3. To be honest with you, you could put anything in this light and it would look gorgeous but in this case, it’s the DC-3. To heighten the drama I added a split grad in the foreground and background in ACR. I knew I would do that while I was lying on the ground sniffing the oil. Oh yeah, I also shot in Vivd which I’ve gone to doing with all my aviation photography.
Photo captured by D3x, 24-120AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film
Nov 15, 2010 | Aviation
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp0934.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
Our 1st Air2Air Workshop is now in the books and it was just fantastic if I say so myself. We ended up photographing nine different aircraft air-to-air over the course of the workshop but I’m getting ahead of myself. Our center of operations was out of the AZ Wing of the Commemorative Air Force whose magnificent collection of warbirds they made complete available to us. We started our Saturday with a predawn static shoot. This B-25 Mitchell looked simply gorgeous in the predawn light so kiss the deck I did. The desert light at this moment has that cool magenta/cobalt gray bands to is. To really bring this out I went into the WB setting and took the curve down in the magentas to really punch it up. The solid silver body of the B-25 just soaked it up producing in the end a really sweet image. What a start!
Photo captured by D3x, 24-120AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film
Nov 13, 2010 | Aviation
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp0913.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
Oh man, I can barely type I am trembling so much with from all the excitement and fun! We are the guests of the CAF AZ wing in Mesa. They opened their doors and made their B-17 and B-25. We were literally kissing the deck as the sun came up. This is just one of the many shots from the predawn light (shot 29GB this am!). It’s a 7image HDR. I went this way to pull every detail out of the B-25. It was real simple to do and a ton of fun.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp1530.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
Then after breakfast we came back to Falcon Field for panning practice. Yeah, we had a B-25 for panning practice! How freakin cool is that! We’ve just finished our air-to-air briefing so it’s time to photograph. mtc
Photos captured by D3x, 24-120AFS / 200-400VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film
Nov 1, 2010 | Aviation
Those of you who follow me on Facebook know the weather threw a wrench into my weekend plans with new snow. Since I couldn’t get out in the yard and get some chores done, I decided to work next to the fire while watching weekend horror flicks (since it was Halloween).
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/daposhk2935.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
I finally started processing my aviation images from our Oshkosh week back in July. What you see here is a schweeeet Hawker Sea Fury that was part of the “light your fire” airshow. About half way through the show there was a ton of smoke and the sun was playing dodge with the clouds. That combo created a drama in the light that I really like.
When I say process, I mean really cleaning up all the dust in the images. Shooting prop planes I shoot in Shutter Priority normally between 1/90 and 1/125. When you do that on a sunny day, the camera shuts down to f/22 or lower and when you shoot closed down, every freaken little dust particle on the planet shows up in the photos! Since I was camping in a very damp environment, one day I had a ton of dust. So I was able to get about 300 images processed and along with others that I had done since July, managed to get up about a dozen new and update two dozen more on my galleries on my Moose Aviation site (under The Hanger). The site is meant for photobuyers but you just might like a couple of the clicks, there is shy of 1200 images total in the galleries. Better yet, might get you interested in photographing a plane or two. Enjoy!
Photo captured by D3x, 200-400VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film
Oct 16, 2010 | Aviation, B&W Photography
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DAPARRR29308bw.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
“You can always find something to do while you’re waiting for the paint to dry!” Being a year older then Sharon, I “waited” around to start college the same fall as she did. So I took a cool job for that year. Working in a woodshop where we had to finish the work, while that paint was drying we found other tasks that could be completed. I guess you could call is a work ethic, something we’re finding to be critical in moving things forward.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DAPARRR29318bw.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
So yesterday while sequestered in our hotel room because of the weather we had a couple of options. Yeah, we did take a moment to just catch our breathes but then after that, it was to work making the most of our “idle” time. Since I’ve been on the road now for six weeks, not all my images have been dealt with. So, I got all my Reno Race images keyworded (the only thing I do Keyword). With that really fun task done, I decided to reward myself with finishing a couple from a special shoot from the races.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DAPARRR29324bw.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
I’ve already written about and posted images from the flight, but before that all the shooters were provided an opportunity to photograph the very special and rare P-38s Lightnings and F7Fs Tiger Cats. The top frame is one of my favorites of the week because of the shadows in the foreground. It communicates the excitement of all the photographers able to photograph this special event. After that, trying to make clean clicks was a real challenge. The only real option for cleaning up the background was lying on the tarmac which is what I did (watching not to lay in oil). After that, the rest was cleaned up in Photoshop. So even though I wasn’t out behind the lens like I would have preferred, thanks to photography I could visit some good memories and finish them. Pretty cool!
Photos captured by D3x, 24-70AFS / 70-200VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film
Oct 15, 2010 | Aviation, Landscape Photography
We left Freeport and headed up to base out of Millinocket to work the Moose in Baxter State Park. We got in with just enough time to reconnoiter the area for color before the storm comes in. It is simple stunning in the surrounding hills, the color is maxed out!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP5309.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP5341.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
Well one of the lakes has an air service so headed in that direction to see if I could get some aviation with fall color. A great twist on landscape photography if you ask me.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP5342.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
As it so happen to unfold, the pilot James was warming up and taking off on a run. The light level was so low with the pending storm, I was shooting at 1/45 f4 handheld! So we were able to photograph him in his Cessna 206 taxing down lake, turn around and lift off. I’ve photographed a lot of float planes in our work in Alaska but never with this kind of fall color. I could do this kind of landscape photography all day long!
Photos captured by D3x, 200-400VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film
