Simple Click – Heather “Lucky” Penny
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I think the nose art pretty well sums it up!
The Skies Were a Blessing!
The background is everything in every form of photography. For aviation, I think it’s incredibly important because of the drama it cam induce into the image.
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Often in Reno in the fall, between the heat and season, the skies are often less then ideal. Sadly, there is often a brown haze in the air from brush or forest fires. While it can be lessened in post, it’s still not the same as good old Sierra blue skies.
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So when the afternoon forecast was for scattered clouds, I was really hopefully since we already had blue skies. And while they aren’t perfect, they were certainly good enough to get out on the ramp and shoot the Jet class taking off. Damn, this is fun!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DAPARRR27579.swf, 585, 473 [/swf]
Photos captured by D3x, 200-400VR on Lexar UDMA digital film
Only at Reno!
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This beautiful Lear Jet taking off and just off the deck. You’ll never guess what it’s doing at Reno. It’s the pace plane for the jet class racing. Seriously, it’s the pace plane and it’s real cool to see so up close and personal. I love jets for one particular reason, I can shoot in Aperture Priority, open up the aperture and shoot with basic impunity. What do I mean by that? The faster shutter speed means panning is a snap. It means that if your arms are tired, you don’t have to be as steady. It means that any dust on the sensor won’t show up as a UFO because you’re not shooting at f/22. And, speed is fun!
Photo captured by D3x, 200-400VR (handheld) on Lexar UDMA digital film
Good to Be Home
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Ah, to be back in Reno, Stead to be exact, photographing the Reno Air Races. This is a “quiet” day still so it’s time to just kinda get your feet on the ground, mind back in the game and say hello to friends.
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Now you might think of friends as just being other shooters and they are here. But many of the aircraft seem like old friends as well like this Tiger Cat. Be it in the air or on the ramp, it’s a sweet plane fun to photograph! I’ve been lifting my 10lbs weight for the last month getting ready to handhold the 200-400 for hours at a time. Glad I did, lots of great photography to come this week. I can’t wait!
Photos captured by D3x, 200-400VR on Lexar UDMA digital film
How Do You Finish a Great Week?
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An airshow at night of course! My bud Richard got me in the right place so I could be out on the ramp for the show.
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Shooting moving objects in the dark is a whole new ballgame. First thing I switch up was camera bodies. I shot with the D3s because it does a much better job at higher ISOs and that’s where I had to go.
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The ISO ended up at 800 before I decided to stop shooting but it did start at 200. Exp Comp was -2 going to -3. The one thing that was easy was shooting at slow shutter speed for prop blur. I selected all of these photos because they were all shot at 800ISO, 1/20.
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Yeap, I’m panning with the 200-400VR2, swatting mosquitoes all at 1/20. And my keeper rate?
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Oh, it dropped down to 67% but that’s quite OK. As Richard said that if he jjust got a couple of good ones then he’d be happy. I got a couple and with it being my first nightime airshow, I was happy.
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Once it got too dark and the mosquitoes just too thick, I left the field. I meet up with Kevin and Scott at the Sky Crane. Their we laid on the cement with the thousands of others and watched the show for the next hour. I came back just shy of 5200 image for my time at Oshkosh. I expected to do a whole lot more and cover a whole lot more aircraft but I’m quite happy with what I captured. Even more pleased with what I learned and the new friends I made. Oshkosh isn’t just about planes or people but the friendships that all brings together. It’s only 357 days away and I can’t wait!
Maybe the B&W Helps
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It’s from the era.