Mar 1, 2010 | Aviation
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP5753ab.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
Oh, it’s going to be a grand week with a whole lot of subjects that all take flight. Starting a new project at the beginning of the week which always brings up new challenges, new rewards and new frustrations. Can’t wait. But the rest of the week is ISAP and for that, I can’t wait! The photo above was taken a while back during a great day at Top Gun school. It was literally snowing so all flights were canceled for the fleet. This is a photo that has sit in my files since I took it. The lighting was such, it pretty much was lifeless. I then decided to process the nef as a one image HDR. It turned out pretty cool. The sky sucked until the HDR processing and then man, did it come to life!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DAPARRR5482.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
This is a F22 Raptor from the Reno Air Races. Hopefully the weather this week will be a hole lot more conducive for aviation photography. I have the great privilege of shooting with the folks from ISAP first at Edwards AFB and then Nellis AFB during Red Flag maneuvers. We’re taking standing between runways as F117s & F18s take off right beside ya. Hot dang, I can’t wait to eat them Jet A fumes and clicking a few frames. Stick around, I should have a few flicks to share with ya.
I do seem to have an infinity for things that fly. I’m am very fortunate that I get to share this the coming week with likewise folks. Nikon is making it possible for me to do a presentation at ISAP and I can’t wait to share what I’ve leaned in the last two years of following with a camera a life long love of of flight, manned flight that is!
Photos captured by D3x/D3, 14-24AFS / 200-400AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film
Feb 2, 2010 | Aviation
So in the last few weeks I’ve been in the skies over Lake Tahoe, a firehouse in San Fran, the frozen landscape of Yellowstone to now in the sweltering lands of Florida. Well, I have a couple of heartbeats of time while getting some images together for a client and I realized I’ve not posted all that I’ve done during this time so for my simple mind to function, I thought I would start at the beginning. For a project that you’ll see in the future, Jake & I took to the skies in T-6 Texans.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DPA2AT60268.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
As you can see in this photo, the rear canopy is open so you can shoot the opposite plane cleanly, not having to shoot through the canopy. This has its advantages and disadvantages. The main disadvantage is the pilot of my plane and the owner of both T-6s loves his planes and wants to see them in photos in a certain way. In this case, with the canopy closed. Well, I told him not a problem, we would close the canopies in post. I said this knowing darn well I didn’t have the skills to do that. But I know someone who could.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DPA2AT60268_c.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
There were four images I printed up 24×30 and presented to the pilot/owner as a thank you (and for future projects). At our SF DLWS, I put these four images on a Lexar Jumpdrive and handed them to Stephanie with the assignment of “closing the canopy.” I figured the project would take her days and with her other work load, she would tell me it might be a while. Damn it, if not within minutes of handing her the stick she came back and said, “Check this image, is this what you want?” I felt 20yrs older within minutes when I looked at the image and was blown away. What you’re seeing here is the image and if you want to see one very talented Photoshop craftsman, er, I mean woman.
(click here to see Stephanie’s mad Photoshop skillz) – Opens in Zoomify
I had to make the image with the quality to start with and Stephanie finished it with her skills. With the opportunity now to follow a totally different type of flight photography, having the talents and support of Stephanie behind me has my mind thinking of other images I could go after and stay true to the subject.
And the client, they just said, “BEAUTIFUL!”
And is Stephanie going to teach how she did this? Yeap, once she teaches me. But we’ll have that lesson here in the future.
Photo captured by D3s, 70-200VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film
Feb 2, 2010 | Aviation
So in the last few weeks I’ve been in the skies over Lake Tahoe, a firehouse in San Fran, the frozen landscape of Yellowstone to now in the sweltering lands of Florida. Well, I have a couple of heartbeats of time while getting some images together for a client and I realized I’ve not posted all that I’ve done during this time so for my simple mind to function, I thought I would start at the beginning. For a project that you’ll see in the future, Jake & I took to the skies in T-6 Texans.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DPA2AT60268.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
As you can see in this photo, the rear canopy is open so you can shoot the opposite plane cleanly, not having to shoot through the canopy. This has its advantages and disadvantages. The main disadvantage is the pilot of my plane and the owner of both T-6s loves his planes and wants to see them in photos in a certain way. In this case, with the canopy closed. Well, I told him not a problem, we would close the canopies in post. I said this knowing darn well I didn’t have the skills to do that. But I know someone who could.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DPA2AT60268_c.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
There were four images I printed up 24×30 and presented to the pilot/owner as a thank you (and for future projects). At our SF DLWS, I put these four images on a Lexar Jumpdrive and handed them to Stephanie with the assignment of “closing the canopy.” I figured the project would take her days and with her other work load, she would tell me it might be a while. Damn it, if not within minutes of handing her the stick she came back and said, “Check this image, is this what you want?” I felt 20yrs older within minutes when I looked at the image and was blown away. What you’re seeing here is the image and if you want to see one very talented Photoshop craftsman, er, I mean woman.
(click here to see Stephanie’s mad Photoshop skillz) – Opens in Zoomify
I had to make the image with the quality to start with and Stephanie finished it with her skills. With the opportunity now to follow a totally different type of flight photography, having the talents and support of Stephanie behind me has my mind thinking of other images I could go after and stay true to the subject.
And the client, they just said, “BEAUTIFUL!”
And is Stephanie going to teach how she did this? Yeap, once she teaches me. But we’ll have that lesson here in the future.
Photo captured by D3s, 70-200VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film
Jan 2, 2010 | Aviation
Last fall was one heck of a ride, producing more images than I could physically finish in the time I had at hand. So with the start of the new year, I’ve have a small window of opportunity to go back and look, enjoy and get caught up on finishing some of the images on the network from last fall. I started with the oldest, those from the Reno Air Races of last Sept (I also needed to get some of these out to a client).
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DAPARRR15944.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
One of the Blue Angles’ F/A-18 Hornets on the flight line is being warmed up by the ground crew at 05:15am. The sun has yet to come up but it is putting a glow in the sky which is the light source for the jet. To get the nav lights I had to hit the shutter release and let ‘er rip. I tried squeezing one off when I saw the blinking lights but after a couple of attempts I gave up and let the camera catch them. The only post work I had to do is clean up runway markers and “polish” the plane body. When you look up close, the paint isn’t perfect so I cleaned it up.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DAPARRR19115.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
During the races if you have a press pass, you can stand at the end of one hanger and catch the planes landing after their heat. This is a challenging place to shoot because of all the foreground and background obstacles. Getting that clean shot takes a bit of practices, long lens and really good timing. The last couple of days of the race I switched from the D3 and its 9fps, big buffer to the D3x and its 1.8FPS and smaller buffer. I went to the “one shot” philosophy and was incredibly happy with the results. I can’t get over the detail I can see in the P-40. Finishing was no more than removing some dust from the sky. I’m glad it’s only Saturday, more time to go through more images, there are 5113 in the folder from the races.
Photos captured by D3 / D3x, 200-400VR on Lexar UDMA digital film
Sep 19, 2009 | Aviation
Oh man, it was my last day, already! We could only be at the races for three days this year, had to get to ME to teach. The only thing that makes it better is I’ll be back again! I got a little time out shooting today, mostly the Unlimiteds.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP9276.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
The Unlimiteds to my are the sex machines out here. They are wicked fast, rumble the earth and romantic as hell as they are all WWII aircraft like this Sea Fury.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP8643.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
Media has a platform at the end of the hanger which is a great place to hang when the planes are taxing out and landing. I decided to up the ante today and shoot with the D3x. Why is that a challenge? 1.8FPS and the small buffer. What’s cool if you can enlarge this image of the P51 and read the type on the side of the pilots helmet!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP9013.swf, 444, 585 [/swf]
Now when I showed the guys the photo of this Sea Fury and you can see the pilots eyes, all they said was, “I think you have panning down.”
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP9328.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
At the end of the day, a couple of planes were pulled out for fun runs. I headed out to the ramp, laid down, took the shutter speed down to 1/20 and just made some clicks in the gorgeous light. If you’ve never tried aviation photography, you might want to head to your local airshow just once and give it a go. You might find it’s really dang cool!
Photos captured by D3x, 500VR/24PC-E on Lexar UDMA digital film
Sep 19, 2009 | Aviation
I’m writing this at the airport, not Stead home of the Reno Air Races, but from Reno as we’re flying to ME for DLWS. Every morning this week, I’ve received an email from my aviation mentor Richard who’s not here. I get my crit of my images and corrections to my plane nomenclature. Great way to start the day
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP8443.swf, 444, 585 [/swf]
Actually, this was the way to start. I decided that if we arrived and the Blue Angels crew was out, I would try to make a shot with them in action. The light wasn’t exactly romantic, but it worked for the action. I tried a couple of shutter speeds to get the right blur, I settled on 1/20. I kinda like it
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP8490.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
Then I spied Lady Jo was pulled out, she was going on an early morning flight. The killer volunteer staff who cart us around the airport were on hand, so I hitched a ride to the other end of the ramp to photograph her. First I went with the reflected light. I think I like that better so I spent time waiting for it to happen.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP8528.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
Then once it did, I switched to the other side and did the 5 frame HDR. While a valid technique, I’m tired of it. I’m on the hunt for a better solution, it will probably take some time. In this application, the shadow detail which shouldn’t be present is. I just need that solid black. Gotta play with that.
For a platform, I unscrew the head of my tripod and rest it right on the ground. The left hand is pushing it down on the ground while the right hand operates the camera.
We’ll miss the last two days of the races but Jake & Brent are there so I know I’ll be seeing it in their images. This is a great event that I’m so happy Nikon sponsors because we all get in by working for them. So thanks Scott, Bill, Bill & Mike, it was a great time! A super BIG thanks to all our friends and fellow photographers, Dave, Erv, Kevin, Naomi, Neil, Jerry and the rest for taking such good care of us! Richard, by the time you read this, you’ll be a dad. Congrats bud!
Photos captured by D3x, 200-400VR / 24PC-E on Lexar UDMA digital film
