The light outside the hangar changed, the hint of possible magic was on the far off horizon. There was time to grab the Z 8 / Z24-70f2.8, have one more cookie and wander out. Lessons from the past has taught me it’s easier to see if there is a possible photograph rather then learn later I had missed out. The top photo was taken just seven minutes after the image below. We just gotta get out and see what’s what because there is always the promise of the horizon!

Note: The WB was set to 10k in the Z 8, exp comp at -1 which is what is punching up the color and drama.

By their very nature, air-to-airs are dangerous! They also eat up money so part of the process to “cheat” both is to get the shots safely yet quickly. The total time for my A2A with the newly flying Pemberton & Son’s NAF N3N-3 was one hour, prop turn to prop shut down. That’s not much time to get real complicated. When you have a fresh out of paint, intake tube still chrome bright yellow plane for a subject, you just need a kiss of light and you have a great photo. In this case, you don’t need much making clean and simple work!

One concept that’s hard to rationalize in aviation photography is the background. What does it have to do with the aircraft? Everything! You can tell the whole story of the aircraft, its type, use in history, and much more with the proper background. And in the case of this client, use of the aircraft (surveyed the Alps) and time of year. While the snow makes one believe it was shot in winter, it was not. Here’s the secret which really isn’t a secret yet a concept that seems to get overlooked. Planes have wings and can fly, anywhere! As in, you can fly up to the mountains where there is still snow even in late spring or summer down in the city. With some homework, you can literally change the whole story with some air time traveling to where you can find the background you want. You don’t have to have urban if you want forest, don’t have to have fields if you want industry. Or in this case, don’t want summer, winter can still be found.

I have a gray subject against a gray sky on a gray tarmac with “gray” light lighting the whole scene. The only blacks were inside the Chinook and there were no whites. Looking at this, my what if experiment was, could the new masking in ACR bring out something of this gray scene in a B&W photo. The answer, not so much. The Chinook does have some shape from the highlights but texture is lost. The sky, it was a gray marine layer which I knew would yield little likeable. The tarmac was the surprise that was my take away. It’s a small detail but the stance of the Chinook comes from the tarmac. So, 20% of the photo was a positive lesson to put in the creative bank. The other 80% went in the “don’t do again” bin. And that’s how it often goes for me when the viewfinder is empty.

The background sets is the stage for our star and setting it goes a long ways to telling the star’s story. In this case, breaking out of the winter hangar and flying in the glory of spring. And while this sounds so simple to do, and it is, the window to do it is really small. This is a gentle prod that if you are thinking about making this magic, get a move on! If this something you wanna do but don’t know where to start, simply talk to a pilot. Most know where the color is blooming and when you ask about this, it will click with them it’s a great photo op. You might not get the information about the flowers but pick up the air-to-air at the same time. Remember, just show up and in this case, look for the gold!