Mar 23, 2020 | Aviation
PBY Catalina
captured by D4s / 200-400VR
OK, I’ve heard all the excuses on the planet why photographers don’t practice their handholding and panning, but with current events, they all have now evaporated! While all the near future airshows have been postponed, there is no reason not to be prime and in your best shape for when they resume shortly. You know what I’m talking about, I’ve mentioned it a few thousand times before. I almost thought about doing one of those “stuck at home silly videos” to drive my point home but decided better of it. Instead, you can watch Basic Handholding and Panning videos I already have posted. You might be saying, “That’s all well and good, but what do we practice on?” Yeah, I saw that coming but you won’t like my answer!
This is perfect for those of you with kids at home, all you need are two kids and a tennis ball. Now, set your camera to the settings you prefer (I use Shutter Priority 1/60, AutoAreaAF), put your kids about 30-40 feet apart and have them toss the tennis ball between them. Now, you FOCUS and get SHARP images of that ball going back and forth. Simple! Do this for 15-20 minutes every day and you’ll be golden when the planes start flying again.
PS … remember to make your gear purchases at Bedford Camera and mention the discount code MOOSE for special pricing. Additionally, you will have free shipping on orders over $99 and most likely no sales tax.
Note: cameras do not go in microwaves. Here’s my camera / sensor cleaning video.
Mar 12, 2020 | Aviation
B-17G “Sentimental Journey”
captured by D3x / 24-70f2.8
Long-winged aircraft can be a visual challenge to photograph. That’s because to take in wing tip to wing tip, you have a helluva lot of space just doing nothing for you. That empty space can really take away from the photograph, and the visual size of the aircraft. The one tool I fall back on when confronted with a long wing aircraft like this B-17 is background control.
B-17G “Sentimental Journey”
captured by D3x / 24-70f2.8
The two ways I control the background on such a big subject is exposure and angle. Shooting just before sunrise so the round fuselage reflects the light on the horizon brings shape to “Sentimental Journey” and makes it pop against the dark background. Then by shooting off-angle from the nose a tad, I’m able to “tighten” up the frame and those long wings. I realize this is incredibly simple and now read, seems incredibly obvious but you’d be surprised. When standing in front of a piece of history like this B-17G, the awe effect can live you, speechless.
Feb 28, 2020 | Aviation
UH-60 Blackhawk
captured by D5 / 180-400VR @1/25
Rotary aircraft like helicopters are a real photographic challenge! Unlike prop aircraft where the rotation is perpendicular to the film plane, rotary is not so blurring them requires a much, much slower shutter speed. As soon as one starts to lower the shutter speed, the sweat beads start to appear as fear of getting a sharp image sets in. Then when you combine that slower shutter speed with panning, well, you’ve seen those folks laying on the ground at airshows, why do you think they are there? You have to ask yourself this question, you want visual impact or an easy sharp image?
UH-60 Blackhawk
captured by D5 / 180-400VR @1/250
I have two photos here of the same Blackhawk. The bottom one was a slam dung easy tack sharp image at 1/250. Because of the flex of the rotors, even with it being broadside to the camera, you can see those rotors are sharp. Compare the visual impact to the other photo where the shutter speed was 1/25. With most prop aircraft, 1/25 would capture a full 360 disk but not with rotary! Personally, 1/25 is at my lower limit of getting sharp images while panning with keeper rate dropping to 40-50% or, 1 out of every 2 clicks is sharp. Many are really uncomfortable shooting in the basement like this but you can do it, especially if you practice. And while the keeper rate really drops, keep in mind that to be successful, it just takes one for the magic!
Jan 9, 2020 | Aviation
C-47 Dakota
captured by D4s / 24-70f2.8AFS
The background is everything! There are times though when you want it all to go away. But when it all goes away, so might your story. So what’s a photographer to do? In aviation and you’re shooting statics you could be done before you start. That’s when being better at weather predictions might just make your day! Ground fog happens quite often at airports where you have all that grass. After it rains, the dew point (you gotta learn that magical number) tells you the night before if ground fog will develop permitting you to make magical backgrounds where there are none.
FM-2 Wildcat
captured by D4s / 24-70f2.8AFS
There is a romantic allure to WWII aircraft sitting on the ramp that ground fog conjures up. The fog is a great way to make any background disappear but not the storytelling. In this case, there is a sky zip line tower (two of them) and a larger hangar being hidden by this bank of fog. Rust-0range structures in the background would have completely dispelled any illusion of the past for these two aircraft. But by looking at the weather and the dew point, there was no problem! Not only do you have the benefit of a clean background that tells a story, but you have a natural God scrim softening the light. A little knowledge of the weather can really help when the background needs to go away!
