Oct 12, 2016 | Aviation
On Monday after taking care of work, Sharon and I had a couple of moments to spend at Lake Hood to watch the comings and goings. For those who have not been to Anchorage or ventured over to Lake Hood, it is the busiest sea airbase in North America with over 82k landings each year. And being a lake, the planes that are landing are on floats. It’s just a lot of fun to watch them take off and land because they are right next to you! There were gorgeous skies the entire week we were there but the moment we had for watching the planes, the skies started to close in and it got dark. This doesn’t mean you can’t shoot.
Down below you can see what the scene really looked like. It’s not very inviting. Now I have manipulated it a little, the bottom photo doesn’t have its proper white balance so it’s really gray, but you can see how the light was not really nice. To get to the shots you see above, I simply opened up the shadows in ACR (you can see how here). With that done, a simple application of Nik Pro Contrast and I’m done. Na, not the most amazing photos I’ve taken at Lake Hood but the slight touch of snow on the mountains in the background, the skies having some texture and the gesture of the aircraft work well enough to communicate the fun that is Lake Hood. And that’s the point, to have fun even if all the elements aren’t perfect.
Oct 4, 2016 | Aviation
P-40 “Aleutian Tiger” / P-51D “Dakota Kid”
captured by D5 / 70-200f4 AFS
It’s so simple, so in the background and it’s so important, our plane of focus though is overlooked and misunderstood. And that’s only natural because when we think of our sensor, it’s always worrying about dust and not math. But when it comes to getting subjects in focus, either movement or depth of field and much more, you gotta think about the film plane (it effects flash exposure too!). With it being fall, many photographers are out photographing flocks of birds and I’ve been receiving emails asking why are some of the birds in focus and not others. Most suspect their camera’s AF is not working when in reality, it’s just a function of our plane of focus.
P-40 “Aleutian Tiger” / P-51D “Dakota Kid”
captured by D5 / 70-200f4 AFS
I’ve used these photos to try to illustrate why some birds (feathers or metal skins) might be sharp and others out of focus. In this case, the film plane (sensor in the D5) is traveling the same speed forward as the two aircraft (top photo). In the top photo, when the film plane speed is matched with the two aircraft, they are both sharp. When the P-40 in the foreground changes up its forward speed, it is no longer matching the film plane speed so it is now out of focus (middle photo). When you’re panning your camera to freeze the forward motion, the film plane speed must match that of the subject. When that flock of birds (or single bird for that matter) forward motion is matched by your panning, everything is sharp. When it’s not, they are not sharp. And in the case of a flock of birds, the odds of all the birds flying the same speed as your panning is pretty slim so some will be out of focus. It has nothing to do with camera AF performance but math. This is just one aspect of the film plane you need to understand and when you understand them all, you can move your photography forward!
Sep 26, 2016 | Aviation
In the struggles to make a photograph we want to call our own, we often jump through all sorts of hoops which, in the long run come up short. There are lots of times if we just had the right settings from the start, the rest would be easy. This leads us to two conclusions: when setting up a shot, look for that setting from the start and, when you find that setting, exploit it to its fullest. Case in point …
We found ourselves inside a WWII hangar last week, a really classic hangar! Its sheer size meant it was constructed with huge roof windows and giant doors. Both of those make for great light. The size and the light dictated the gear, for size and keeping the lines true, the 24-70 and the light, D5. The trick as it were, was to be there when the light was working its magic. In this case, we waited for hours for the afternoon light to paint across the hangar floor hitting the P-40k “Aleutian Tiger.” Then because the hangar faces nearly due East, we knew the sunrise could easily be seen. We just had to be there and just had to have the doors open. Once the setting was set, the rest was real easy, just so up. So just something to stick in the back of your mind. Settings can make the shooting easy.
Sep 23, 2016 | Aviation
Jake and I have the great fortune to be apart of the Atlanta Warbird weekend that starts tomorrow at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport just outside Atlanta. We are here with the two Texas Flying Legends Museum P-40s to honor the AVG’s 75th. Our job is relatively simple, tell the story in stills and video of how the aircraft and their pilots spent their weekend as part of this celebration. The first day, Thursday, was all about the media and the media ride. The concept is simple, the media tells the story of the event and therefore gets the public to come out and see the planes. It’s a great thing! The media was out in force because we were incredibly fortunate to honor AVG Frank Losonsky. He was in China with the AVG, Flying Tigers. He is living history with great stories! The event started off with Frank being flown in the TFLM P-40e across the skies of Atlanta. He really enjoyed that. Then came the interviews.
As I said, our job is to tell the story of the TFLM aircraft and crew, and get that story out to as many as we can. Frank was going to be interviewed and since he’s a AVG, the interview was to be in front of a P-40. I saw the in hangar studio set up the new crews had prepped. While it worked OK, I could make it better, both for the whole story as well as for our client. So with a little soft nudging (ok, I picked up their lights and moved them), I was able to get the crews to move their studio so the background would be the same aircraft that Frank had flown in. But you know me and backgrounds. The original studio background was just the back of a hangar with a business jet. When I saw the big American flag hanging on the wall, what the background should be to me was obvious. So once I got the news crew willing to move their studio, I went to work staging the TFLM P-40 that Frank flew parked in front of the flag. And with that simple move, I was able to take care of our obligations to our client and storytelling.
Sep 16, 2016 | Aviation
I meet Steve-o the first time back in 2008 at Reno. The winner of the Unlimited Class many times over, in 2013 & 2014 in Voodoo … a highly modified P-51D, he is a great, incredibly talented, humble guy. Steve-o has been everything from a subject to a photo platform pilot for me over the years so when I was asked in a text to take his portrait, I was excited and honored. Then I was instantly really nervous! Why? The shoot was going to be in the incredibly active and visually busy Voodoo pit. It was going to be a real quick shoot and, I knew I’d have all sorts of eyes on me. Dealing with the really busy pit meant setting up and working outside the pit so we wouldn’t be in the way. Dealing with the visually busy pit (we had to hand move a blue outhouse!) meant shooting with a real narrow DoF. That’s why I had the 105f1.4 AFS, it fit the bill on both accounts.
BTS Drawing
created on iPad with Adobe Draw
The pits of an unlimited during race week at Reno is a busy place. I had three portraits to make, Steve-o being the second. First thing to do was determine where I wanted Steve-o to stand. On the wing so you could in part see his name on the Voodoo fuselage and in the background, kinda make out Voodoo on the over sized bra seemed like a good fit. That determined my angle so I grabbed a ladder, put it in place and started to figure out where I would be when I shot. The Gitzo Giant tripod was a must cause I was ten feet up when I took the shot. Now the 105f1.4 AFS was a must because it’s angle of view and f/1.4 (yes, shot at f/1.4) eliminated a whole bunch of the visual junk while bringing the elements together. I had Profoto B2 on a pole being held by Jake because I needed the flash up high and had to make sure the wind (which was blowing), didn’t take the flash into the plane causing any damage. With that all in place, I took a couple quick shot using Jake as a model. I shot in Manual Exp Mode to control both ambient and flash light while cementing in the exposure for when Steve-0 stepped in. That all took about thirty minutes to accomplish. Then Steve-o came out, got on the wing and stuck the pose once I made some suggestions. A couple of quick clicks, showed Steve-o the LCD to make sure that’s what he wanted, a couple more clicks and done. Took less than five minutes at which time I said to Steve-o, “You sure can hold a pose.” To which he responded, “I learned to do it right the first time so I’m done faster.” It always strikes me as funny how much time goes into a portrait for such brief shooting time. And that’s how we made the Steve-o Portrait. And on Sunday, we look forward to seeing him the the winners circle, again!
Gear Used:
Nikon D5
Nikon 105f1.4AFS
Gitzo Giant with RRS BH55
Profoto B2
Profoto B2 Octa
Profoto Ext Cable
12′ Painter’s pole (Amazon)
Kacey Pole Adapter
Sep 13, 2016 | Aviation
My subject for the day was our dear friend Bernie. The most common way folks see Bernie is wrenching on a plane and this week, he’s at the Reno Air Races as chief mechanic on the Unlimited Class Voodoo doing what he does so well. He’s really good at what he does though and I wanted to say that visually. So during a run up test on Voodoo was a great opportunity to say just that. I sure wouldn’t want to stand there and to say that in a photograph meant be close (70-200f4 AFS) and a lots of clicks at a slow shutter speed (D5) to get the one with the right body gesture. Simple formula once you think through what you want to say.
