Oct 2, 2014 | Aviation
We landed in Flagstaff on a gorgeous day yesterday and after lunch (gotta have priorities you know), off towards the Grand Canyon we went. In route is the Planes of Fame Valle, AZ museum that I’ve always wanted to visit. Well they were open and so we went in. Glad we did, what a great afternoon of plane of fun! It was kinda cool to see how back in the day, one could have flown right into Grand Canyon unlike today. They were served their meal on real china we learned! After fun outside, I headed in.
As I mentioned yesterday, I’m on this trip pounding the new D750 and 20f1.8AFS and I had a ton of fun with them! In my mind, you have a 20f1.8 so you can shoot at f/1.8! And that’s what I did, I never closed it down and I LOVE the results. A couple of others tried it on their bodies, they loved the results to. You can see here how the hood ornament really pops out when shot at f/1.8. Looking forward to shooting even more with it tomorrow!
The swing out monitor on the D750 is real sweet! This shot was taken handhled with the D750 on the tip of my boot using Liveview and the monitor pulled out. It just works and as you’ll see in the next post, makes getting some difficult shots, a snap! Now one thing came up today with the D750. I was shooting with it and one of the folks with me said, “I’m not likin the sound of that shutter.” It’s just the way it is, but the shutter when you fire the camera sounds like an old carousel projector with a slide jammed in the gate. It just isn’t sexy sounding. But I’m wanting it for its image quality and from the results today. I’m likin what I’m seeing. mtc
Sep 22, 2014 | Aviation
It’s been a week since the premier of our film, Warbirds and the Men Who Flew Them and one question keeps flying in (sorry, bad pun, had to use it). During the broadcast Scott brought up the one thing I think so important for photographers to do wanting to get into aviation photographers, prints. I’ve had an outpouring of folks asking basically, “Really?”
The answer is so brief but it conveys so much. I guess we should have defined “The Print” better but then, it’s the pinnacle of the whole photographic endeavor. Printing, sadly, is often resigned to $2 print establishments which, while they do a fine job for those memories we attach to the refrigerator with magnets, don’t tend to do justice to our stories. “The Print” I was referring to is more than a quick click but rather, an image that one might consider worthy of a gallery wall, and a whole lot more. Putting into words the difference between a print and “The Print” for me is very difficult because the level of quality is expressed in content and print quality. It is also expressed in a personal commitment of passion, an attachment with the subject and the story. This shot of a P-47 for example shot handheld at sunrise with a Df / 18-35 is a prime example. What you see here is not what I saw standing next to the P-47. It’s what I felt from the moment mixed with the history I know and then translated into what you see.
When it’s all done correctly, when the print is delivered the recipient says what they feel in their eyes, not with so many words. So when I said, a print, I didn’t mean just some print. “The Print” when it rolls out of that Epson 4900 has a whole lot more put into it. I wish that the web, this blog could faithfully represent what it is I’m trying to say, but the print I present plane owners and pilots is a whole lot more than ink on paper. It is a commitment to the story, a part of the heart.
Sep 15, 2014 | Aviation
Striking while the iron was hot, we’d literally just landed from shooting an air to air with this FM-2P Wildcat when we set up to do this portrait. I’d come up with this portrait idea a month prior to the shoot knowing I’d have the new Nikon i-TTL remote unit for my favorite flash, the Profoto B1. The i-TTL system for the Profoto so fits my style of photography because I’m using the flash to bring life to the ambient light. The flash is the Main light lighting the subject and the Ambient being the fill light, setting the stage for the subject. What also makes i-TTL so important to my style is the computer deals with flash exposure so I can concentrate on the subject / background. What you see here is how bloody perfectly the Profoto i-TTL dealt with the fast changing skies of this shoot. Look at just these three images as far as the clouds are concerned. They were movin and with them, the exposure!
My subject is Derek Peterson, the perfect age to represent fliers in the Pacific during WWII. The storm which passed by while we were flying the air to air left the tarmac wet which was a HUGE plus for this shoot. I didn’t know I’d be shooting with the D810 but knew I’d be using the 24f1.4AFS. The D810 became important because just like the FM-2P Wildcat being from WWII, all that Derek is wearing is as well, coming from Dakota Territory Air Museum. Originally from the VFM-93 unit, a Mae West vest and parachute, everything is 100% authentic WWII issue! With those kind of “props” I wanted every detail which the D810 easily capture. With the brand new i-TTL Profoto and new D810, the marriage of old and new was complete!
The beauty of the i-TTL from Profoto is the multi level of control you have over the light while using the computer in the camera! As you can see here, there are three channels so you can effectively change the output of lights on those three channels wirelessly and via TTL exposure control. At the same time, you can fine tune the output of each flash via its power control. It makes the power and simplicity of the Profoto B1 such a powerful creative lighting tool as you can see here!
Here you can see the scene from just the ambient light exposure. You can see just how much the Profoto is pulling out of the scene. The i-TTL is the miracle working permitting me to think story and not photography. This bottom image was the goal of the shoot, the top two images were “set up” shots dialing everything in waiting for the moment.
In the video below, you will see how the lighting evolved. I start by positioning the Wildcat. Once that is set, it’s set so it’s key. It’s position was based on two things, the background “stuff” so I avoided a whole bunch of PS time cleaning it up. And the light from the sun should it appeared as I previsioned. I wanted it to shoot down the side of the fuselage. If it did so, I would use the second flash to separate the tail from the background. Looking at the radar, I saw that we would probably not see the sun so then I wasn’t worried about the tail blending into the background but the engine. So the flash was moved. And all of this unfolded in a matter of minutes and without the power and flexibility of the Profoto with the new i-TTL, I wouldn’t have been able to make the shot. I can’t wait to see what else we can dream up with it!
Sep 10, 2014 | Aviation
Sep 9, 2014 | Aviation
Jake & I after Atlanta Photoshop World headed over to the Dixie Wing CAF for a few days of shooting. The goal of that shooting just got published in FlyPast Magazine, Operation Iceberg, the Battle of Okinawa. Those of you who joined us on our Precon know just how cool the Dixie Wing is and learned first hand their goal to preserve our aviation heritage. FlyPast did a great job with their eight page spread so hope you check it out. And if in the Atlanta area, the Dixie Wing big fall show is coming up in a fews weeks. Be sure to check it out!
Aug 29, 2014 | Aviation
No matter your genre of photography, no matter the subject, the background is everything in a photograph. Whether it is tack sharp or totally out of focus, overexposed, perfectly exposed or totally underexposed, it is what sets the stage for your subject and finishes its story. I’m often asked how do you know the right background for your subject so that when you see it or select it, it’s the right one? This is not even an easy question to answer! That’s because just like every element in the creation of the photo from f/stop to lens, it’s a personal choice based on who you are, your relationship to the subject and the story you want to tell about the subject. And like any moment in photography, when it comes to the perfect background to tell your subject’s story your way, seconds can be a lifetime!
I offer up this simple example to illustrate my point. The time stamp on these two photos are only 3 seconds apart. Shooting out an open cockpit with the D4s / 80-400VR3 in the airstream, I pressed the camera so hard against my face to steady it I left an indentation in my forehead. I had been told that Devil’s Lake was coming up, a large body of water. Warren who is flying the Zero knows history better than I and knows my passion for bringing history to life in my photos. So he dove for the water. We had already talked about how aircraft close to the surface creates the drama and what will appear as an angry ocean, like that in the Pacific. And while in the first photograph you get a sense of that, it’s the second photograph taken just seconds later when you see the shadows telling the mind’s eye that there are clouds, that the illusion is complete. And that is in part why backgrounds are so important, the difference between illusion and reality. So with all the care you give to the photo you are creating, make sure you give the same care to the background you select. You’re telling the story, preserving a moment in time forever when seconds can be a lifetime.
