May 6, 2014 | Aviation
Had a whole bunch of folks email asking if the Planes of Fame airshow this past weekend was any good and if I got any good images. The airshow was great and I’m still getting through the 14k images I took. I shot with a bunch of gear, this image of the P-38J Lightning “23 Skiddoo” was taken with D4s / 200-400VR2 but I also shot with the Df, 80-400VR3, 24-70AFs and 18-35AFS. Putting time in the office before hitting the road again so getting through images is taken longer than normal. But that answer is, great show and liking images I’ve gotten too so far.
May 5, 2014 | Aviation
In April, I had the amazing opportunity to a couple of photo missions at the Dixie Wing of the CAF. Whenever I do an air to air, I have GoPros working, this time one on the side of the fuselage and one on the inside of the canopy looking back at me. In addition, Sharon was on the ground with her Nikon V2 shooting all the happenings. I’m taking the stills with the D4s / 80-400VR3 with a Lexar 128GB card recoding it all. During the video you’ll see me reach down and seeming grab the side of the plane. I’m hitting the Push to Talk button to communicate to the other aircraft directions for the shot. I want to thank Brent for taking the many hours of video and editing down into this cool, 5min piece. Enjoy!
May 2, 2014 | Aviation
Jake & I worked the field this morning on our editorial scavenger hunt and had a great time. We were at Yank’s Museum in time to watch Frank pull out their P-47 which will be at the show this weekend. There were tremendous winds the past week covering much with a thick layer of dust. While they don’t like doing it, they had to pull out the hose to wash off the Jug. Jake got down from his cockpit portraits just before the shower. I stayed back in the shade shooting with the Df / 58f1.4 AFS lookin at the silhouettes and spray to tell the story of prepping for the show. It’s going to be a great weekend; hope to see you out here!
May 1, 2014 | Aviation
This weekend is the killer airshow at Chino Airport put on by Planes of Fame celebrating the Mighty Eigth (B-17s and P-47s!). This will be our second time at this show and we’re really lookin forward to it. We have a bunch of editorial work to get done, so we’ll be hopping! In getting ready, I thought I’d share some of the thoughts, techniques and gear I’ll have along for the weekend of work and fun. Let’s start with some thoughts and techniques to capturing the image. Here are two posts that go into that in greater detail
10 Tips – Putting Action into Your Stills
Ten Tips to Better Aviation
And here’s the gear I’ll have with me to make it all hopefully happen:
You might be wondering why I have both the 200-400VR and 80-400VR3. I love to use the 200-400VR2 for the ground to air photography and the 80-400VR3 for all the static work. Why not just use the 80-400VR3 for everything? When folks see the 200-400VR2 on your shoulder, they give you a whole bunch more credibility and you just never know you’ll meet. Why are the bags and straps listed? They are essential to make it to the event and than through the entire event. In the heat and humidity (supposed to be 99 degrees!), carrying a lot of gear will beat you down (and one can only eat so much ice cream). This is of course the list of the main gear, there is as you might imagine a ton of support gear. Spare batteries for everything along with chargers. Mounts for the GoPro and app on the iPhone & iPad. And all of this has been cleaned, tested and gone through this week before being packed to go. Hope this helps if you’re going. And if you’re at the show and see Jake or me, say hello. And if you need help, please don’t hesitate to ask. Hope to see you there!
Apr 29, 2014 | Aviation
I actually took a whole bunch of clicks of the Planes on a Stick at the Grand Junction airport months back. The simple reason is because of the skies and the light. If they weren’t as you see them, I simply would have passed up the aircraft. What’s so special about the skies and the light? When it comes to aircraft, on a stick or otherwise, clouds make all the difference in the world. When we look up at a flying aircraft, we all see them up against clouds (if there are clouds in the sky). With the clouds, there is the start of magic of the stationary aircraft taking flight in our imaginations. The other great benefit of clouds is the diffused light. The combo had me out and shooting.
When it comes to making the actual clicks, I have my own thoughts process there as well. Keeping it fun and light, I shot with the Df / 18-35AFS. With that, I then got myself in a position where in my imagination, I would like to be in an air to air but might be a bit dangerous which means being close and wide. And with the Blue Angel, be on the deck of that flattop where there is no way in hell a sane person would be during a catch! I wanted that attitude to come out in the photo. At the same time, I’m looking at the background to maximize the clouds while minimizing the stick. And that’s the thought process behind the camera clicks.
Now about the computer clicks. As you can see from above, there was a bit to remove. First was the main work roughed out in ACR. Then in PS, Content Aware Fill did most of the heavy lifting. I start by selecting the aircraft with the Magic Wand and do a Sharpening for Content High Pass on it. With that mask made, Cmd-Click on that mask selects it. Cmd-Shft-I to inverse the selection and with the Clone tool, make a small path to remove the stick from the plane right next to the plane. Then with Lasso, select the stick and Content Aware Fill makes it all disappear. Both of these photos I knocked out in less than 30min. And with that, it’s back to work I’ve gotta go.
Apr 18, 2014 | Aviation
The day before started at 04:45 and ended at 00:30 the next day and nearly 10k images on the hard drive. It had been a very good day. I’m very fortunate that my relationship with my boys continues to grow even though they long ago left the house. On this occasion, Jake and I are at the Dixie Wing CAF working on three editorial pieces (and Brent will receive all the video to work his magic with). Again at it at 04:45, we head back to the Wing for an early morning flight. There was a fire the day before and the dew point was pretty low, so I was hoping for a moody start to the day. It did not disappoint. at 07:20 the engines are turning and we’re at the end of the runway warming up engines.
I’m sitting in the back of a SNJ which is the photo platform. Jake is in the back for a Japanese Kate piloted by the very talented “Legal Al.” Above, I’m rattling around in the back of the SNJ during warm up while the Kate (a repl created from a T6 long ago for the movies) is next to us warming up. I laid on the shutter of the D4s hoping to get just one sharp image. You see, the dew point creates the “smoke” off the tip of the props as it spins. But both aircraft are rattling around as the engines are warmed up. Of the 48 images I took of this one moment, I only had two that are sharp (I love the D4s buffer!!!). Once the runup is done, Legal Al turns the Kate broadside to us. This is when I count my blessings because I see my son there, sharing the same passions as dad and that we’re able to share them together. What a great way to start a Sunday!
This was my first air to air with the D4s and I had connected to it my faithful 80-400VR3. I shot using Auto Area AF and the metering set to Face-Priority Matrix. This combo along with the big ass card in the camera (Lexar 128GB) took care of me the entire flight. Here’s the deal, when you have such aircraft and pilots with the possibility of some magical light, you need to be able to focus completely on the moment and not the gear. So as we take off, the sun starts to crest the horizon. We were first to take to the skies, the Kate behind us. Watching for every possible great moment, I see this as the Kate rises in the sky. it’s why I get up early. The best part is that I was able to share the moment not only with my son, but the photos and story with you!
