Gone West – Ray
Access is All About Relationships
When you start in photography or been doing it for a while, you often look at some photos and just wowed by the subject matter. Often you simply ask the question that hit my inbox today. “How do you gain such access?” That email came in response to a photo I had posted over on G+. It’s hard to imagine being so close to something so cool. Many moons ago when I started out in photography and I saw some amazing images of critters, I wrongly assumed as many do that you have to have a big name to gain access. I quickly learned that one could gain access to the critters or anything really desired by simply having the passion. As they say, it is infectious and it sure does open doors faster and wider than f/stops and shutter speeds. Our shoot with these two legendary aircraft is just such a story.
I meet the Odegaards just a 18 months prior to this shoot with the two Supers. In a very short time though, we struck up a dear friendship that led to (and continues too) many grand aviation adventures. One of them dealt directly with #74 F2G-2 Super Corsair that the Odegaards were restoring to airworthy. They had already successfully restored and raced at Reno Cleland’s Cleveland racer #57, F2G-1D Super Corsair. The work on #57 had long been completed before I got interested in Supers but the restoration of #74 was in progress. And as it worked out, the first time that giant corn cob turned over for the first time in Kindred, ND I was there documenting the story of the family and the aircraft. A cherished memory I was honored to be apart of. I was then there at Reno that fall as the Odegaards raced #74 the first (and only) time and then again a month later when we did the first air to air shoot of #74’s career. All of this was from passion, no pay. So then because of who Bob was, he arranged for a once in a lifetime opportunity for us to photograph air to air the only flying Super Corsairs in Dec, ’11.
The day after Christmas, Jake and I made the drive from Mammoth down to Falcon Field, AZ. Unknown to us, Bob & Casey had arranged an sunset shoot for us with both Corsairs. Bob knew how I love to work statics so made the opportunity available just to us. And in case that wasn’t enough, he had the scissor lift there so we could work all angles that evening. Here the next generation of aviators and photographers are working together, Casey and Jake up on the scissor lift as the sun is well below the horizon. Bob and I were on the tarmac enjoying it all which was the normal MO. A special evening with two gorgeous aircraft. And then we got to talking about the next day’s flight in which Bob said, “It’s something you’ll probably never see again.”
Pilots are typically not early birds, especially if flight is not involved. None the less Bob & Casey were at the hangar long before sunrise pulling out the two Super Corsairs and getting them into position for us. These two aircraft’s history together is nearly legendary, having both once being part of the Cleland Race team in the late ’40s at the Cleveland Air Races. While the Super Corsairs never saw any wartime battle, they say plenty of air racing battles. It was that history that was the main story I wanted to tell in the photographs along with a family’s passion to preserve our aviation heritage. It was a magical morning on the ramp followed up by a great breakfast in prep for the big flight at sunset.
My client this entire time was Bob who wanted just the fun and passion of aviation captured and the story shared. Bob told me from the beginning that these aircraft belong to everyone which I always carry with me. Well, the day unfolded as most plane stuff does. After a quick spark plug swap, Larry Perkins permitting a switch in pilots so Bob & Casey could fly the two Supers for us and the great light of the AZ desert and as they say, the rest was truly history. And sadly Bob’s statement came to be true. This would be the one and only air to air shoot for these two aircraft together. The following year, we lost Bob & #74 except in our hearts. And the access to take these photos and share this story with you came from just that, the heart. Now don’t get me wrong, once that door is open, you have to walk in and with all the skill and passion you can muster, you need to come up with the photographs to tell the story. But if that door doesn’t open, the rest is really very irrelevant. This means that these opportunities are available to all of you! Open up the heart and open up the doors and than share that with all the rest of us.
Your 1 Click will bring them $25k!
My friends at Sandbar Mitchell Project just told me they need help winning a $25k Grant. All it would take is one click from you. Please help them and all the kids they help in return! Click Here and thanks!!!!
Is There a “Best” Light for Airshows?
Airshows fly their demonstrations at the best time for the masses, not particularly for photography. Since they are there in part to make money to keep flying, that only makes sense. But we want to take photos so we need to work with what is provided us. And when it comes to the light, that typically means, highnoon blaring sun light. Highnoon light has a really bad rep and for good reason, it’s a very hard light source. Just so we’re all on the page, the basic definition of hard light is there is a dark shadow, a bright highlight and almost no light shades in between. It is also known as contrasty light, HDR light or as I commonly call it, nasty light. No matter what you call it, we need to work with it if we want to come back with the photos we love.
Since we are “stuck” with the highnoon scenario, how do we get the best light from it? You might notice there is one element in common with all these highnoon photos. Clouds … clouds can make all the difference in the world and for so many reasons. The biggie being, diffusing the highnoon light. When you have that hard sun light streaming through clouds, the clouds became a giant diffuser wrapping the light around the aircraft. It lowers the range of light by softening the highlights and pumping light into the shadows. Clouds also bring a life to our stills of moving aircraft especially jets which have no props to add to the illusion of flight. But we often don’t have clouds, what then?
When dealing with clear skies at highnoon the best light comes from direction of the light striking the subject. We can’t change the quantity or quality of the light but we can work its direction. Most airshows will have the aircraft fly a pretty predictable course. You want to look at that course and look for when the aircraft have light that is coming over their back and partially on the side. You can do this by simply flying your hand on the same course and look at the light striking it. This is not front lighting, side lighting or back lighting but a combo of side and back lighting. This light pattern as you can see brings shape and texture to the aircraft and by doing that, brings life to them. It also brings out unique characteristics that make that plane unique.
Now, you might have to physically move to make use of this pattern of light. You might have to move even more to work this lighting pattern and the best background that is available to you. Using the basic airshow gear (my preference being D4 / 200-400), you need to take these two elements, light direction and background, into consideration with your gear for the best position. You will see many get to the rope line real early to stake out their position to never leave it all day. If you were to watch Jake and I shoot a show, we are constantly moving to work the light direction and background for each aircraft. I’m planting these thoughts with you now because like so many things photography, you want to practice them prior to actual application. Think about this in combination with these ideas for shooting action and you’ll be ready to make the most of what the airshow has to offer you!
ProFoto B1 Flashes – The BEST Ever!
Knowing this project was coming up, I’ve been trying out for months a whole bunch of “more powerful” portable flash units from Profoto. And after testing a WHOLE bunch, found the ones for my style! The Profoto B1 500 AirTTL Battery Powered Flash is a beautiful 500w light in a small package. It’s powered by a battery the size of a cigarette packet, that blows me away. Being a small package was a really IMPORTANT consideration since I’ll be flying to locations often with these units. But the #1 consideration for all the units I tested was the quality of light they produce. That’s where the B1 really excelled! In this particular shoot, I used the Profoto 5.0′ RFi Octa Softbox that with its internal baffle producing a gorgeous light!
In this portrait of Chris with his stunning Stinson L-5 / OY-1 (an Okinawa veteran), we’re on the ramp just off the active. After selecting his favorite aircraft to be photographed with (I was hoping for their Kenner or Porterfield..next time), we moved planes around and got the L-5 in place. Next, after getting all the parts assembled, I had Sharon stand in as I got the scene set and lighting in place. This was all hours prior to the moment for the main click. That’s the one thing the gets me about taking portraits, all that work and time for one photo. You can see that area I’m trying to light, the plane and Chris, is pretty large. Of course, ambient light is part of my lighting calculations which is why the L-5 is parked the way it is so the setting sun will skim along the fuselage. One of the cool attributes of the Profoto B1 that I really love is its ability to be remotely controled. The Profoto Air Remote Transceiver works with the Nikon and TTL with the Canon (Nikon TTL coming this summer). It permits the light to be fine tuned by 1/3 stops, turned off during shots to save the batter as well as control the modeling light.
After all the preliminary set up (I shot with the Df / 24-70AFS in Manual Mode), I brought Chris over to explain what I was hoping would unfold, photographically. This lead to explaining a bit about all the gear that we’d thrown up. We were working towards that one magical moment and to get to that point, first got Chris comfortable with all the gear which looks a little intimidating (especially when your friends go down the ramp and cat call as they past) and then got him comfortable being in front of the lens. He really never got comfortable but he did loosen up the closer we got to the moment. The photo you see here is early in the process, it’s not the photo for the project. But you can see the gorgeous, wrapped around light the Profoto B1 produces.
Yeap, them are snow chains weighting down that Avenger A2033FKIT 10.75′ C-Stand. Why? Well, they were closer (I’d buried the sandbags when I packed the truck) and since we’ve had no snow to use them with, I thought they would at least get one application this winter. You can see another great feature of the Profoto B1 here, the Modeling Light. Yeap, this battery powered flash even has a modeling light (adjustable with the Remote). I’d love to show you the final image which turned out truly amazing even if I say so myself, but that has to wait. But I can share with you now the results of my search for a powerful, portable, gorgeous light source, the Profoto B1. You will be seeing more from it in the future! Oh, you might be wondering, I have two Profoto B1 units and have the Profoto Strip 1 x 6′ Softbox. Why did I use the Octa over the Strip? I wanted light under the wing of the L-5 up to the prop and have it wrap around Chris (which is what determined height of C-Stand). If I was in the hangar (which I went prepared for), I would have used both lights and softboxes. But for this one, outdoor location, the Octa did a great job.
Where Do You Get Started?
Airshow season is gearing up and with the growing interest in aviation photography, the question keeps coming in, “where do you get started?” Just asking that question is a great place to start and you want to keep asking questions. A great place to start is just getting to know your subject, the aircraft. Knowing your subject is not only important in writing, it’s important in photography. A plane is not a plane is not a plane. One of the very cool aspects of aviation photography is how many love a specific type of aircraft yet all come together with their passion for aviation. For illustrating my points, I’m going to use the gorgeous F8F Bearcat from the SoCal CAF
.
Airshows offer a huge variety of aircraft from modern jets to the early Wright Brothers. The Bearcat is in the group known as warbirds. It’s a great plane just parked on the ramp, tall and mighty. Now you might not have any clue in the beginning what kind of plane you might like, so simply search on the airshow you want to attend and look at the aircraft coming to that show and start there. Then once you find a particular aircraft that simply looks cool to you, start looking on the web for photos of that aircraft. That’s how it all begins. You don’t stop there but that’s a great place to begin. With that knowledge, you then head to that airshow ready for bear. Get it, Bearcat, bear …. couldn’t pass it up!
It doesn’t take much gear to start with, a DLSR and lens like a 70-200, 70-300 or 80-400 and that’s it. With gear in hand, head to the airshow and find that aircraft that excites your photography (for all around airshow photography, check out my KelbyTraining class). Once you find that aircraft, you start looking for the light. Never loose sight it’s all about the light. Then look for design elements of the light playing off that aircraft. You look for that light while it’s parked (statics), in the air (ground to air) and everywhere else. And when that aircraft you liked isn’t available, you start to look at others using the same tactics. This is of course, just a starting point but it gives you a solid base to keep building. Because as I warn everyone at the start, don’t blame me if you get hooked.