Feb 4, 2014 | Aviation
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.
Feb 3, 2014 | Aviation
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
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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.
Jan 3, 2014 | Aviation
Hey guys, whatja doin 07 April? Well, if you’re going to be in Atlanta for Photoshop World, you should come of my PreCon which will be held at the Dixie Wing of the CAF. I hear I have just a couple of seats left (want to be the first sold out, again) for this full day of fun, learning, and photography. What do I teach at the Precon? Photography, the language of light and the art of storytelling. My teaching tools are WWII aircraft and reinactors which YOU have complete access to, an opportunity you would have any other way and make the learning fun and easy. So, click on the link, learn more and join us. You won’t be disappointed!
Dec 18, 2013 | Aviation
After my getting my little work done, only fair Dennis gets in a little time for his. The T6 Gold Race champ at Reno many times over (including this year at the 50th), Dennis took me for a spin around his practice course. I’ve always wondered what it was like to go around the pylons, being 50′ above the ground at 244mph. I can honestly say I now have a sense of it. Here, we’re setting up to “jump onto the course.”
Oh baby, blows away any E Ticket ride! See the blur of the ground? That’s at 1/500! You see, I had the Df and 18-35AFS set up from the aerials and in having SO MUCH FUN flying, I totally forgot to set for the ground run. Oh darn, I’ll just have to do it again!
Dec 18, 2013 | Aviation
Sharon & I are blessed with many great friends. Some of them have some really cool toys and when opportunity knocks … well. On Sunday afternoon, had the good fortune to go flying with our long time friend Dennis, simply an amazing pilot! We went up to Lake Tahoe in a WWII trainer, T6 Texan and man, what a flight! It was just us, no other aircraft checking out the view on a gorgeous blue sky day. After getting done with the basics, it was time to head back to the field. Dennis asked, “Everything all secure back there?” which I know is the signal for fun. So with, “You bet,” off we ran.
With the Df and 18-35AFS set to go, we ran the ridges all the way down to the valley floor. There are no words and certainly no photos that can begin to say how much fun this is to do. Many times, Dennis checked to see if I was OK (many loose their biscuits on such runs) but all I could say was, more! The one BIG challenge is to remember to take photos. To be honest with you, on the first barrel roll, I totally forgot to put the camera up to my eye. I could do barrel rolls all day. Dennis does them so smooth and with such romance, well, I simply can’t put the experience into words other than, big time fun! mtc
