Planes of Fame Airshow this Weekend!
Lightning Strikes Chino – the vid
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As previously posted, I was part of the media day at Planes of Fame for their upcoming airshow, Lightning Strikes Chino. Not until late last night did I remember I shot video with the Moose Cam (Contour w/NightFlight filter). Shooting with the D4 with 80-400AFS attached, the Contour rides left of the viewfinder, attached to the shot shoe with the Manfrotto 492LCD Micro Ball Head. There are two reasons why I love the Contour: the rotating front permits you to level the image no matter the angle of the camera; it works Bluetooth with the iPhone so I can see exactly what the camera sees!
You will see just how much turbulence there was for our short flight as I bounce around. You can see the end of the 80-400AFS which was on its first of many air to air flights. I did an amazing job! My gloved hand is around the front to keep from scratching plex I’m shooting through (you can see scratches already there from others) and shade the plex as much as possible. It was an amazing fun, bumpy, great flight! I want to thank Planes of Fame and the pilots, John Hinton (P-51D), John Maloney (P-38J) and Matt Nightingale pilot of T-Bone for doing a great job!. Enjoy!
Lightning Strikes Chino!
Ceiling broke and the winds picked up, there was three flights with three photo platforms each to get all the photographers air time. That meant we had about five minutes on station with 23 Skidoo and Wee Willy II. Its home base is Planes of Fame which will be holding their annual, phenomenal airshow 04-05 May in Chino, CA. I can’t wait, FIVE P-38s in one place, that will be so incredibly cool!
I lucked out that I had Scott in the back of the T-Bone with me. I couldn’t see squat in the rear seat (I had solid fuselage on both sides of me) so when 23 Skidoo pulled up to our 4 o’clock, he let me know so I could point the D4 with 80-400AFS around the corner and shoot. I was in Shutter Priority, 1/100, f/something, zero exposure comp, Auto Area AF with the VR on the 80-400 set to Active. And active is an understatement for the rough air we were in. I swear, I figured when we touched down I didn’t have a single sharp image! We were tossed about, the pilots doing an AMAZING job flying making the opportunity available to us.
The bummer in the whole thing was we were all shooting through the windows, the plex. Wearing gloves, I grabbed the front of the 80-400 when shooting for two reasons. First was to protect the window from getting scratched (it already had a dussey!). 2nd was to shade the plex around the lens to minimize glare from the plex being seen by the camera. Because of the gear and pure luck, I came back with a couple of image not only sharp, but that I like. This was my second air to air with 23 Skidoo yet my heart is still beating a mile a minute! There are no words to describe the experience to look out the window and see P-38 Lightning 100 feet at your 3 o’clock! You need to get to the Planes of Fame airshow and if you see me, say hello. And if you need an assist, don’t hesitate to ask. Jake & I are more than happy to help if we can.
Working a New Experience
I’m working the first airshow with media credentials, a first for me. I’m down at Planes of Fame for their amazing show 4-5 May shooting for EAA Warbirds (really great folks!). I arrived at Planes of Fame early to the typical SoCal overcast skies. It typically burns off so I wasn’t worried but for the immediate moment, there wasn’t a thing to click. It was that way for the next two hours so like all good photographers, we got in a huddle and started to tell stories. I’ve yet to figure out how we got on the topic of Bigfoot….Mark
We were at PoF a week early for the media air to air. The theme this year for the airshow is Lightning Strikes Chino with five P-38 Lightnings flying at the show. Our air to air was with 23 Skidoo you see pictured here. With space in the photo platform limited (I flew in a T-Bone), all I had was the D4 with 80-400AFS attached and the D800 with the 18-35AFS (I tell you these are sharp lenses?!). These photos were taken with the D800. We were still just standing around waiting for the weather to fly when the skies started to break. I wanted to take advantage of them so I got close, low and shot at 18mm. If you looked at the LCD on the back of the D800, you would think the skies were a tad overexposed and Skidoo underexposed. But by using the Highlight Slider in ACR, you can see I puled down the sky. And with the Shadow Slider, brought up the shadows (a common technique of mine with aircraft). I mean, I could only talk about Bigfoot for so long, had to make some clicks to limber up for the main event coming up next.
Florida Flyboys
We were incredibly fortunate to have the guys from the Florida Historical Preservation Group or as their Facebook page states, the Florida Flyboys. They were simply amazing adding to the Precon a great level of authenticity to the WWII scene created by the folks at Fantasy of Flight with their aircraft. Between the planes, the guys and the jeep, we had hundreds of possible set ups we could shoot and have fun with. Here they are out with the Stinson L-1, first time the L-1 had been out after many years of complete restoration. Everything in this frame could have easily been seen exactly the same way 70yrs ago during WWII!
Since I was working the field helping the students so I didn’t have much time working any particular situation the Florida Flyboys would set themselves up in. So when I saw this scene in the shade of the wing of the C-47, I ran over before they could move. Shooting with the D4 and 18-35, I got up close shooting at 18mm (notice how little distortion there is at 18mm). Then shooting on the fly with only moments, I made the three clicks you see moving them slightly in the corner to make the selection which one I liked best back at the computer. Because after these three clicks, I was out helping a student.
Now shooting on the fly, I didn’t have flash out (should have!). So finishing was done in post with ACR used to open up the shadows which should have been done with flash. The only other thing done in post besides ACR was using Pro Contrast in Nik’s Color Efex. I want to thank the Guys for being not only great sports, but for helping preserve and share our history!
It’s Not Magic
At our Precon for Photoshop World last week, we were at Fantasy of Flight where they had pulled out a number of aircraft for us to photograph. One of them was the B-26 Marauder, a rare bird indeed! The B-26 is normally in the back corner of the hangar with all these other tugged in under its wings. I’ve never gotten a clean shot of it, not even one I could clean up in post. I check it out every time I’m there, but I had no photos of it. So when I saw it on the line, I was really excited to spend some time shooting it on a gorgeous Florida day!
I had the D4 with 18-35AFS (fabulously sharp lens!) and went to work. I shot knowing that I was going to remove much of the distracting background in post. That is key! I selected my angle for the shot, raising the camera up and down to maximize the background while minimizing by post removal.