I know, kinda lame but when I saw this OR Air Guard F-15 with the Eagle on the tail, I was in love! There wasn’t a time it was in the air I wasn’t shooting it. The did all sorts of “on the deck” slights which while hard on the ears, is simply fun to watch! If there is anything on my bucket list, it would be to be on the deck in a military jet. It’s just gotta be fun!
At this point in time, shooting static aircraft at sunrise at Reno is kind of a slam dunk. The hardest part is getting up after only 4hrs of sleep. After that, you simply look at the clouds in the sky (or lack there of), the aircraft, and the story you want to tell and go to work. The vast majority of the time the gear is pretty cut and dry as well. The lens of choice for me has always been the 24-70AFS which I use along with my feet to get the gesture I want in the aircraft. This year, I’ve moved to the D800 for these shots because if everything goes as planned, I’ll be making BIG prints from the final image. The only other important tools are knee pads (getting old sucks) and the Really Right Stuff Ground Pod with BH-40 head. While I feel confident I can do this and produce a clean image, it’s not really helping my photography move forward. It’s all well within my comfort zone. One of my biggest fears is that my photography fails to progress, that I stop growing as a photographer.
It’s no secret I’m a warbird guy, I just love them birds! (I’ll have a story about them later.) I had a special project this past week that took me as far from warbirds as possible working with what I’ve always called “plastic” aircraft (which is really not fare of me). We saw September Fate our first morning at Reno and it instantly caught our eye. Its gull wing form takes you right back to the Corsair. The other thing that caught my attention is, it’s freakin small! I mean, I could never fit in it! There is only 4″ of ground clearance for the prop and your ass when in the aircraft, well lets just say pucker when you land! Making the shot of it was a challenge for many reasons. The first was, getting down low enough to shoot up on it. I needed that angle for a couple of reasons, the first to show off the wing design. Next was the light, making it show off the shape of the Fate. And lastly, to get the canopy to separate from the mtns in the background. Now this is the worst of the photographs I made that morning, can’t post the best until they are published but it really pushed my button to make those images! The key was to start with what I had so well practiced in my warbird images. Then I had to push past that comfort zone, go beyond the pretty picture to the advertising picture and then zero in on the heart strings. Then I had to get my ass off the tarmac, the most painful part!
The shooting is everything, that’s where I always put all my attention because I don’t crop, straighten, fix in post! I do finish and in both of these images, HDR was used, the top is Nik HDR Pro and the bottom was Photomatix. Why the two? I see and more importantly “feel” a difference in the final image based on how they were finished. Many ask how do I know? The answer is, I do it a lot and learn from my mistakes. I don’t have a formula. Russell Brown released a new Extension at Photoshop World so when you save your image as a TIFF, you click on the Extension and it opens the TIFF in ACR. To me this is HOT and gives us the power of ACR to finish the file really fast (Nik & Photomatix do the heavy lifting, not the finishing). I am sooooo thankful I got this project because while at first, I wasn’t thrilled with the idea, it pushed me and my photography and that is always, always a good thing!
Well, we made it home after an amazing and completely exhausting week at the Reno Air Races. I have lots to share, lots learned and fun to pass along. But right now, I can barely hold my eyes open after 8 nights of 5hrs of sleep and that’s coming from Photoshop World. So for the moment, here’s a simple click of the marvelous F-22 Raptor taken with a 600VR with TC-14e attached.
I got to Reno Air Races this year to learn I had a special assignment added to my already long list. All the other shoots were aircraft related, this one was all people and nothing but the people. It’s no secret that walking up to strangers and asking to take their photo scares me too death, I devoted a whole chapter to it in my new book Taking Flight simple because it does scare me. So when I learned about my assignment, to say I was not thrilled is an understatement!
But at Reno and with aviation folks in general, they make it easier for a scardie cat like me. My new friend Wayne is just a hoot! He had me in stitches before we finished shaking hands the first time. And Thom and the whole crew of Precious Metal, they are just great. And their crew bus rocks…literally! While the assignment at first really bummed me out, especially since it’s keeping me from shooting out at the pylons has turned out to be a two point blessing. It got me working and a real weakness at the same time making some new friends. I’m really looking forward to the piece coming out and being able to share it with you. It is what photography should always be about!
The first challenge for most aviation photographers is getting a sharp image. It is a very real challenge because them planes scream past. This Tigercat is a great example, winning its heat, you have less than 6sec to get it in the viewfinder, focus and fire and it flies past during the race. The D4’s AF system using Auto coupled to the 200-400AFS & TC-14e makes for pretty fast work of the focusing part. So once you lock down focus (which might take time and good handholding and panning), it’s time to bring life to your aircraft in flight!
I know of no better way than with clouds. In this case, we had a very thin layer and with a slow shutter speed, they streak as you see here and those horizontal lines in the background make #232 Hawker Sea Fury look like it’s screaming by even faster than the Tigercat. It’s such a simple element that can add so much. Backgrounds, they are everything!If you’re at the Reno Air Races this weekend, and you should be, and see me and need help, come ask. I look froward to seeing you!
