Sep 14, 2012 | Aviation
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!
Sep 13, 2012 | Aviation
We’ve been at the Reno Air Races for a few days now but today was our first sunrise shoot. We were very fortunate to have the Spitfire mk14 from the So Cal CAF Wing for a subject! Wow! Now how we got it out on the flight line seems to becoming local legend already!
yesterday, Team Peterson (Jake, Brent and myself) as we’re being called this week went up to the folks to talk some business. We had talked amongst ourselves how we’d like to photograph the Spit, but Jake made the move and made it happen. That’s not the legend. The Spit can’t be pulled out with conventional tow bar so they said we’d have to push it out in the morning. No big deal, done that before.
Come oh dark thirty there we were with the great folks from CAF pushing out the Spit. Normally aircraft are towed out but when the rest of the photogs came out, they just saw Team Peterson deciding they wanted the plane to photograph so just went into the pits and grabbed it. Of course once we got it out of the pits and the sun was starting to glow on the horizon, they saw the CAF Crew and realized what was going on. But the ramp rumor had already started and the jokes began to fly. It was simply a marvelour morning!
As for the photography itself, it’s pretty straight forward. Shooting with the D800/MD with 24-70AFS on a Really Right Stuff Ground Pod, the only thing unique was my wearing new pads. These are all single shots processed nearly 100% in ACR using the Shadow Slider and Split Grad to do the heavy lifting. Simple clicks really.
Sep 12, 2012 | Aviation
This Cobra is just freaking cool! It was flying in to the Heritage at the Reno Air Races, hovering in is a better way to phrase it. It “taxied” in down the ramp to the parking area so I just panned with it and blasted. With the Lexar 64GB 1000x giving me a huge buffer (100+) in the D4 and shooting with the 200-400AFS with TC-14e on Auto AF at 1/20, I was able to blur the main rotar. That is a challenge with those big, slow rotating blades. The back rotar is simple but the direction of rotation and size of the top one just makes blurring a bitch. The slow shutter speed of 1/20 just starts to get a decent blur. You might be wondering about handholding and panning at 1/20. You can do that, just takes practice, practice, practice which is why in part we’re at the air races early. Getting the mind, muscle and skills set polished for the rest of the week is essential in capturing those key moments. Speed at the camera controls makes forgetting the technical and concentrating on the subject possible.
