Simple Click – See Me Smile
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP9557.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
I’m out shooting all day, it doesn’t take much to make me smile!
Simple Click – HDR-SEP 1.2.3
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP9705bw.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
Not my final version, but this is a simple 5 frame, handheld HDR finished with Silver Efex Pro. Shooting into the sun, the only solution.
Lessons of the Osprey
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/V22_daposhk1137.swf, 585, 473 [/swf]
In many ways, I’m like a little kid on Christmas even when I’m out shooting. The night before a shoot, my mind is busy thinking about what I’m going to shoot and after I think through all the possibilities, problems, solutions and the gear I have packed, the excitement of the shoot grabs hold. Often I can’t sleep for hours if it’s something I’ve long wanted to photograph. Be it a location, a critter or in this case an aircraft, the knowledge of the possibility of making images of it the next day just kicks on the little kid switch. When we were in Oshkosh in July and I was told the next morning the V-22 Osprey would be flying in and its flight path was right over our campsite, I was so excited! I have no clue why this very unconventional aircraft has so caught my imagination but it has. In case you aren’t up on your aircraft, this is a plane that can take off and land like a helicopter. It’s pretty darn cool, it’s pretty darn weird, it’s pretty and I was going to be able to photograph it the next day. I couldn’t wait. The next morning I woke up and looked out the tent and my heart sank. It was foggy with a solid overcast above that. Not the optimal backdrop for a military gray aircraft.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/V22_daposhk1150.swf, 585, 473 [/swf]
Right on que, the Osprey flew in and as you can see, I photographed it. You might also notice these photos are on my warbirdimages.com site. Some of my more observant and inquisitive readers pick up on these things at time and ask the very valid question, why? Why take the photos, why file the images, why edit them and why revisit them when time is so precious? Whether you’re photographing a pond, a leaf, a lizard, an elk, a sparrow, or eagle or plane or football player, be it your passion or someone else’s there are always lessons to learn. Those learned lessons will most definitely some day save your butt so you are ready to make the photo of the subject. The trick is to learn and if you don’t shoot when it sucks or if you delete images that don’t work, how can you learn? At least for myself, I have to revisit mistakes, unsuccessful images to move my photography forward. Storage space is dirt cheap so I keep sharp images that fall in this category. So what did I learn from the Osprey?
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/V22_DAPOSHK1153.swf, 585, 473 [/swf]
The first thing I wanted to know was what shutter speed to use to blur the props/rotors. If you do a quick search on the web for photos of the V-22, you’ll see the blades are normally frozen like a model hung from the ceiling on string. One key aspect of photography many miss is, we are often photographing living, moving subjects at 1/500sec. We’re freezing life that’s bursting to move! Aircraft when in the air need to appear and feel in the photograph as if they are flying so blurred props/rotors are a must for me. These photos where taken in Shutter Speed priority at 1/90 and I’m not really pleased with the blur (click here for reference). When it comes to post processing, the one think that bugged me was the color cast. It was a dirty blue/tan like a smoggy morning in Los Angeles. I have a number of methods in my arsenal for removing color cast and for aviation, I prefer using Nik’s Color Efex Pro White Neutralizer. There is no guess work with it and it’s really, really fast. By having “bad” images like this in which I need to find a “fix” to make lemonade, I have all these tools when the time comes to make an image work. All of this comes from a discussion I had with a photographer yesterday again stressing that deleting all your “bad” images can be a bad idea. We never have all the answers, we never make the great click, we are all, always learning and there is still no better place to learn then in our own images. I have an opportunity shortly to again photograph the Osprey and with the photo gods willing, I’ll have the right conditions to put to use what I’ve learned from the past.
Photos captured by D3x, 200-400VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film
It’s Power Never Ceases to Amaze Me!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/daposhk0929.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
The sharing of images brings so many reactions, some good and some, not so good. But the not so good are so blown away and erased by the few good. This one rates as great in my book. If you look back at my postings from Oshkosh back in July, you’ll find post on one gentleman I meet there and the revelation that the event was not about planes, but about people. And in the grand scheme of things, that’s really true of all photography. We take time from our lives to follow our passion, get frustrated with this black box in the hope of concurring it for what? So we can share our good fortunes with others to make them smile. What a grand and noble pursuit it is!
I’ve been very fortunate with the release of my book to hear from a lot more folks from around the planet. Critters and landscapes tend to bring the bright side out in folks. So I’ve heard some very kind words from folks of late (thanks!). But today, I had a note from someone requesting a sample copy of our BT Journal. It’s a short message, but I never thought I would get such a response to my aviation work. This is what Pete had to say.
“thanks for sharing yu vintage airplanes with us. My Dad piloted B17’s and named one after me, little stinky a baby with a load in my diaper. Wonderful plane designed and flown by our greatest generation”
The photograph, it’s power never ceases to amaze me. This photo is for your dad Pete.
A 1st Time Special Offer – One Day Left!
Sharon & I have been thinking of ways we can thanks Moose Fans and this is our first idea. For every 10th person who subscribes or renews to our
Congrats!
Nicole Huggins-Rawlins – you just won a copy of Captured!
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Peggy Guice – you just won a copy of Captured!
OnOne Cranking it Up!
Look what OnOne is up to….hot stuff folks (click on image above for even more)!
Today at PhotoPlus Expo we made a series of exciting product announcements. To summarize, here’s what we announced today:
DSLR Camera Remote HD
Our popular remote release app will now include the ability to start and stop video on Canon and Nikon DSLR cameras from the iPad. Specifically designed for the iPad, the new DSLR Camera Remote HD will include a redesigned interface takes full advantage of the larger screen on the iPad, improved gesture-based preview functionality and the addition of starting, stopping and monitoring video from supported HD DSLR cameras from Canon and Nikon. This update will also include support for additional cameras.
Perfect Photo Suite 5.5
Perfect Photo Suite 5.5, the update to Plug-In Suite 5, will include the next generation of Genuine Fractals, Perfect Resize 7 along with the completely new product Perfect Layers. In addition, many of the products within Perfect Photo Suite will now be available directly in Lightroom and Aperture, without the need for a separate host application. PhotoTools 2.6 and Mask Pro 4.1 continue to function directly within Photoshop and do not run as stand-alone applications.
Perfect Resize
Perfect Resize 7 is the next generation of Genuine Fractals. Perfect Resize adds new features for achieving sharp detail when enlarging images, new gallery wrap and tiling options, and interface enhancements for photographers who want to make the highest quality prints. Perfect Resize can now be used directly from within Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Apple Aperture without the need for a separate host application.
Perfect Layers
Today we introduced Perfect Layers, a new addition to the Perfect Photo Suite 5.5. Perfect Layers gives photographers the ability to easily create and work with layered files in their workflow application of choice and to bring those files directly into Photoshop. Perfect Layers supports the creation of layered files that can be opened and edited by Adobe Photoshop software and can be used directly from within Adobe Photoshop Lightroom software, Adobe Bridge and Apple Aperture.