Simple Click – Chickens, NE Style
Big Light, Small Source, Quickbox Micro
Shooting with flash when you’re alone, having a big light when you only have your hand and small flash available, is a challenge. Many of asked how I’m doing it so here’s a simple video with my thoughts, techniques and tools I use. They include the:
Saying Real Large with Real Short
The DC-3 #43-48950 of our Normandy Bound project is a BIG bird! Its wingspan is 96 feet in length! That’s a lot of plane to visually talk about. The process of restoring it back to its WWII glory as a C47 starts with removing its previous life as a mosquito sprayer. While it sounds simple, it’s anything but as tanks, hoses, feed lines, wiring, Dell clamps, that are squirreled away with great care from inside wings and fuselage are carefully removed. It’s a helluva process that the dedicated folks at Turin Aviation are taking on with the greatest professionalism. At the same time, the Turin crew sets about stripping out other old wiring and replacing the windows. For them, it’s just another day at the office wrenching on aircraft. And for us at Peterson and Sons Productions, it’s the kind of target rich arena we live for! That brings us down to the simple challenge of telling this story visually to you.
Our D850s during this three-day on-site work were dedicated as usual to video work. One day, 1 shot the 24hr 4k Time Lapse (which turned out so cool!) otherwise they are both in use shooting video. That leaves me with my D5 which primarily is shooting stills and on occasion, video. I have 3 lenses I use continually in documenting the work, the 8-15, 24f1.4 & 105f1.4 (basically glued at f/1.4). Why these lenses? The 24 & 105 is because of the need to isolate the subject and minimize all the background clutter that is a restoration project. Now the 8-15Fish might take you by surprise because the first thing when you think of that lens is, “fisheye” distortion and look. Ah, but if you want to say “really, really, truly big,” then this is the lens to use. So the trick then is knowing the technique to show big but not the fisheye!
I simply love the 8-15 as its a killer lens! At 15mm, it’s image quality is gorgeous but more important to my photography is that is doesn’t grow noses. Linear lines like the wing and fuselage might have that curved look but not people. Now that is in large part because of where I place the people in the frame. If you look, they are typically close to the horizontal middle of the frame. That’s really key to keeping them looking true to themselves. That’s the only real “limitation” of using the lens when photographing people. Then it comes down to the basics of light and telling the visual story. I have to admit that it’s so simple that at times I have to force myself to change lenses so not every photo is taken with the 8-15. The only real challenge is those times I need to use flash. We’re there to document the story, not get in the way of it. With the limited space and all hands working, there is no VAL or lightstand available. For me, it’s still a work in progress to combine flash with the 8-15 to get the photo I want. And that’s one other great thing about the 8-15, one hand photography.
Brent, Jake & I besides there to record the story love getting hands on with our subject. The Peak Anchors work great so I can have the D5 on a strap with the 8-15 attached. With this body/lens combo I can have one hand holding up a bracket, pulling on a cable and the other hand be shooting. This happens more often then not because we all can use a helping hand at times. And in the process of it all, I can visually tell the story saying real large with real short.
Dehaze Your Past
This blog post is really pretty cut and dry. Look at your past images, more than 18 months old and give them the DeHaze treatment. DeHaze in ACR / Lr have this little gem which can work some pretty darn cool magic in the right images. I put up this example of what I’m talking about. Below is the original finishing of this file, before DeHaze was introduced into our worlflow. Above is the same photo with just DeHaze applied. It really makes a difference especially in bringing out the head light.
Here’s the “trick” as I see it using DeHaze. Whenever I use DeHaze, I always, always lower the Blue Saturation in the HSL/Grayscale tab (in ACR). DeHaze tends to crank it up so this simple touch permits you to use DeHaze and nobody will know it. It’s a great tool I use to help the eye see the subject. Pull out an old image and give it a whirl!
D850 … 6 Months Later
D850 is for shooting video! In fact, that’s the main reason we have a couple of them in the great locker. But it’s just plane old fun shooting with it that has so caught my imagination, that I forgot to even mention its video abilities in the video! It’s file quality especially when working with the Flat Picture Control, is really quite stunning. And that just goes to show how much I’ve been swayed by the D850, all I talk about in the video is its still image abilities. An important finding once the MB-D18 arrived was its extending Time Lapse capabilities. I found that I can do the 7hrs 59min Time Lapse just using the EN-EL15a in the grip and have 10% left in the camera battery and 90% left in the grip. That’s huge for me. Hope the video helps and answers a few questions for your photography. And here are my D850 settings.
It’s Here … It’s Here!
Yep, the MB-D18 for the D850 finally arrived! It is amazing just how light it is. In fact, and this could just be me, but attaching the MB-D18 to the D850 makes the whole rig feel lighter than just the D850 by itself. It’s really nice to have the vertical firing button and AF-On button. I’m using it with the EN-EL15a battery tray because I’m after a “portable” long life time lapse rig. With the MB-D18 attached, the entire rig is taller than the D5 and that’s not what I want for everyday shooting with the little jem that is the D850. The one thing I noticed that the bottom of the MB-D18 doesn’t seem perfectly flat. I first noticed that with a students camera and now confirm that with the one sent me. The “fix” (if you’re like me and putting cameras down fast and not looking) is simply the RRS Plate which instantly solves the problem. So once the current storm system goes through, it’s time for testing the two batteries. Can’t wait!