I have the amazing SB-5000, Profoto B1 & B2 and they get dragged around the country because light is just that important to visual storytelling. But there are simply times when, either because of space or time, setting up artificial light to make up for the deficiencies in the ambient light just isn’t possible. For me, this comes a lot when working with aircraft restoration. In this photo example, I was very fortunate to document the restoration of Kermit Week’s gorgeous Stinson L-1 at Fantasy of Flight.
Restorations of this nature don’t happen overnight. I made numerous trips over two years to photograph the progress of the L-1 as Paul kept bringing it back to airworthy. Restoration shops are places of business where space is a premium and getting work done essential. As a photographer, there are times when you have the luxury to bring in lights to help tell the story and move the viewers eye through the frame the right way. But the vast majority of time, all you can do is shoot. How do you make the photograph, tell the story when you’ve basically been denied one of your most important tools … light?
You can see above the photo I took and the finished photo that went to the client. You can see the hard light coming from the left causing the hard shadow to the right. You can see also in the finished version where this is no longer an issue. You can see information in the highlights and the shadows. In the perfect world, I would have bounced a couple of Profoto B1’s off the right wall and lit the bottom with a Profoto B2 but that wasn’t an option in the paint booth. This is where knowing both your camera gear and post processing is essential (all above done in ACR). Do you know how much information is in the highlights when you see blinkies? Do you know how much detail is in the shadows when they look black? Do you know how to bring out this information while maintaining quality? Most see this and the first thing they ask about is noise. Noise is what happens when you ask about noise! Photography is a craft and part of that craft, when you’re in the business of photography, is making what the client thinks is “magic” when they know what you had and what the final photograph depicts. So when the D5 arrived in the office, one of the first things I learned was how well it would work in this situation since it’s an important part of our project work. You must learn how your camera SEES light and RELATES light when you go click at ALL exposures compared to what YOUR eyes see. This is not guess work, not a hail marry, it’s the craftsmanship of photography. It’s simply what you’ve got to know and apply in every click. Light, from the sun, the flash, the digital darkroom or all of them combined.
Yep, it’s National Camera Day … so what are you doing for your camera today? Perhaps check its firmware to make sure it’s up to day. You could charge its battery and exercise its shutter. Best yet, it probably deserves a spa treatment! This is a great chance and reminder to give your camera a through cleaning. Get that old, white T-Shirt out, grab your cleaning fluid (mine is LensClens) and clean every part of the body(s). From the prism to the hand grip, to the battery chamber and the sensor, really clean every bit of your best friend. After all, it is its day!
Image Wizards, simply put, they are the best! Printing serves many purposes in photography, from monetary gains to personal satisfaction. For these purposes and so many more, when I need metal prints, they are who I turn to and I’ve NEVER been disappointed. I was reminded recently just how simple, just how good and just how professional Image Wizards truly are when an order for a print of the above image came in and just days later (it was a very time sensitive order), it was in the hands of one very overwhelmed print owner. You can see for yourself in the following video my thoughts:
How do I send prints to Images Wizard? First and foremost, I finish file the exact same as I would creating a paper print for my Epson printers. In the case of a metal print, I finish the file exactly how I would for Epson Exhibition or new (and mind blowing) Platine! You can use the Epson Premium Luster paper profile, ProPhoto RGB and send the file off to Image Wizards and know that your gorgeous print is on its way to you. The only trick is picking the finish you like. My preference is the White Aluminum which, especially for aviation subjects, brings the metal in the aircraft to real life perceptions. I recommend them whole heartedly and highly recommend you send off a file today to see for yourself. It will change your photography!
Speaking about speed in a still photograph is a challenge. While our viewers understand a car, plane, train move, actually saying that in our photographs takes a little thought. Since we are panning to get a sharp photo, we can use that camera movement to our advantage in this challenge. What we must do is what I encourage folks to do all the time, think about the background.
Here are two examples to illustrate my point. We start with a slower shutter speed, the slower the shutter speed permits a great blurred background as we pan. But the amount of blurred background depends on how fast our subject is traveling and how close to the background the subject might me. You can do a simple test at your own home photographing a ball rolling on the ground to see how this works. In this case, I’m working with a P-40k from the Texas Flying Legends Museum and when it’s close to the ground, you can see how the background blurs giving the illusion of great speed. The P-40k was actually traveling faster when it climbed out but because the clouds were over a mile away, it’s appears frozen in the sky. With panning, slow shutter speed and close background, you can make the slowest subject scream through the frame. And that’s just one way to show speed in a still.
One of the first things I tell my folks on workshops after arriving is, “Check your sensor for dust!” And often the response is, “I just cleaned it before I came.” That might be the case but the mirror box of our cameras are not hermetically sealed. Dust in all its form live there and the vibration from travel, the car, the plane, the rolling bag, will most likely shake some of it loose and it will land on your sensor. It’s for this reason I carry the Gel Stick (I now get them from Amazon.com) in my bag for quick and easy cleaning. So on your trip, remember that the first thing you want to do is get rid of that travel dust!
Just how large does the subject have to be in the frame for the perfect photograph? There are two really big problems with this question. First is the assumption that a perfect photograph exists. The second is that size matters. While we strive to do the best we can when we are behind the camera, if we could, would we really want to reach perfection? I for one wouldn’t because then the question would have to answered, what’s next that perfection has been reached. Besides, perfection is boring. Then there is this size thing, which comes into photography in so many ways. The one I run into the most often that downright screws up photographers is subject size. There seems to be this general feeling that bigger is better, that bigger makes it great just because of size. Content takes second fiddle, which often leads to a less than perfect photograph. Where in this dilemma is an answer that works? This size thing comes up the most in wildlife photography. Since I’ve never been an “eyeball” photographer, a physically small subject size in the frame is something I’ve embraced.
Even though I use big glass (NIKKOR 800mm with TC-1.25e is my favorite lens!), it’s not to make a big subject. The long glass is to control the background and in doing so, make the subject pop in the frame even though it is a small percentage of the frame. And this approach makes taking the perfect photograph a bitch! Because when you have to use other elements in the frame to complete the story, you have to work harder, thinker deeper and feel more about the story in the viewfinder. Light is an essential tool to move the eye around in the frame. An example of this pain can be found in the images of those who crop in post. When asked why they cropped the photo, the universal answer is, “To make the subject fill the frame” even though the photograph is left lacking. The next example is how now DX or “cropped” cameras are all the rage because they give, “extra reach.” But you can’t help but come back to the question, is bigger, better? And I regret, I don’t have the answer here for you because, it is your photography. I am going to suggest that perhaps it doesn’t when you use the craft of photography to fill the photograph with a story and not just a subject. When you don’t take the easy route but the hard route to reach inside and push yourself, your photography will grow and perhaps that might be the right answer. A bigger visual story rather than subject might be the better story … photograph.
