Striking while the iron was hot, we’d literally just landed from shooting an air to air with this FM-2P Wildcat when we set up to do this portrait. I’d come up with this portrait idea a month prior to the shoot knowing I’d have the new Nikon i-TTL remote unit for my favorite flash, the Profoto B1. The i-TTL system for the Profoto so fits my style of photography because I’m using the flash to bring life to the ambient light. The flash is the Main light lighting the subject and the Ambient being the fill light, setting the stage for the subject. What also makes i-TTL so important to my style is the computer deals with flash exposure so I can concentrate on the subject / background. What you see here is how bloody perfectly the Profoto i-TTL dealt with the fast changing skies of this shoot. Look at just these three images as far as the clouds are concerned. They were movin and with them, the exposure!
My subject is Derek Peterson, the perfect age to represent fliers in the Pacific during WWII. The storm which passed by while we were flying the air to air left the tarmac wet which was a HUGE plus for this shoot. I didn’t know I’d be shooting with the D810 but knew I’d be using the 24f1.4AFS. The D810 became important because just like the FM-2P Wildcat being from WWII, all that Derek is wearing is as well, coming from Dakota Territory Air Museum. Originally from the VFM-93 unit, a Mae West vest and parachute, everything is 100% authentic WWII issue! With those kind of “props” I wanted every detail which the D810 easily capture. With the brand new i-TTL Profoto and new D810, the marriage of old and new was complete!
The beauty of the i-TTL from Profoto is the multi level of control you have over the light while using the computer in the camera! As you can see here, there are three channels so you can effectively change the output of lights on those three channels wirelessly and via TTL exposure control. At the same time, you can fine tune the output of each flash via its power control. It makes the power and simplicity of the Profoto B1 such a powerful creative lighting tool as you can see here!
Here you can see the scene from just the ambient light exposure. You can see just how much the Profoto is pulling out of the scene. The i-TTL is the miracle working permitting me to think story and not photography. This bottom image was the goal of the shoot, the top two images were “set up” shots dialing everything in waiting for the moment.
In the video below, you will see how the lighting evolved. I start by positioning the Wildcat. Once that is set, it’s set so it’s key. It’s position was based on two things, the background “stuff” so I avoided a whole bunch of PS time cleaning it up. And the light from the sun should it appeared as I previsioned. I wanted it to shoot down the side of the fuselage. If it did so, I would use the second flash to separate the tail from the background. Looking at the radar, I saw that we would probably not see the sun so then I wasn’t worried about the tail blending into the background but the engine. So the flash was moved. And all of this unfolded in a matter of minutes and without the power and flexibility of the Profoto with the new i-TTL, I wouldn’t have been able to make the shot. I can’t wait to see what else we can dream up with it!