Steve-o Hinton
captured by D5 / 105f1.4 AFS
I meet Steve-o the first time back in 2008 at Reno. The winner of the Unlimited Class many times over, in 2013 & 2014 in Voodoo … a highly modified P-51D, he is a great, incredibly talented, humble guy. Steve-o has been everything from a subject to a photo platform pilot for me over the years so when I was asked in a text to take his portrait, I was excited and honored. Then I was instantly really nervous! Why? The shoot was going to be in the incredibly active and visually busy Voodoo pit. It was going to be a real quick shoot and, I knew I’d have all sorts of eyes on me. Dealing with the really busy pit meant setting up and working outside the pit so we wouldn’t be in the way. Dealing with the visually busy pit (we had to hand move a blue outhouse!) meant shooting with a real narrow DoF. That’s why I had the 105f1.4 AFS, it fit the bill on both accounts.
BTS Drawing
created on iPad with Adobe Draw
The pits of an unlimited during race week at Reno is a busy place. I had three portraits to make, Steve-o being the second. First thing to do was determine where I wanted Steve-o to stand. On the wing so you could in part see his name on the Voodoo fuselage and in the background, kinda make out Voodoo on the over sized bra seemed like a good fit. That determined my angle so I grabbed a ladder, put it in place and started to figure out where I would be when I shot. The Gitzo Giant tripod was a must cause I was ten feet up when I took the shot. Now the 105f1.4 AFS was a must because it’s angle of view and f/1.4 (yes, shot at f/1.4) eliminated a whole bunch of the visual junk while bringing the elements together. I had Profoto B2 on a pole being held by Jake because I needed the flash up high and had to make sure the wind (which was blowing), didn’t take the flash into the plane causing any damage. With that all in place, I took a couple quick shot using Jake as a model. I shot in Manual Exp Mode to control both ambient and flash light while cementing in the exposure for when Steve-0 stepped in. That all took about thirty minutes to accomplish. Then Steve-o came out, got on the wing and stuck the pose once I made some suggestions. A couple of quick clicks, showed Steve-o the LCD to make sure that’s what he wanted, a couple more clicks and done. Took less than five minutes at which time I said to Steve-o, “You sure can hold a pose.” To which he responded, “I learned to do it right the first time so I’m done faster.” It always strikes me as funny how much time goes into a portrait for such brief shooting time. And that’s how we made the Steve-o Portrait. And on Sunday, we look forward to seeing him the the winners circle, again!
Gear Used:
Nikon D5
Nikon 105f1.4AFS
Gitzo Giant with RRS BH55
Profoto B2
Profoto B2 Octa
Profoto Ext Cable
12′ Painter’s pole (Amazon)
Kacey Pole Adapter