There are those shots I go after that I know the odds of actually capturing what I want have very low odds. I call these the Low Percentage Shot. Now I have these is all genre of photography I tackle from wildlife to portraits. Why might I not capture the shot? It’s one of two factors. The most common is the subject I’ve going after just doesn’t want to play. I’ve come across that a lot but I still keep trying. Why? Because when I do find it, there is success even if limited. The other reason is I’m stressing the system to the point where it’s going to break. Breaking means, I’m not coming back with the photograph. Since that is the goal in all my endeavors, I’m acutely aware of those times when it’s going to be a low percentage shot.
Here’s the latest case in point and what made me think about writing about it. Shooting at Wings Over Houston, the V-22 Osprey did demo flights. These really cool, prop driven helos/airplanes really strut their stuff. But if you do a search on the V-22, you’ll see nearly all the photos with the blades frozen. That kinda shot drives me nuts because the illusion of flight is missing. Shooting with the D4s / 200-400VR2, handholding, I wanted those massive props blurred. To even start blurring the props, I shot at 1/30 (Shutter Priority). And while shooting at that low shutter speed, I was panning with the Osprey as they flew past. Getting a sharp photo (fuselage) with the blur I wanted in the blades at that shutter speed, I knew I had to blast. Blast means, I took over 200 images to get the couple dozen of sharp images that I like. These are just a couple of them. Because I wanted not only a sharp image with good blade blur, I wanted that good background and gesture in the Osprey. It’s a very low percentage shot but I’ll go for that every time over the “ho hum” shot otherwise available. Or you could say, it’s all or nothing with nothing being OK with me and all, incredibly rewarding.
