[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DAPOSHK0153.swf, 585, 473 [/swf]
One of the big events at Oshkosh this year was the massive gathering of DC-3 / C-47 aircraft. This are really cool vintage planes that our parents flew in when they wanted to cross the country on vacation. they also were a cornerstone of WWII transport. This is just your basic shot, not much to it other than size in the frame. Can we do better?
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DAPOSHK0161.swf, 585, 473 [/swf]
The DC-3s are making orbits around 36 so you have the opportunity to improve with each pass (they made about 6 passes). As you can see, clouds are in the background so that provides a whole bunch of opportunities if you take advantage of them.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DAPOSHK0182.swf, 585, 473 [/swf]
With a white and blue background, it only takes a little bit of color and not size to get the eye instantly to the subject.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DAPOSHK0219.swf, 585, 473 [/swf]
But just throwing any old cloud behind the plane isn’t good enough.What’s the right combo and how do you see it in the instant it’s appears in the viewfinder as you’re panning with the plane? In all seriousness, that’s the challenge which is no different then anyother photography when catching the peak of action makes or breaks a shot. I’m shooting with the D3x so the normal solution of just blasting away don’t work, not shooting at 1.8fps. I tend to “block” out the plane and concentrate on just the pattern in the background and when I see that pattern I think will work, I go click.
Another challenge at Oshkosh that I wasn’t prepared for is the obstacle of smoke. The stunt pilots put out a ton of smoke during their performances. This tints the air and you can see it here in 2nd & 3rd image where I didn’t remove the color cast in post. I did remove it in the 1st & 4th image using the Color Correction eyedropper in ACR. It’s a must unless you want to have your images look like they were shot in downtown LA. Because once you have the clean puffies in the background, you don’t need to fill the frame and can bring in some of the romance of flight.
And the gum? Will there are not pressurized planes so back in the day, the stewardess all dressed in their uniforms would pass out Chiclets gum to all the passengers so you could get you ears to pop. And you know what, the gum was free. Now those are the days of air transportation!
Photos captured by D3x, 200-400VR2 (handheld) on Lexar UDMA digital film