The sun came up, the ground fog formed and I started to hoof it! Three million dollars in rare aircraft all yours to play with, killer fog raising around them, you can’t script this kind o shooting. As all the participants were saying, their fee was already worth it with just this opportunity. It was that amazing. So with that, could YOU have made the exposure? The top one was the easiest as the light is pretty even. The second gets a little trickier with the gray with the bottom one being a real challenge since the hangar in the background is in the sun and the plane is not. More importantly then could you make the one exposure, could you have made all three in the short time we had as the fog came and went with the rising sun. The P-51C Mustang “Red Tail” is a spectacular aircraft that you’re not going to find anywhere else, period. Having unfeathered access was more then one could wish for and then add to that the ground fog and light, the pressure was on to get it right. And this is not something you could “fix” later in post. More importantly I feel is getting the exposure to communicate what it is you are seeing here. And that’s what exposure is all about as I talk about to great length in Captured. You have to FEEL the light, not just see it. Personally, I’m pretty proud of these images since I nailed them. These will be hallmark images that will earn me good money and that comes from being in place at the right place at the right time with the right skill set to make the click. You only get that by lots of practice, lots of failure and learning from that. Whether you’re into aviation photography or not, if you’re into photography the light has to suck you in. If it didn’t you need to do a reality check because sexy romantic light is to be relished wherever you find it!
Photos captured by D3x, 24-120VR on Lexar UDMA digital film