The Pilot Shot....finally

It took awhile but I was finally able to a get a window of opportunity to get my pilot photo, high winds kept them from flying today. The aircraft was being worked on so I couldn't have it moved. Also, I was fighting 40 mph gusts on the flight ramp so a shoot through anything was out of the question. Couldn't even use a reflector because I couldn't risk having anything fly off and hit the aircraft. 

I set up my new SB-900, camera left (first time using it) and set the zoom to 200mm. Because he was wearing a ball cap I was getting a shadow from the brim so I set up an SB-800 on the same light stand but clamped it towards the bottom, pointing up under his cap. 

First time using i-TTL as well, really like this method shooting, I can see why Joe is such a big fan of it. 

My goal was to make the pilot appear bigger than the aircraft, which is why I went for the low, wide angle. 

Would have really liked a cleaner background but had to take what I was given. 

Fred

lesson 1

Well here is my first shoot taken about 3 days after the class.

here I employed lesson one - establish main light first.  Typically the way 

I've shot before in an outdoor situation w/ over cast even light = shooting available light with maybe a touch of fill but problably not.  Here I ran my monolight out with extension cords

slapped my medium softbox and moved that sucker close.  Feathered it a bit and

focused on the subjects,  11 person family, 3 generations and a lot of love.

The lighting worked best the smaller the groups to be sure, inserted are two images

one with available light and then with dominant additional lighting.  I like the latter better.

let me know you thoughts

Chris

 

Upcoming Assignment

I have an assignment to take a portrait of one of our test pilots who recently logged 10,000 flight hours - a major accomplishment, that equates to 416.66666 days of flight. Anyway, I need to get him in front of an aircraft, holding his helmet, The Right Stuff, look. Depending on the weather, I'm thinking of trying a hi-speed sync shot, just to say I tried it. Any other ideas?

Thanks,

Fred

Joe and the Models

Since I just got his book today, I thought I'd start this with Joe sharing the PDF of Hot Shoe Diaries with his models.      Fred