Author Archives: Rob

To Shoot or Not to Shoot

Harsh Sky

In a previous post I mentioned my trip to Indianapolis for the air show at Mount Comfort. A few things were going to make getting good shots tricky at this event. First, the crowd face south at the show so, through the majority of the display, there is a strong chance of back lighting. Also the forecast was not for great weather.

Dark Cloud Background

This forecast was one of the things that actually helped persuade me to go. With a lot of cloud, the backlighting might actually have been tempered. Also, with the possibility of rain, it might even work out that a lot of vapor could show up during the displays. It could also mean getting drenched with no flying, though, so a chance was taken. There is always the nice idea of a bit of sun on an aircraft with an evil looking sky behind it.

Harsh Sky

When I am at a show with a backlighting issue, I tend to try and go to one extreme of the crowd line. This can have two advantages. First you get some different angles from the normal shots that being near show center gives. Second, by picking the end carefully, you can get sections of the display that at least have the sun on a quarter position rather than head on.

Dark Cloud Background

Metering in these situations can be tricky. You can go with exposure compensation based on your view of the sky brightness with anything between +1 and +2 a possibility. Alternatively, you might try manual metering based on some pre-readings. That is a lot easier to go with when the lighting is more consistent – constantly changing skies make manual metering a lot more work. I have used both. Of course, with harsh backlight, there is only so much you can

Backlit

Top Light

do. Good exposure on the subject is not going to be matched with a great background. Therefore, there are only going to be certain angles that can get a reasonable chance of a good shot. Does that stop me shooting at the other angles? Of course not!! I have tons of images that are no-hopers but the fun of the shoot and the way things look better through the viewfinder are highly likely to stop the part of the brain that says no point shooting now. Of course, there is an upside to this. Tracking the aircraft throughout its pass does put you in a good position to get a better shot when the light is good.

Another thing to look for is exploiting the conditions to get a different look. Normally when shooting aircraft you are trying desperately to avoid a silhouette. An alternative is to go for that look deliberately and get something a little different from the normal shot. It isn’t always going to work but when your options are limited, why not try something else?

Silhouette

One last thought, panning with aircraft to get a good shot is something that is always worth practicing (if you want to shoot aircraft that is!). Even crummy conditions can be good panning practice and will set you up well for the time when the conditions are good and you need to be ready.

Indy Air Show

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The beginning of the air show season has already arrived but my plans for the year are rather sparse. Some things I had originally planned to go to have been overtaken by competing events so there are relatively few shows that are presently a firm fixture in my calendar. That is fine. If the other things weren’t things I wanted to do, they wouldn’t have taken precedence. Besides, when I am looking at a show, I am looking for something a little different since there are a bunch of acts, all good in their own right, that I can see any number of times through the year.

The show in Indianapolis caught me off guard therefore. I hadn’t really been thinking about heading down to it. I had read that the lighting is a bit harsh and had originally thought I had something else on. However, I ended up being free and they had some aircraft that piqued my interest. Besides, it is only three hours to drive down. The forecast was looking mixed but I decided to give it a go.

The drive down was not inspiring! Crappy conditions in Chicago as I left got worse as I drove down through Indiana. At some points, the fog was quite bad with the wind turbines looming out of the murk as I headed down I-65. However, as I reached Indy, the skies parted. We were pretty lucky for weather for the rest of the day to be honest. There were bursts of sun but mainly clouds. However, I watched a few heavy looking downpours approach and they all passed east of us – at least until I was back in the car!

The show had a nice mix of performers. I had never seen the PV-2 or C-1A fly before and that was nice. They organized some warbird combined flights which were pretty good and photogenic – well, if the light had been better they would have been. Overall, a good mix of things to keep me interested. The light was tricky all day and there are a lot of shots that will never be seen in public because they are just blah!

All in all, though, a good day out and it was nice to get back into practice of shooting things moving rather fast. Also nice to bump into some familiar faces during the show. Good to see you guys!

Chicago at Night

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It has been a while since I last went out and did some night photography around Chicago. I had been meaning for a while to go and photograph the Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park at night when they have the light and music show. This was supposed to be a relatively quick trip out but ended up being a rather longer expedition.

Chicago at night is a great place to photograph. It is fine to walk around at night and there are usually a bunch of people out and about. However, do you do get a feeling that the city is yours and that you aren’t sharing it with the tourist masses. The night lighting is also a lot more generous to sights that look less impressive during the day. The dark hides a lot of the blemishes!

The show at the fountain takes place every hour on the hour. I got down at 8pm which was just after sundown. This wasn’t such a good plan as, even at the end of the 20 minute display, it really wasn’t dark enough to get the benefit of the lights. I figured I would try again another time but ended up taking enough shots of details around the fountain that soon it was sufficiently close to the hour again that there was no point in leaving. The 9pm show was certainly more photogenic – even if I had to take a few angles that concealed some of the construction sites on the skyline.

With some shots in the bag, I headed back in the direction of home. however, along the way were plenty of things to shoot as well. The Art Institute, the Pritzker Pavilion and the bean were all there along with the goings on of Millennium Park. It ended up being pretty late by the time I finally headed home. I have now whetted my appetite for some more night shooting so hopefully it won’t be too long before I am back out.

Pullman

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For the longest time I have been thinking about paying a visit to Pullman. Pullman is a town on the south-side of Chicago that was created by the Pullman Palace Car Company, a railroad car builder at the end of the 19th Century. Having read some history of Chicago, Pullman has an interesting position in the way things have developed. It was an ideal town created to allow the workers to have everything they could need and probably a lot more than they would have had if they were working elsewhere in Chicago at the time.

Of course, the story is not all sweetness and light. Having a controlled environment like that had other consequences and, when the economy tanked and the sale of railcars fell, the workers had their wages cut but miraculously the “market forces” did not result in the company owned housing rents following suit. It all ended in a nasty strike which was ultimately broken by the federal government. If you want the full history lesson, I guess I am not the one and there are better places to research.

Anyway, we finally got around to taking a trip down to have a look around. There is a visitors center where they gave us a walking tour guide. While the factory was mostly destroyed by fire in recent years, the majority of the town is still there to see. It is a great neighborhood to wander around and everyone we met on the street was very friendly. A number of the properties are in the process of being restored by the owners. Others are in worse shape. However, the place has a really interesting feel to it.

A sunny day always makes a wander around a new place more fun. We were there in the middle of the day so not the best lighting for shooting but the trip wasn’t primarily for photography – just for exploration of a place we’d not been to before. Therefore, the shots aren’t amongst my best but they are fine for the time-being. It is always a good challenge to try and make something worthwhile out of some harsh light and shadows.

Lenskirt Review

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Living in a high rise in the city, I have a lot of chances to shoot things that I can only see through the windows. This has been a tricky thing to deal with over time and I have come up with various solutions with varying success. A couple of times I have thought about making something myself to be the solution but have never got around to it.

Now someone has made something that pretty much does what I want. It is called the Lenskirt. It is a black squared funnel that has a fabric sock at the base which cinches around the barrel of your lens. I has four suckers at the four corners that will attach it to glass. The idea is that it blocks any light coming in from the side and reflecting off the glass and back into the lens.

I love this idea. However, the $49 price seemed a little steep for what it is. However, i did buy one and it has just arrived. Overall, I am quite pleased with it. My suspicions about it being a bit overpriced seem valid but it does do what I want. Moreover, it handles my widest lens (the 17mm) without any problem. It allows flexibility of placement so you can shoot at an angle without seeing the skirt. Therefore, while it is a bit pricey, the alternative is something I have never bothered to do so it is probably worth it to me.

This could have other applications other than shooting through normal windows. It might be useful in an aircraft when you can’t open a window to shoot out as well. I am never a fan of shooting through something since the surface is often of poor quality but sometimes you have no choice.

Could it be improved? Yes. I would have made the rim stitched to sit flat to a surface when attached rather than having to bend out. Also, I might consider a slightly more rectangular shape given the format of shooting (although that would impact on the ability to fold it flat). It is slightly wider than deeper but given the need to look sideways sometimes, a little more width might be good. (The shot above makes it look a lot wider than it really is by the way!) I might also have gone for a less reflective black material just in case. As I try it more, we shall see if other issues come up. However, so far, a welcome addition to my bag.

What a good excuse a visitor is!

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I got a message from a buddy of mine the other day that he was going to be in town. Paul Dunn is a pilot with British Airways and was scheduled to be doing the run to O’Hare. Paul has a second job as Editor (Rest of the World) for Global Aviation Resource, a website run out of the UK but covering aviation issues across the world. I highly recommend you check their website out at www.globalaviationresource.com as they produce weekly news updates that usually incorporate three or more articles. They have developed a well earned reputation for the diversity of their themes and the relationships they have developed with their subjects. (Full disclosure: I have written a couple of pieces for them too!)

When Paul told me he was going to be in town, I took a look at what we might be able to do in the brief time he was here. Chicago is a city with plenty to see but we are both rather into the aviation side of things so I wanted to see whether we could get anything sorted out more of that nature.

A call to my friends at the Warbird Heritage Foundation provided the solution. Paul Wood, the founder of WHF, confirmed that they would be busy that day at their base and if we wanted to pop in, we were welcome to see whatever they had underway. With Paul (Dunn, not Wood) having to be back at O’Hare by mid afternoon to head back to London, we went for an early start.

Leaving Chicago in the morning means you are going to have the delights of traffic to contend with. Sure enough, the Kennedy was pretty slow moving. However, two aviation nuts can always find things to discuss if time is available so we were fine and, despite how long we were in traffic, the run up to Waukegan was not much longer than I would normally plan. More importantly, it was turning out to be a rather lovely day from a weather perspective.

When we got to the hangar, Sean and Mike were already there at work and David had just popped in before heading back to his main job. The aircraft were all in the hangar with some final checks being made on the A-4 gear. The F-86 had flown several times in the previous days and everyone was pleased with the way it was running smoothly. We stayed out of the way of the guys and let them get on with their thing while Paul took a look at the collection.

Paul (Wood) showed up a short while later. He was off to check on his P-51 project and was taking the T-6 to get up there. This meant a few aircraft had to be pulled out of the hangar which meant some good photo opportunities to get these lovely vintage aircraft out in the sun. Some quick shots of the T-6 starting up and departing and then back in to watch the gear swing tests. All went well.

After lunch, the plan was to prepare the A-4 for some engine runs. Time was running short for getting back to O’Hare so we had to head out before the runs were done but it was still great to get to see the guys at work and the progress being made ready for the display season. Thanks again to every at WHF for welcoming us again!

Navy Pier Lift

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Regular followers of this blog will know that I do a lot of jobs with Midwest Helicopters. Earlier this week I got a call from Jim telling me that they were planning a job at Navy Pier later in the week. Given the location of the pier, the possibility of some nice city backdrops was very tempting. Where to shoot from would depend on where the actual lift was. For those who haven’t been there, Navy Pier is pretty long!

I went to the website to try and get a contact on the pier who might be able to get me into a location that would be good for shooting. They have a contact for people wishing to photograph (commercially) on the pier so I contacted the person and they got back to me a while later. Turns out, the pier is very focused on what is necessary to get a shoot arranged. They had a series of terms, most of which were not a problem with the exception of getting them named on my insurance overnight! They also had a fee which was quite substantial. Since the shoot was associated with some work for them, they were prepared to consider waiving the fee. However, the manager was out and by now the lift was the following morning.

Outstanding commitment on the part of my contact meant I got the all clear at 10:30 the night before. I am very grateful that they tried so hard and it was certainly nice to be totally legitimate. The morning dawned with some very promising conditions. We all rolled up to the site and got set. Unfortunately, the loads were not ready so the lift was postponed for half an hour while the rigging was set up.

Eventually we went ahead. A theater on the pier has a fabric cover that had been ripped in a storm. The new covers were going up and a damaged vent was being brought down. The guys receiving the loads were working on some temporary cable rigging under the main beams. They were not in much of a position to manhandle the loads as they came in so Jim was a busy guy making very fine adjustments from the helicopter to get everything in place. He did a great job and I was well positioned to get some good shots. I particularly liked the angle looking down the roof line at the heart of the Ferris wheel behind the theater.

I was with Brian on the parking deck. He had an idea for a shot that I hadn’t considered. He would be hooking on the lift line as the helicopter hovered at head height. He wanted a shot that was a city panorama with the hook up as part of the scene. I hadn’t considered doing a pano with action in it before but gave it a go. I actually tried several during the lift and they actually came out quite well.

Stitching the pano of Brian was harder than I thought. Photoshop did a great job of creating the pano and totally excluding the helicopter since it was only in one shot. However, the layer was still there so some delicate masking work could bring it back in. It was actually really cool to watch it appear on the monitor. The pano is not something that will always have a place on a shoot but it is an interesting idea to add to the shoot list.

For more pictures of the lift, you can go to this gallery.

Time Lapse Fun

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One gift I got for my birthday was an intervalometer. I have been interested in time lapse photography for years but never got around to trying it out properly. The intervalometer I got was a third party device which is a fraction of the price of the official Canon version! A couple of posts ago I included some time lapse video in Chicago. Here are a few more videos that I have put together in the recent months.

Caption Competition

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I have been gradually working my way through a bunch of old shots from the days when I didn’t delete anything. These days such carelessness with storage cannot be tolerated so I am a lot more aggressive about culling out the weak. Anyway, during the review of older stuff, I came across this shot and it made me chuckle and seemed like a great candidate for a caption competition. In the previous shot the guy inside is not in the doorway so he miraculously appeared as the other guy went out. Feel free to make your own comments below!

Bean in the rain

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After the trip to the Cultural Center from my previous post, I headed across to the Bean to try some other ideas. I was interested to use the intervalometer to do some more experiments with time lapse photography. Ever since I have got it, I have been experimenting with different ways of compressing events in time. To date I had focused on larger scenes transitioning over periods of an hour or more. This time I was looking at getting a short result that portrayed the movement of people around a busy scene like the Bean.

What I hadn’t planned on was the rain. The day had been looking pretty unpleasant for quite a while but, since I was more interested in the movement of the people rather than a picturesque shot of the landmark, I wasn’t too bothered. Besides, this was an experiment so, if I screwed a few things up and learned my lesson, I would be better prepared when a better day came along. However, the rain that started around the time I arrived was a little more persistent than I had expected.

In such circumstances, where does everyone go to shelter? Under the Bean of course. I quickly joined them when I realized the rain was getting heavy. As I sheltered under there, it was obvious that this might be an chance anyway. I thought everyone would just stand under there so nothing would work from a motion perspective but I was wrong. Despite the lack of anything to do for a while, people were constantly on the move. I stuck the camera low to the ground under the surface of the sculpture and left it to do its thing for a while.

As the rain eased off, I headed outside to try and different look at people passing by. I even decided to see what a slow moving person in front of a busy scene might look like. I’m not obvious and it isn’t great but when you find a way to have fun in the rain, you do.

While the time lapse was underway, I noticed another group had arrived. At this time of year it is no surprise to see wedding parties arrive to get some pictures in Millennium Park. When it is pouring with rain, it’s not what they were hoping for but I guess you can’t come back another day when you only have one wedding day! I felt bad for the people as they struggled to get their shots as the rain fell but the photographer was a determined guy and they were going to get it done. I do hope they look good when they see them.