RocketHorse

Air-to-air photos through airplane windows

admin — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 09:50:36 +0000

We photographers get wrapped up in buying expensive lenses which are precision instruments to accurately capture our subjects. We (usually) want to take the sharpest pictures we can. When I’m shooting air-to-air from my KC-135 at a fighter jet on my wing like an F-15 or F-22, I’m shooting through a thick piece of plastic – my windscreen! This item has not been manufactured to the same optical standards as my lens. It’s purpose is to hold cabin pressure and to allow me to see out – not to allow me to shoot sharp pictures. It’s the weakest link in the system of taking a picture of another airplane. When the photons of light travel from my subject, through my plastic window, and then into my lens finally striking my image sensor, the window is now a part of the lens system thereby degrading the image. I need to account for this to get a sharp image. This is an inexact science as different parts of the window are sharper than others – and I can’t necessarily tell which parts are optically sharper. I can minimize the effects when my lens is perpendicular to the window. Since my window is tilted inward toward me, the best position for my subject is when it’s abeam and slightly higher than me. When my subject is moving back to get into the refueling position behind me, I have to point my camera back at maybe a 45 degree angle with respect to the window. Also, as the subject aircraft moves aft, I have to shoot out the window not nearest me which causes a greater gap between my lens and the window. This greater distance degrades image quality – dust and reflections become more easily visible. Another factor to consider is F stop. I use the charts at photozone.de to determine the optimal F stop for a given lens. Wide open normally results in less sharpness than stopped down a little. F/8 often times is an optimal setting for my lenses; however, I don’t want my lens stopped down so far that my shutter speed suffers to the point of allowing motion blur. I’m not sure why, but it seems that longer focal lengths (beyond 85mm) start to get fuzzy results. I would recommend against shooting through windows in the fuselage as they are not very good and your results will disappoint. If you aren’t flying, you can squeeze into the empty space behind the pilots and get pretty good shots.

Here’s what I do to maximize sharpness:

Set ISO 200 (or the lowest recommended in your owner’s manual – sometimes it’s 100)
Set f-stop to about f/8 – hopefully the shutter speed is 1/500th or better
try to shoot when the subject aircraft is in a position that allows shooting through the near window, at nearly a perpendicular angle.
minimize the distance between lens and window
use a maximum focal length of 85mm
If you have super sharp prime, use it – 50mm and 85mm are best!
you may consider a tiny bit of exposure compensation to lighten up the area under the fuselage – maybe a 1/3 of a stop overexposed.

Below, I have some examples. In the first example, everything came together for a sharp image. The aircraft is abeam and slightly high allowing me to put my lens perpendicularly up against the window.

Sharp Image: 1/1000th @ f/7.1 and ISO 200 Lens: Nikon 16-85mm VR

In this closeup, we can easily read the tail number of this aircraft, “144″.

Sharp Image Detail

Now in this image, the aircraft has moved back at a sharp angle to me. Everything is going against getting a sharp picture.

Blurry Image: 1/800th @ f/8 and ISO 200 Lens: Nikon 16-85mm VR

Below is a blowup of the above image to prove that it’s not very sharp. Can you read the tail number below the pilot? Nope, me either.

Blurry Image Detail

Royal, the Morgan Horse’s Photo Session

admin — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 06:52:50 +0000

Last year, one of Royal’s owners wanted a photo session in hopes that he could win the “Most Beautiful Headshot” contest for Morgan Horse Magazine. I took a few hundred pictures of Royal at his southwest Spokane barn during the golden hour. Royal was all tacked up and looking sharp for his equine photo shoot. After the formal part was over, we untacked him and set him free to run around. I actually shot the winning picture near the very end after he was finished running and was turning around in the corner as if to say, “I’m done – let me go back to my stall to eat.” Much to my pleasant surprise, this photo won all three categories: Breed Character, Emotional Impact, and People’s Choice. The magazine contacted me several month’s later to inform me that they would like to use the image in their Morgan Horse marketing campaign at the Kentucky Horse Park. If only Royal could understand…but who needs inflate a horse’s ego!

While prepping Royal, I captured this image of Christina straightening his forelock. The image turned out to be a little out of focus, which inspired my use of Photoshop’s watercolor filter. Normally such mistakes wind up in the trash, but I liked the colors here and I feel that it captures the connection between horse and rider in a slightly dreamy way.

Most of what I got during the formal shoot consisted of stuff like this. Pretty decent. I used my favorite lens – the Nikon 70-200 VR which makes a nice creamy bokeh – a Japanese word describing the quality of the out of focus region of the image. Of course the newer version of that lens has come out, but it’s like 2300 bucks, and I have no complaints about this older lens.

Here’s the winning shot placed into the advertisement at the Kentucky Horse Park. Royal is a star!

Underwater Point and Shoot

admin — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 13:01:53 +0000

I’ve never taken pictures underwater until this past weekend – It was so much fun! I was bobbing up and down in the waves trying to figure out the menu settings and adjusting the ISO. The camera was rated for 60 minutes in the water so I worked quickly. The first half hour was spent taking bad pictures while I tried to figure out what I was doing. I shot these pictures after I figured out what I was doing. Although I enjoyed this new challenge, I had to return the camera to the store since one of its seals developed a small leak. Nothing was damaged, but I didn’t trust it – I didn’t want to risk the seal on a $300 camera.

Airplanes at Sunset

admin — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 12:50:02 +0000

Just a few airplanes that I photographed this evening for your viewing…

These images were shot on Guam during the golden hour – the last hour of daylight when
the colors are accentuated. Note the long shadows. The Omega tanker is a civil
contractor providing refueling to Navy F-18s (below).

The Light Wave Wall and Retracting Table

admin — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 10:10:01 +0000

This piece was installed in a South Hill Spokane home during a recent interior home remodel. It’s noteworthy for two reasons: the workmanship of the cabinet/table and the wall that has a wave pattern. A special light shines down from above onto the wave wall that slowly and subtly changes color creating a soothing and relaxing environment. The light wave wall was designed by Escent Lighting and the cabinet/table crafted by Hanson Carlen both of Spokane, Washington.

The extendable table is retracted making this piece appear to simply be a cabinet.

In this side view we can see the table extended out from the cabinet.
Half the table is placed into the opening revealed by the side door when not in use.

The wall’s three dimensional texture allows for a
wide range of shades of color from one color of light.

Spokane Convention Center Sculpture

admin — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 05:41:25 +0000

The Spokane Convention Center is bordered on its south and east sides by a colorful sculpture, a “Current Event” representing a river of fish. This wrap around sculpture is best captured at night when its electric reds and blues can be appreciated. Properly documenting this project was a challenge as it is about 700 feet long and borders a very busy road. The other challenge was the drunk who came after me wanting my new and expensive 70-200 lens. I lost him when I ducked into a nearby restaurant. Maybe in the future, I’ll carry pepper spray. Hindsight being 20/20, I should have gotten his portrait, but he probably wouldn’t have signed the model release.

Anyway, this piece serves a dual purpose - in addition to being art, it screens the view of the loading docks from the street. This piece was designed by the well known Spokane artist Ken Spiering and was completed in the fall of 2006. Ken Spiering is best known for the interactive sculpture “Radio Flyer Wagon” in Spokane’s Riverfront Park.

Lily & Lumiquest

admin — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:43:30 +0000

Here is one of my five cats, Lily. She is looking up and inspecting a flash adapter that I’ve installed on my Nikon SB-900 Speedlight which is pointed straight up. The Lumiquest Promax System is a device that allows 80% of the light to pass through it and bounce off the ceiling, but reflects 20% of the light forward giving her the twinkle in her eye. The bounced light off the white ceiling creates a wash of soft light around her, and the 20% projected forward fills in her shadows and brightens her face.

Early Morning Banyons

admin — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 22:19:46 +0000

In Hawaii, early one summer’s morning, I encountered this row of banyon trees while jogging. I was taken by their size and the way the golden early morning light filtered through the canopy of leaves above. I took three shots – bracketed by exposure and then blended the exposures in the computer for a high dynamic range image.

To shoot a hummingbird

admin — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 05:05:17 +0000

In the summer, I get lots of hummingbirds outside my window. Unfortunately, these little guys don’t linger long, so getting a decent shot takes the right equipment, the right settings, patience, and luck. I can’t always control the latter two, but can easily control the first two. For these images, I elected to employ my D300 with the 70-200mm VR. This lens is excellent as the VR reduces the natural shake in my hands – I’m not a tripod – and it’s a fast lens with a max aperture of f/2.8. For the first image, I wanted the beak in focus and allowed the wings to blur. ISO of 200 to maximize image quality, and a shutter speed of only 1/200. Since the relative motion of the beak was not much, it’s nice and sharp and the wings blur into the background. Note her little feet dangling in the background.

For the next shot, I wanted the wings frozen. In this case, I used an ISO of 800, again an aperture of f/2.8, and given the sun, was allowed an exposure of 1/4000 of a second. This was quick enough to freeze the wings, and on the D300, ISO 800 looks pretty good – not too much degradation in image quality. The depth of field (DOF) is deeper in the second image since the subject was a little bit farther away. For more info on DOF, I recommend this calculator. This bird is the male as he has green feathers:

Transformers and Air Conditioners

admin — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 01:24:02 +0000

I frequently photograph what some people might consider boring; things that engineers get really excited about. I can’t say that any of my engineering photography adorns my home, but maybe it should. These are things that we, people who use buildings, take for granted. Large buildings need large pieces of equipment to run. Consider these:

Above we have a very large air conditioner. I would hate to have the electric bill on this thing!

and a large transformer.
These two items were photographed at the new White Bluffs Elementary in Richland, Washington.