October 11, 2007 - Commander Kevin Mannix, flight leader and commanding officer of the Blue Angels stands with his aircraft behind him at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe. Exposure details: Canon EOS 20D, EF-S 10-22mm f3.5-5.6 (at 10mm), Manual Exp, 1/320 sec at f/14, ISO 200, Daylight white balance

The U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels air show team was in town this weekend for a couple of shows out at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe.

On Thursday I went out for a media meet-and-greet with the pilots. I knew we’d only have a very short time with the pilots so I had to be quick to get a portrait.

I got to the base and was escorted by a public affairs officer out to the flight line. The planes were still in the air doing a practice run, so I popped off a few shots, just in case, but I figured the pilot pic would be the main deal.

After a few minutes, the head PAO guy from the Blue Angels herded the media together and told us we’d be shuttled further down the tarmac to where the planes would be parked. So we dutifully hopped into some waiting cars and off we went.

The planes landed and parked and the pilots got out. Each media outlet was assigned a pilot, and the Bulletin was assigned the #1 plane with the flight commander.

As we walked over to the plane, I figured to myself that we’d have about 10 minutes with the pilot. So I told the reporter to go ahead and do his interview while I set up the photo, which needed to be a quick and dirty set-up.

It would be a one umbrella deal, which I would trigger using pocket wizards. I lined up the shot and marked a spot on the tarmac where the pilot would stand. The sun was coming from the left of the frame, so I set the umbrella up on the opposite side. I wanted the light even with the sun, so he would be fully illuminated from both sides. It gives a clean look with a lot of depth. I also like that type of lighting because since only the subject is fully illuminated from both sides (and not anything else in the background) it has a slightly surreal look to it. It makes the subject pop out of the frame.

After the interview was done, I had only a few minutes for the picture. I had him stand on his mark, tested the lights and exposure, and was done in about a minute or two. The set up and break down took longer than the actual photo itself.

October 13, 2007 - The U.S. Navy Blue Angels performed a variety of complex maneuvers over Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe during the Blues on the Bay air show. Exposure details: Canon EOS 1-D Mark II, EF 300mm f2.8, Manual, 1/3200 sec at f/4, ISO 400, Daylight white balance

A few days later I went out to shoot the actual air show. I’d never actually been to one of these, always instead ending up shooting practice sessions, or whatever. So, I drove out early thinking I’d soak in the atmosphere, but got stuck in traffic instead. It took over an hour to get on the base.

Once there, I found the media tent, and wandered around for some general interest pictures. Which pretty much ended up being pictures of people trying to avoid the sun.

The Blue Angels were scheduled to go around three, so I went back and waited for the show to start. As I waited, I noticed more and more clouds rolling in — good for the heat, terrible for pictures. Instead of having nice blue sky, the planes are against bright white.

But whatever, the die had been cast, and it was time to get some photos.

I decided on using the 300mm f2.8 since it’s sharp, fast, and easy to hand hold. As the pilots flew around, I tripped out at how close they flew to each other. They looked like big blue darts in the sky.

My favorite photo came along when two planes were flying side-by-side, one upside down, the other rightside up. They approached from the right and I tracked them as they flew over the runway. The key was keeping them in the center of the frame, and getting a photo as they passed directly in front of me.

Luckily it worked out.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 14th, 2007 at 5:47 pm and is filed under lighting, equipment, Photo Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.