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Turning Lousy Weather into a Lovely Photo

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During a recent trip to North Carolina, we drove to the summit of Grandfather Mountain, one of the tallest in the Appalachians. Like most photographers would, I was anticipating the scenic panoramas I could shoot of the Great Smokies from this mountaintop.   Also, I was eager to take shots of the mountain’s famed suspension bridge. Unfortunately, when we reached the summit, the mountain was socked in with fog. My best laid plans would require some improvisation.     While I was dealing with the disappointment of fog-obstructed scenery, my dear, creative spouse called out from across the parking lot, “Hey, check this out”! Never, never, never will I ignore KC’s eye for a shot. Sure enough, there were the goldenrods in full bloom. Studying the opportunity, I closed in, crouched down, and got this image. Against the foggy pines in the background, the bright yellow goldenrods jumped out in near 3-D fashion. Thinking outside the box, we had found a shot that would not have been possible in
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Flying with an Aviation Legend

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  Recently, I was fortunate enough to spend an hour and a half with Patty Wagstaff, an hour of which was in the sky. So what was it like? In a word, amazing. But in attempting to describe “the moment”, it was amazing for some reasons you wouldn’t expect. When you think of Patty Wagstaff, you might think of her cockpit videos of thrilling airshow performances, her accomplishments including her three national aerobatics championships, or the fact that one of her planes is in the National Air and Space Museum. Indeed those are among the reasons I contacted Patty, but my personal experience was much more interesting and insightful. My experience was the perfect celebration of flying. Having read her book, I had some insight into what she might be like as a person. She is calm, patient, and friendly. We began with a discussion of what I hoped to get from the flight. She asked specifically what my interest was in aerobatics. My answer was that I was hoping for a memorable moment with a champ
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My Take on Equipment

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  On several occasions, I have been asked what equipment I use. Here’s my answer. I want to be as efficient as possible when shooting, and for me that means less is more. I am not a gadget freak. 90% of the shots I take are done with the same setup. The above two photos show the extent of that equipment. First, my camera. I shoot with the Nikon D850. Since the essential element of all digital cameras is the sensor, the one in the D850 is noteworthy. It is a full size, 45 megapixel sensor made by Sony and designed specifically for this camera. At 300 DPI, the size of an original raw image is 27 inches, which translates into extremely high quality with lots of cropping flexibility. The quality of color and sharpness, especially on large metal prints is amazing! I'm not going to bore you with the camera's bells and whistles since you can get these from a variety of online resources. I also have found the book  Mastering the Nikon D850 by Darrell Young to be a great resource. http
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Airshow!

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I love airshows! And, like most people who attend airshows, I enjoy the spectacle of a Blue Angels or Thunderbirds performance.  I usually shoot several hundred photos at an airshow but not all are of planes in flight. T hese two gems show that there are other things to consider for a shot list besides what is going on in the sky. First, the top image is a shot of Patty Wagstaff and Skip Stewart ... both veteran airshow performers. Patty Wagstaff is an aerobatics champion and aviation legend. They had just flown a thrilling duet routine in their individual aircraft and are in the process of self-critiquing their performance. This photo provides a candid look into the level of detail that such performances demand and a portrait of two professionals taking their work seriously.  The lesson here is to hang out near the flight line where the performers are located, be patient, and look for opportunities. I would venture to say there were at least 50,000 photos of the featured Blue Angels p
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Popular on iStock

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I am a regular contributor to the Getty Images iStock collection. This image is the one that has sold the most with 24 sales. This may not seem like a whole lot, but when you are in a pool of over 30 million images, this one got over 60 views resulting in the 24 sales, which to me is significant. So what makes a shot popular on iStock? Here’s what I’m looking for when I shoot for iStock. First: Research, planning, and patience. I was planning a trip to Southern California for an airshow and some rail photography, and thought additional research might provide more photo opportunities.   The Boeing 737 MAX had recently been grounded and was trending on Google. Many images showed a bunch of Southwest Airlines 737 MAX planes on the ground at an airport in Victorville, in California’s Mojave Desert. Makes sense, the desert is a popular place for aircraft storage because the dry conditions are less harmful to idle planes. Since Victorville was not too far from where I was going to shoot trai
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Whatever It Takes To Get Your Shot

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Imagine this. You have a vision for a photo, take the trouble to travel to the location, set up the shot, and wait until the proper moment only to discover that your shot is not possible by simply snapping the shutter. What do you do now? Back in the days of film you would take the shot then go into the darkroom to manipulate the image until you were satisfied. Manipulating images in the darkroom was considered a magical skill that was admired. Look no further than Ansel Adams for an example of this. He was well known for his photography as well as his darkroom enhancement skill. How things have changed! It seems that photo manipulation in today’s digital darkroom, usually Adobe Photoshop, fails to command the same level of respect. Well, I use Photoshop for myriad reasons with every image I shoot. Mostly, it is just for a few quick adjustments, but sometimes it is out of necessity. For me, the digital darkroom is an integral step in achieving the shot. My photographic process goes lik
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Rocket Launch Photography: A Backstory

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I thought I’d share a few of the challenges that went into taking this shot and what you will need to consider to photograph a rocket launch. First, patience. I took this image from Playalinda Beach, adjacent to the Kennedy Space Center. It takes an hour for me to drive there, which includes 40 minutes on suicide alley, I-95. In order to beat the crowd, I left home in time to arrive three hours prior to launch. I managed to stake out a good spot on the boardwalk between the parking lot and the beach and began my wait in the 90 degree heat. The countdown advanced all the way to T-minus 6 seconds at which point the launch was scrubbed for technical reasons. Damn! Packed it all up and headed home. Two days later, I did it all over again. T-minus 6 and Spacex shut her down...again! That’s it. I’m done. I’m not doing this again. Three days later, a little bird was whispering in my ear “you really don’t want to miss this”. So, off I went for round three. Finally, success! I had invested 300
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