Sometimes there is very little time to get the right shot. Light fades, budgets are slim, or schedules are very tight. This is why reliability is absolutely critical when shooting Air to Air sessions. I’m often shooting subjects that are not inexpensive to operate, and therefor knowing the equipment I’m using is reliable, and of exceptional quality gives me the peace of mind to work within tight time schedules.

On this mission I would be shooting the Reno race plane “Precious Metal” over the Nevada desert.  The afternoon of the shoot brought high overcast, striking light, and beautiful lenticular clouds common to the Northern Sierra.  I often shoot in clear skies, and I was delighted to have the opportunity to shoot during such dramatic skies.  Although the lighting was pretty flat, I knew the Hasselblad H4D60′s huge dynamic range would allow for the full stretch of the sky’s approximate 12 stops at the time.

Our photo ship for this mission was an Extra 300.  I don’t like shooting through a canopy generally, but, I had an exceptional pilot, a plane that was fast enough to keep pace with our subject, and the canopy was very clean. Using a camera like the H4D60, I was slightly concerned that any slight imperfection in the canopy would be noticed in the images, however this canopy was exceptionally clean.

Because we were coming from separate airports we scheduled a rendezvous time for 18:15, over a specific and easily identifiable location, at a specific altitude, and with predetermined turn directions.   We arrived on station 18:10 and  identified our subjects over the predetermined location nearly immediately as planned and entered the formation at 18:12 to begin shooting.  A circle or two with the two subjects, then the jet would break off formation, and the remaining time we spent with “Precious Metal”. A seemingly very short period of time passed, and we were breaking formation and returning to our airports.  I had 9 minutes with my subject.

Just as I hoped the results are stunning.  The polished plane with just a hint of yellow against a surreal sky, makes it look powerful and menacing.  Sometimes having a short period to capture what you need focuses you.  However having a clear idea and focus of what you want the end result to be is the key to efficiency.  If your vision is clear, then directing your subject to the proper position becomes that much easier, and you’re able to get the result you desire.

This image was shot using the Hasselblad H4D60, HC 80mm, and captured to Lexar 32GB CF digital film cards.

Precious Metal 2011