Posted this on our Instagram account this past week and got a few questions on placement of flashes, technique, etc. So, here we go.
Biggest problems shooting a pic like this? Control of light. Not a situation for a bounce flash. You’ll illuminate the entire interior of the chopper, and it will look blah and awful and flat and reflect the entire interior in the windshield.
Also important: Control of power. As in, don’t blind the pilot. This has consequences beyond the taking of a bad photo.
There are three SB-5000 flashes at play here, all controlled with a WR-R10 controller. One is on the floorboard, camera left. You can see it defines the floor and gives what would ordinarily be a black hole of exposure some texture and detail.
Another is the key light for the pilot. It is hidden behind the instrument panel on the far right, clamped to a metal brace over there.
And the third, in this iteration is literally just below camera, putting a glow on the empty seat and the dashboard. They are all gelled, as you can see the colors they are producing.
This picture did not have a promising beginning.
Above, the intrepid Andrew Tomasino sits in the pilot seat, illuminated, badly, by the three aforementioned flashes. The hardest part of this, as we all know, is trying to sort out placement and power early in the day, when the Nevada sun is nuking everything in sight. You can only make guesses at this point, at least, that’s all I’m capable of. We couldn’t move the chopper inside, so we did the best we could. The placement of the flash on the right, that hot spot, was of course a no-no, and we moved it.
First test flight, as you can see above, was predictably awful. Sky too bright, lights still not powered right, or in the completely right place. Here’s where modern camera tech saves your butt. If these were overpowered, in a manual sense, as they would have been back in the days before radio controls over flash exposure, we literally would’ve landed the chopper and made adjustments. Now, with radio controlled TTL flash, and an LCD, I can make judgement calls and dial power right from camera, as I see fit. It’s amazing, to be honest, how these kinds of developments make our lives in the field easier.
The readout on the banner pic is ISO 400, f/11 at 1.6 shutter speed. Nikon D850 with an 8-15 Nikkor fisheye zoom, hand held. I am sitting behind the passenger seat, draping my arms over it, hugging it, actually, and using it as a fly boy tripod. Now, the iteration below is shot straight up at 1/2 second, so the world outside the window blurs a lot less. I have to say, when that 8-15mm fisheye zoom was introduced, I thought, honestly, it was a nutty idea and would be a lens I would never really gravitate to. Now, I use it a lot. In a situation like this, it is invaluable.
This still could have been fine tuned better, but once in the air, you are limited a bit just by the fact of being in a flying machine. The highlight on the passenger seat, for instance could have been finessed better, and we had to burn it down a bit in post. Andrew kept messing with the position of that light during the flight, as it was clamped with a Manfrotto Friction Arm, and thus movable. The happy accident of the key light for the pilot is it illuminates the door next to him and separates him from what would have been darkness. Downside? (And there’s always a downside, folks.) It also splashes some light on Andrew, sitting behind the pilot. We could make that disappear, but left it there. I mean, it’s ok to have a passenger, right?
But overall, as a shot in the dark, as they say, we came away with a picture.
Many thanks to the crews and pilots of FlyNYON Vegas! More tk.
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Nice long exposure, Night time always affords a great creative inspiration.
Hey Joe! Fantastic as ever. Good to see the struggle in the field described.
That flash on the pilot, was it gridded or flagged at all? Very surprised that it didn’t spill back on to the right hand side of the windshield?
A great walk through of your process Joe, loved the article, really informative!
Hi Simon…it had a grid and a flag on it, made of gaffer:-))
Tricky enough working in trucks and cars. You did a great job of the helicopter, final image is a stunner.
Everything is very open and very clear explanation for step by step for flash in the sky and really nice title…, waiting for more updates, thank you for sharing with us.
Great use of the fisheye and loved reading about the troubles of lighting, especially in a cramped space like a helicopter!
Joe – thank you for a terrific and clear walk-through of your process. Just a thought and a question: couldn’t you have thrown a 12 by black or some duvetyn over the cockpit bubble to create enough black inside to test your lighting rig under nighttime type conditions?
Sure…good idea. Alas, did not have one with me. Best, Joe
Also, would need to check it out, but lots of chopper owners are pretty rigorous about anything you might lay over the bird or the windows. Duvy would probably be ok, though.
Very interesting as always. Thanks, Joe.
nice photography.Thank you for sharing.
Great job. Thanks for share Joe.
really too awesome article and photography…thanks for share with us joe.
Hey thanks for sharing such impressive article And Photography.
It was so impressive. Thanks for sharing. Best regards– ogyoutube
Hey thanks for sharing this information, appreciate your efforts behind this post.