CH 53E Super Stallion

Late last year I headed over the the Miramar Air Show. Thought I would share something from that day. Armed with my Nikon DSLR and my 80-200mm 2.8AFD, with my handy Canon PowerShot G10 as a backup camera, I was ready for an action packed day. We arrived early but the show was already in full swing, lots and lots of people.

I took this photo with my Canon G10, with many people as you can see, but I wanted to capture the CH 53E Super Stallion from an angle where I could use the helicopter blade to block out the sun. This is what I came up with. An added bonus was the ad in the sky, funny I guess. I’m sure I’ll return again this year, I enjoyed the event more than I expected.

Picture taken at sunset

A short but quick tip on lighting your models. Have you ever been shooting outdoors late in the day and got tired of using your flash or portable lights? Why not use the light from the sunset? Sunsets not only good to shoot, but also a great source to light up your subject. The warm tones it provides, although only for a few minutes, is an excellent and free, way to give your pictures a unique look.

The photo on the left was taken about 15-20 minutes before the sun completely set behind me and facing the model. We were running out of time so I moved the model out in the open. We were shooting at a park and I wanted to use the green grass as a backdrop. I used a wide open aperture to blur out the background. I was using Nikon’s 80-200mm 2.8 AF-D lens, it allowed me to shoot at 2.8 and zoom in and out without changing my aperture setting.

In such a short window of time of about 20 minutes, it was enough time to get a few nice pictures. This was one of them. I really like the warm soft light the sun provided, overall I think the pictures turned out great. I’ll definitely use this method again at a future shoot.

Picture taken with window light.

Knowing when to use available light while photographing people can enhance your pictures to a new level. Whenever possible I try to use existing light, but it takes some practice to get it right. Knowing how use the right settings in your camera is important, but you also need to position your subject in the right area or angle.

I photographed the woman on the right using the light from a large window. It was an overcast yet bright day, so the light shining in was soft and diffused. I took a few pictures with my mounted camera flash, but that created a terrible shadow. (I didn’t have my studio lights) It looked like a snapshot and I knew this woman deserved more from me than just a snapshot! So I turned off my flash and positioned her next to the large window, while she stood almost leaning against the wall, the diffused light exposed the right side of her face perfectly.

If you also notice, the background is out of focus, I did this by backing up a little and using my Nikon 80-200mm 2.8AF-D lens wide open. Have you noticed from my other posts that I use this lens often? Its one of my favorite lens and I use it in many occasions, especially in low light situations, like this one. Now back to the photo…the light from the window created a dramatic mood and with the model working her “look”, the final image, in my opinion was a winner! The image shown was only re-sized for online viewing, but no photo editing was done to it. Know you know why I love and continue to learn ways to use existing light!