Reno 2021 photo thread.

[wingman]

Re: Reno 2021 photo thread.

Will -- This illustrates something I was saying earlier. That photograph in this thread looked absolutely spectacular to me, and I learned from it. To me it does not matter at all how the image looks when I first pull it off the card. If it's obviously blown out it goes. If it's perfect it's obvious. There's a huge range in between. I've always had issues with steadiness. Conditions even on the ramp can be brutal with wind and blinding light. There's often heat haze, and sometimes smoke. I make a lot of mistakes. Not every shot is going to be perfect but many that are not at all perfect are very usable and more so in a case like this where an image is so unique.

Generally nobody ever sees my original captures. I have lots of images that have been shown to acclaim on web sites and slide shows that I'd never ever try to print and sell that way. Some stuff is fine in magazine work but not gallery quality at all.

If it works on a web page and people learn from it and enjoy it it's a great image in my book. It matters not all if it won't print at 16x20.

Another point that's pretty obvious is presentation. Bill is a master of presentation -- cropping, tone control etc. Kenn is really good too. For the web don't hesitate to crop.

Sorry if I sound preachy here -- but I love Bill's photo. It would have been a loss to all of us if he'd rejected it in his cull.

Neal

[W J Pearce]

Re: Reno 2021 photo thread.

(nervously looks around...) No officence, but had that been my shot I wouldn't have even tried. That would have had a one way ticket to the trash. Apparently I need to reassess my idea of a bad shot. Don't worry I'm not in any way knocking your pic, more like knocking my out of control expectations of what a printable shot should look like.

Nice work in post to bring that pic back. Way beyond my abilities. Time to go reassess my idea of a "good" shot. hahaha.

Will

Not offended. I know exactly what you mean. It is also a matter of perspective... I'm not worried about printing. The computer screen is so much more forgiving, so something that would not work in print looks great. I liked the composure in that shot, and it looked fine on the screen, so I did the normal things and it worked out just fine. I was surprised at how rough it was at 100% when I looked at it today.

By contrast, this one looks all right to me at 100% (not that I would want it at 100%). However, I was not moved by the shot, so I never tired anything.
10 MB: https://oldmachinepress.files.wordpr...10/wjp0152.jpg

[wingman]

Re: Reno 2021 photo thread.

Great illustration of my point, Bill.

I'm actually not aguing against perfectionism here, either. Tim Adams is a wonderful photographer, and apparently never shows anything that's not perfect. I admire that, especially since his stuff is so good. I'm just not nearly a good enough shooter to survive as a perfectionist. I need to be pragmatic and flexible in how I do stuff to have enough usable stuff to show off (or sell, or get published etc.).

Neal

[W J Pearce]

Re: Reno 2021 photo thread.

Bill is a master of presentation

Neal

Easy there, Neal. As I understand it, the next level up in air race photography is the iPhone. In all seriousness, thank you!

[wingman]

Re: Reno 2021 photo thread.

You're welcome, I guess. It's true, though. A large part of your images' success for me is just that -- the presentation. Look at the Thunderbirds set. The cropping and the subject placement in each image just works. ( and I don't even like the Thunderbirds). I have no idea if you think about it much (I think about it all the time in post processing time) but what you are doing works. Means nothing about the future, though. We all have followed great years with a year of tripping on our cape constantly for ten days.

And remember the blind squirrel...

Neal

[RAD2LTR]

Re: Reno 2021 photo thread.

Not offended. I know exactly what you mean. It is also a matter of perspective... I'm not worried about printing. The computer screen is so much more forgiving, so something that would not work in print looks great. I liked the composure in that shot, and it looked fine on the screen, so I did the normal things and it worked out just fine. I was surprised at how rough it was at 100% when I looked at it today.

By contrast, this one looks all right to me at 100% (not that I would want it at 100%). However, I was not moved by the shot, so I never tired anything.
10 MB: https://oldmachinepress.files.wordpr...10/wjp0152.jpg

The framing of the pic is awesome. It doesn't get any better. The spray bar water exit is awesome! It captures your eye, and draws you into the rest of the shot. That said, your second shot that does nothing for you, is great, but lacks any sense of excitement. Its technically great, but lacks, for a lack of a better way of putting it, pizazz. Its a nice sharp pic, on a blue sky background, and it lacks anything to really draw you in.

I guess my obsession with perfection comes from comments made years ago, and after shooting for the EAA, (In 2018 and 2019 we raised the bar to the stratosphere in terms of quality shots) at Oshkosh, it just seems like settling for anything less is selling myself short. I know I can do it, I just didn't do it this year. Truth be told, so far I've found exactly one shot that was totally sharp and up to par for me. My static stuff on the other camera has been pretty good, but with the big lens, only 1 shot. I've had to rely on software to fix stuff, and I don't like that. That isn't good photography.

Will

[wingman]

Re: Reno 2021 photo thread.

I'd also get that lens checked out and rejuvenated sooner rather than later. Other people seemed to get some good stuff even with the poor conditions, and you've been doing this long enough that a significant equipment issue seems really likely.

Neal

[wingman]

Re: Reno 2021 photo thread.

Will -- I've been thinking about your situation. What do you think was a typical shutter speed for your pylon shots this year? Would your shutter speeds from your "best" Reno have been much different? I'm wondering if some of your issues might be from shooting at too low a shutter speed a lot of the time. If you're chasing prop circles and such much of the time and shooting slower than 1/125 you may well have sharpness issues from that. The vast majority of what I shoot is at 1/320 and as I really started to get older 1/500 for the classes with faster spinning props. Everybody's obviously different (my wife is a Tae Kwon Do black belt and is stunningly steady) but I cannot do pylon work at 1/125 or less and live with the results.

I plucked a couple of shots from page 8 of this thread, and fiddled a bit. They lost things in the fiddling -- the Sparky shot really picked up artifacts but I'm looking at sharpness. It's hard to see what you're dissatisfied with here. You can easily read Miss A's N number, and see detail in Doc's helmet. They really look quite good to me.

Neal

[RAD2LTR]

Re: Reno 2021 photo thread.

Will -- I've been thinking about your situation. What do you think was a typical shutter speed for your pylon shots this year? Would your shutter speeds from your "best" Reno have been much different? I'm wondering if some of your issues might be from shooting at too low a shutter speed a lot of the time. If you're chasing prop circles and such much of the time and shooting slower than 1/125 you may well have sharpness issues from that. The vast majority of what I shoot is at 1/320 and as I really started to get older 1/500 for the classes with faster spinning props. Everybody's obviously different (my wife is a Tae Kwon Do black belt and is stunningly steady) but I cannot do pylon work at 1/125 or less and live with the results.

I plucked a couple of shots from page 8 of this thread, and fiddled a bit. They lost things in the fiddling -- the Sparky shot really picked up artifacts but I'm looking at sharpness. It's hard to see what you're dissatisfied with here. You can easily read Miss A's N number, and see detail in Doc's helmet. They really look quite good to me.

Neal

I shot most of my stuff at 1/160, some 1/125. Those are two of the few decent pics that I got. When I get home I can post a couple average shots.

Will

[wingman]

Re: Reno 2021 photo thread.

You should be OK -- That would be quite marginal for me, but you are young and should be steadier than me. You should be getting some good stuff. I more and more suspect equipment issues.

Neal

[kennsmithf2g]

Re: Reno 2021 photo thread.

I like that one Will. Sorry Sam. As I eluded to earlier, I was in a foul-ish mood and I mostly stayed in my secret hideout. I'm not proud to admit it, but I only shot Sport and Unlimited Gold on Sunday. Eleven months to get my act together.

Mr. Pearce,

Biplane Gold was canceled on Sunday due to the wind. So if you would have pictures from Saturday's Biplane Heat 3A that would be the last Gold Heat.
From Biplane Heat 3A from section H of the reserved bleachers.

[RAD2LTR]

Re: Reno 2021 photo thread.

You should be OK -- That would be quite marginal for me, but you are young and should be steadier than me. You should be getting some good stuff. I more and more suspect equipment issues.

Neal

Here is a good example of what I keep finding. Its almost there, but not anywhere near sharp enough to be a keeper. Most are less sharp than this as well.


Here are a few decent shots.








Will

[kennsmithf2g]

Re: Reno 2021 photo thread.

[kennsmithf2g]

Re: Reno 2021 photo thread.

[kennsmithf2g]

Re: Reno 2021 photo thread.

From Monday's quals