Lessons Learned - Coolidge Night Shoot (aka the IAR AAR).

[Joe Copalman]

Since most of us have relatively little experience with night shoots, there is no doubt that this evening was a learning experience for all of us.  Given that we are hoping to do a few more night shoots this year, I thought it would be a good idea for us to share some of what we learned this evening, sort of an After-Action Review.  Sound off with what you think went right, what you think went wrong, and what you would plan to do the next time around.  Try to keep comments limited to the photography side of the shoot, and please feel free to post photos in this thread as well to illustrate your points or to seek input.  Hopefully this thread can help us make the most of our time during future night shoots.

[Matt Ottosen]

I learned that you really need to remember to bring your tripod to a night shoot!  I do need to give a HUGE thanks to Mr. Copalman for sharing what he had, but, with the wind we had this evening, a very steady tripod is what was needed.

I also need to figure out a way to get my camera to focus on a dark subject.

Attached is one of my outtakes, in the stars you can kinda see where the wind was blowing the tripod and camera.

[Joe Copalman]

+1 on the tripod suggestion.  I've needed a new one for a while, and this shoot really drove that need home.  That wind was a bit of a spoiler.  Even the ladder rig caught a bit of it.

Rob and I talked about the focusing-on-a-dark-object issue, and I think the answer might be one of those handheld spotlights you can pick up at Wal-Mart for thirty-something bucks.  I think our light-painting efforts on the DC-7 would have been helped out tremendously had we had more light for the initial focusing. 

[Jay Beckman]

- Bring a pair of scissors to cut weeds...
- Bring the full-up, 4-cell Maglite as a focusing aid and as a help in looking for distracting elements that will show up when flashed.
- Be more decisive about the distance from which you pop the flash.  I can tell I wasn't consistent with how far away I was standing as I moved around 133...
- Keep moving at all times and don't wear white tennis shoes!  I got a faint outline of my legs in a couple frames and you can see my feet underneath in a few more
- Learn to better understand additive lighting.  How many pops = what luminance value?
- Learn how gels affect flash output.  Blue was much harder to make read from behind the plane than was Red.
- Rig up an easy way to reach well up with a flash.  Something less cumbersome than a collapsed light stand.
- Don't try to light paint a plane with a black nose.
- Good light painting requires an even darker place than the Coolidge ramp or a smaller aperture than f/8.  Got quite a bit of ambient spill...

[Joe Copalman]

I had scissors, Jay.  I always keep a pair in my car, so if you forget a pair down the road, let me know.  I actually had them out on the ramp to cut the gaffer's tape I used on the ladder rig.

[Joe Copalman]

Here are my initial observations.  Sorry for the damned novel, I just wanted to get this stuff down while it was still fresh:

Pro:
-Lighting.  Worklights worked out fairly well, with only minimal color adjustment needed in Photoshop.  The distance and low intensity of the ramp lights at Coolidge certainly helped out in this regard as well.  Deer Valley was much rougher, as the ramp lights cast everything in a weird amber glow that was hard to correct, even with more neutral lighting to counteract them.  
-Number of subjects to shoot.  With as many people as we had out there, it helped to have more than one aircraft to photograph to relieve the clutter.  It also gave us opportunities to experiment away from the other photographers.
-Planning.  I was much better-prepared for this shoot than I was for the FIFI shoot - I had my ladder-rig, my tripod, both sets of lights (thanks again to James for "donating" the second set to AzAP), my remote, my other body, gaffer tape, and extension cords.  Having people bring their own cords was a lifesaver, given the distance from the outlets to the areas where aircraft were park on the ramp.  
-Power.  Having outlets to plug the cords into was good and saved us $50 on a generator rental.
-My big-ass ladder rig.  It was a pain in the ass to haul around, but it was fairly stable and offered a different perspective.
-Location.  Not as much light pollution as with airports closer to "civilization."  And this is not necessarily photo-related, but it was not as much of a hike for our sizable Tucson contingent as Deer Valley or even Willie would have been.  
-Number of shooters.  After the FIFI shoot, I came away thinking that 6-8 guys is the critical mass on a shoot like this, but we had double that tonight and it worked out fine.  
-Collaboration with other photographers.  This is my favorite part of shoots like this.  I had a lot of fun light-painting the DC-7 with Rob with LED flashlights.

Con:
-Lighting.  While the ghetto-strobist worklight rig did its job, I felt I could have done more with an offboard remote strobe or two, as well as something other than my on-camera flash.  I also think that one more set of lights could have been used to illuminate the tail of 117.  I have a 12-volt worklight that is battery-powered and could have given us the light we needed without need for more extension cords.  While I would love to load up on speedlights and pocket wizards, my financial realities mean I am constrained to the worklight set up or collaborating with others who have remote flash units for a while.  I also think that working with larger aircraft as we have on our night shoots has presented an exceptional challenge in getting the things lit.
-Timing.  Part of this is due to the last-minute change of venue for the photoshoot.  While most of us got there in time for the sunset, I think most of us were rushing to get the shots we wanted while getting all of our gear set up.  More prep/survey time would have been nice, but I think we all ultimately found our groove.  
-My big-ass ladder rig. For all of the shots it opened up, I was constrained by a few things - the top of the pole was too high for me to safely aim and focus the camera through the viewfinder.  I relied on the 50D's live view screen to frame my shots, then set it to regular mode again for the shot.  It worked out okay, but I think having the camera lower would have made things easier.  I also think I spent too much time shooting from this rig instead of exploring more angles - guess I felt obligated to use it, having put all the effort into assembling it.  As it turns out, my best/favorite shot was (surprise) an ant's-eye 3/4 view.
-Access to aircraft.  This was really dictated by the holiday weekend and not having any IAR personnel to assist us in illuminating the interior of the cockpit or remove the towbars, so it's not a strong "con" given the constraints but it would have been nice.  
-Noise.  The 50D is a noisy camera in low-light situations, even at ISO 100.  While the noise reduction in Photoshop Elements typically does an acceptable job in daylight shots, I think I need to invest in something like Noise Ninja or something else with a bit more "teeth."  
-Shooting positions.  I had this problem during the FIFI shoot as well.  I think part of it is doing long exposures and using remote triggers and such, but even then, repositioning only a few feet will yield more angles.  

Tips/Plans for next time:
-Lighting.  At the very least, I need to invest in a speedlight and a remote trigger for it.  Also, another remote worklight may help.  And I don't think the need for more extension cords can be overstated.    
-Glass.  While I got some images I like a lot, the 18-55mm kit lens just isn't cutting it.  A new wider-end zoom is the next purchase on my list.  Will most likely rent or borrow a better lens for the next night shoot if I don't have a new one by then.
-TRIPOD!  Something sturdy.  Make that TWO "something sturdies" in case someone else forgot theirs.  
-Modifying the ladder rig to make it adjustable. Perhaps by using a monopod and attaching it somehow?  
-Timing. Another half-hour of prep time and the ability to get more golden-hour shots would have been nice.  Hell, another hour even.  From the 30,000ft. perspective, maybe try and space these shoots out a bit.  Summer shoots are good because of the longer twilight periods, but winter shoots are easier on escorts and photographers with long drives home (earlier sunset = we all get home earlier).  
-Moving gear.  Chris really had a great idea bringing a wagon to haul his gear.  I had to make multiple trips to move my gear.  A wagon would have been nice.
-Better planning/more lead time.  This worked out well for being so short-notice, but having more time to work with the IAR guys on aircraft positioning and the ability to place lights in the cockpits and remove tow-bars and other clutter would have been nice.  

Overall, I think this went very well.  As with the FIFI shoot, I learned quite a bit, and I look forward to applying that knowledge during our next night shoot.

[Jeff D. Welker]

Where to begin....

- I need to do a much better job of planning my shots before I begin tripping the shutter. That includes giving myself more time before sunset to work on HDR opportunities. I would have been ahead of the game to stop by the ramp on the way to dinner to get my bearings and make sure I understood what aircraft were located in which positions. It would have made my efforts much more efficient and eliminated a bunch of my "follow the leader" mentality.

- Invest in two or three medium sized Maglites with an assortment of colored gels for light painting and focusing in the dark.

- Find a way to "soften" the effect of the Halogen construction lights. It was too harsh IMO and created some serious contrast challenges in post processing. It makes me wonder if a "soft box" could be temporarily rigged-up?

- Bring an ice chest with cold beverages! Even though the breeze and lack of sun made for very comfortable ambient temps, I dehydrated quickly. Thanks to Chris for bringing some extra water and (most importantly) the cup cakes.

- Just like Deer Valley, this opportunity reminds me of landscape photography trips (i.e. tripods, remote triggers, wide angle lenses, etc). I needed to get my mind disengaged from the normal "action" orientation of Willie/Falcon and "slow down" to remind myself that I controlled the composition much more than normal.

Two final thoughts before I drift into oblivion; 1) I need to figure-out why Senior Slugman assumed the "belly down" position on the ramp for such a long period of time. He is an excellent photographer and there must be a tremendous artistic benefit to laying on a filthy ramp? 2) Shooting at night in the summer reminds me of my days bass fishing. We would go to Roosevelt Lake and fish at night because it was simply too stinking hot during the day. As we move further into the summer of 2011, I need to start thinking of more night shooting opportunities. It was definitely more comfortable that sweeting like a sumo wrestler on the ramp at Willie at lunch time.

Again, I sincerely appreciate everyone's association and willingness to share expertise with this elderly newbie (is that an oxymoron?).

[Bubak]

[Bubak]

[Bubak]

[Paul Dumm]

Becareful of what you eat befor you go out and shoot like this at night. No, I did not make the dinner but eat way to much earlyer and had to take off early. Next time bring power cords, lights, flashlights, more water, explore the plane more, flash for camer w/ gel's.  ect. ect.

[Joe Copalman]

Jeff, I'm with you on the lighting - the nose was a bit blown-out still, but not so much in my shots from after Jay backing the lights up a few feet.  I'm sure backing them up a few more feet would have solved the problem and given more balance to the metering situation.

One other thing I'm totally kicking myself over - WE DIDN'T GET A GROUP SHOT.  This one is on me, as I was hoping to get something that we could have a print made of to give to James as a going-away present.  With all of us dispersing on the ramp and some people leaving early, this was harder to coordinate than I thought.  Definitely one to grow on.

[John B.]

I am just about to start looking through my photos, so I don't yet have anything specific, but I wanted to throw a couple of comments out while I remember!

1.  For a last-minute event, I thought it went very well.  Excellent work, Joe.  It could have been a mess.  It doesn't hurt that we as a group AzAP members are fairly well focused!  I've done a few night shoots and this was not a disappointment.

2.  There were a lot of us, but we managed to mostly stay out of each other's way.  The multiple aircraft subjects helped here, too.  A special thanks to IAR for letting us photograph the fleet.  It would not allowed us to experiment as much if we had all been clustered around a single aircraft for the entire evening.

3.  Now that we have all been through this together, we might consider making a basic inventory checklist to cover the basic minimum for a nightshoot event.  After a nightshoot, some things seem like common sense--before the shoot they might not.  Things like tripods, a camera remote controller, flashlight, etc.  I've been through this a few times, so I knew what I might need.  I suggest this only because we are an "Association."

4.  For the future, it might be useful to keep in mind that night shoots don't have to be at "night."  Dawn isn't that bad either.  It might not be as easy, but setting up at 4:30AM and shooting away as the sun rises can yield good results, too. 

5.  The only thing that could have made the night better would have been a full moon.  Depending on where you are, the moon can provide enough illumination to make work lights unnecessary (with long exposure times, etc.).  We can't control the moon, but it is useful to know what it is up to on a night shoot.  Because it is so isolated, the Coolidge ramp probably looks really amazing on full moon nights.

OK.  I will probably have more to say as I look at my images, but I wanted to toss that out there.  It was a pleasure to meet our newer members and I hope we do this again.  I think Coolidge was a really good place for this type of experimentation and learning without any pressure to get a memory card full of perfect images.  Thanks everyone for a great event! 

[jslugman]

need to figure-out why Senior Slugman assumed the "belly down" position on the ramp for such a long period of time. He is an excellent photographer and there must be a tremendous artistic benefit to laying on a filthy ramp?

Many theories abound:

• I may have had a small stroke and took an inordinate amount of time to recover the use of my legs
• the Sonoran burrito sampler platter had an adverse effect on my GI system and I needed the darkness to escape without major embarrassment
• my "normal" tripods are on their way to Japan and I was stuck with one six inches tall <~~~~~ vote for this one

[Joe Copalman]

After going through all of my shots, I'm not all that happy with the photos I got from the ladder rig.  As mentioned before, the pole was just a bit too high and far out for me to get an eye on the viewfinder, so I used live view for framing, switched to normal mode, relied on my AF to see what I wanted/hoped it would see, then I used a timer or a remote to trigger the shutter for long exposure shots.  If it wasn't the AF not seeing what I wanted it to, it was the wind wiggling the pole.  Still, since it's the best solution I have to being able to get longer-exposure shots from higher angles, I think I'm going to stick with it, only take about a foot off the top of the pole so I can actually get my eye on the viewfinder and make sure that the camera is seeing what I want it to see.  I think I also hung further back than I wanted to with the ladder so as not to bogart anyone's shot.  Definitely going to ask for 2-3 minutes to get in close next time around and get the shots from the angle I want.   

Below is an example of a ladder-cam shot I was really hoping would come out better, and one I wish we had been able to place red lights in the cockpit for.  I also would have moved the lights so that the aircraft was evenly lit on both sides, and would have shot it closer to dusk for more color in the background.  Again, one to grow on.