PASM Night Shoot, November 20th, 2019

[Joe Copalman]

Fun night at the museum with our COAP amigos from overseagos.  The rain threat meant we had access to Hangar 5 as a Plan B, which we took advantage of even though the rain mercifully held off until we were done shooting.  Here are two from me to get the party started.

RED SKULL


NIGHT'S QUEEN

[Joe Copalman]

HIRED GUN


RAY OF LIGHT

[Anna M. Wood]

Awesome work Joe.

It was a great evening.

[Joe Copalman]

Thanks Anna!  Kind of lonely this time around as I lone-wolfed it almost the whole evening, but I managed to cover a lot of ground and check off almost everything on my 'to-shoot' list for the night.  Looking forward to seeing what you and Ross and the COAP guys managed to catch.

[Joe Copalman]

DREAMY LINES

[Joe Copalman]

THE COLOR AND THE SHAPE


PHROGGY BOTTOM


FAILE-URE TO LAUNCH

[Joe Copalman]

THE NOTORIOUS V.I.G.


For as much as I love the Vigilante (it's at the top of my "If I could go back in time and shoot anything from the LSO shack at El Centro" list), I'm surprised I've never prioritized get a shot of it at night up until now.

Coincidentally, the Fighter Pilot Podcast just had a Viggie pilot on talking about his experiences flying the A-5.  Well worth a listen: https://www.fighterpilotpodcast.com/episodes/063-a-5-vigilante/.

[Ross Dinsdale]

Joe, you worked like a pixel assassin.  Fast, quick, and highly efficient. Quality set.  Anna spent the evening continuing my education into using a stationary light and moving it with each exposure.  A technique I am having success with, butt not yet efficient enough to capture many types in a single night. 

This is 5 image stacked and aligned composition in photoshop. 

[John B.]

Joe and Ross:  Great looking images.  I knew there was some good work going on despite the trickier-than-usual weather!

[Joe Copalman]

Joe, you worked like a pixel assassin.  Fast, quick, and highly efficient. Quality set.  Anna spent the evening continuing my education into using a stationary light and moving it with each exposure.  A technique I am having success with, butt not yet efficient enough to capture many types in a single night. 

Thanks Ross!  Felt a bit lonely going lone-wolf this time around, but I did have one of the most prolific nights I've had out there, even with the foray into Hangar 5 with the COAP guys (good opportunities in there, but definitely a case of too many cooks in the kitchen)

Really digging that Etendard shot.  I've only done a handful of multiple-exposure shots out there, would like to explore that a bit more.  I love how you didn't clone the sign or the tie-downs out, but rather used the natural contrast of your lighting to draw the eye to the subject and away from the clutter. 

[Ross Dinsdale]

Here the rest of the images Anna helped me create by moving the light after each exposure.  Slowly getting the hang of it and understanding how to make a stronger image. 

The one image I ask for critique or thoughts on is the Coast Guard Dassault HU-25.  I tried to tone down the background the best I could. 

[Joe Copalman]

Solid set, Ross.

With that Falcon Jet, I think you did good with the hand you were dealt with the background.  My suggestion would be to throw more light on the tail from a perpendicular position, so you're lighting up the tail, but not the background.  That would give a little more contrast delineating the outline of the tail from the background.  Also, since you're blending several exposures already, maybe add one where you deliberately underexpose for the background and add that one into the stack.

Still a pleasing image to look at.

[Ross Dinsdale]

Thanks Joe. The input is appreciated.  This technique is only going to become more refined.  Anna is a flash/constant lighting wizard. 

[Ross Dinsdale]

Last one I have to post of the evening/night session.  Anna and I spent a few hours in the museum before the night gathering.  Those images will be posted in the regular PASM thread in due time. 

(non)Flying Eye Hospital by Orbis

[Joe Copalman]

WOLFHUNTER


Took almost a year for me to do anything with this shot.  I had written it off due to a tone of background clutter, but when Brian Corbett floated the idea of doing a night shoot in a hangar down there and I cautioned about the clutter issues (even getting low gives you ceiling, rather than sky), I thought I'd give it a crack.  I would up doing 95% of the work on this with the burn tool.  Not totally satisfied with it, but it did end up being a somewhat salvageable shot.  The funny thing is that it started out as a "Let's just screw around and see" thing that got serious after about an hour was spent on it, and most of the 'slop' in the final image is stuff from that first hour where I wasn't taking it entirely seriously, but I also didn't want to go back and repeat that hour of work.