Dennis C. Boyd

3 days, Dryden’s 2010 Centennial Air Show is complete… onto editing..

Tuesday, May 25, 2010 12:50 am Posted in Community Events, Photoshop CS5

On Friday morning I took off out to the airport to meet up with Derek. Derek had to work for a few hours, yet despite his commitments he still managed to show me around the displays as well as shuttle me back and forth on the little Kubota. We ended up taking in all the static displays before the practice sessions started at noon, then for the next four hours got to enjoy trial runs prior to the show being held over the next two days.

I ended up going in for night shifts almost immediately after leaving the airport with only a brief stop at home to shower and clean up for the night ahead. I worked from 6pm-6am and once I got home in the morning had my first chance to look at the shots from the day before. Some key points popped into my head… first one being that the cameras needed a good sensor cleaning as the lens cleaning I had done just didn’t seem to cut it. Given the sand/pollen storm at the airport all day Friday might have just overwrote my efforts, yet I had to try again as I was seeing too many dust spots on the shots. Along with the dust spots I couldn’t help but be dissappointed at the dull colours the sky was giving us. A bland grey colour, so hard to lock focus and when you did… the planes just wouldn’t show up crisp enough.

I tried out my 70-200 f/4 L IS lens with the 1.4 TC on it as well as the Tokina 12-24 yet because of the sky… hmmm

Sensor cleaning done, batteries refreshed, cards downloaded and formatted… it was time to head back out with the gear again. This time though I was taking along the 17-85 IS for getting some close ups of a certain surprise visitor Dryden was getting to open the ceremonies, the Prime Minister of Canada… Mr. Stephen Harper!! I wasn’t sure how close I could get, didn’t want to rely on the 70-200 or acccidently distorting features with the 12-24 so even though the 17-85 isn’t my favourite lens… it was the focal length I thought I needed. I was also bringing along the Tamron 200-500mm … could’ve used it on Friday… so thought why not try it out and cross the fingers it focuses quick enough.

With that… the day began… and I was off to photograph not only the aircraft for the day, but the Prime Minister of Canada as he opened the ceremonies here in Dryden.

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It was a great day shooting, I ended up using almost all the lenses I took with me and the weather… was almost perfect.

Almost being the fact that for photography… it ended up being one of the worst days as the sky turned a dark grey featureless colour and no matter how long you tracked the aircraft… there was very little features in the background to make the aircraft stand out.

As the show neared the end I stuck around to chat with my good photography friends and by the time we were done for the day… it was almost time to sleep. I lucked out on the night before and had found someone to cover my night shift so I would be able to get at least a good 8 hours in Saturday night.

Sunday rolled around…and off I went again… but this time… wow… talk about a beautiful sky. Blue with whispy white clouds… GORGEOUS!

So for now… the teaser above is just a few of the shots from the weekend… but more will be coming in the next day or two… I promise

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Dryden Centennial 2010 Air Show

Thursday, May 20, 2010 9:53 pm Posted in Community Events

Well it looks like it’s going to be a fun, but extremely long weekend.

I got a message the other day again about shooting some of the Centennial Events here again in Dryden and this one… looks to be a BLAST! A couple of months ago Val had asked if I’d be interested in shooting some of the Centennial Events this summer and to come up with a costing of such. Well… how does one figure that all out…hmmm…

This week though… the mail arrived again via facebook and the events are starting… NOW

The organizers of this years big air show looked back at the last Air Show that Dryden hosted and found that there were no records of it (20 years ago) so they want photographic documentation. The e-mails begain, then the phone calls and today… I picked up a VIP Photo pass and instructions that I had full access to shoot anywhere (I’m sure there are limits but supposedly I get more of a free run than the general public as well as I get to shoot from in front of the fencing where the general public stands/sits).

Yes, there are also media VIP passes and they are expecting quite a few… but my job is to document the show for the committee so Dryden will have reference to the accomplishment of pulling this all together on the 100th anniversary. This could be fun… but it’s going to be a long weekend shooting… and even longer week editing I think.

The Canadian Snowbird Demonstration Team, the A-10 East Demonstration Team, the Ministry of Natural Resources and many more are in town ready to show us how it’s done. Today we lucked out and saw a couple of quick over flights by the Snowbirds (pumping out the smoke, flying in formation just as the schools let the kids out) and a quick pass by a couple of the A-10′s on their way to the airport. It should be interested seeing who does the flights over town to rile everyone up… :)

Tomorrow… I’m heading out during the day to see what I can get during the practice sessions… but so wishing I wasn’t working nights this weekend so I could be there as the sun comes up (or goes down for that matter) to get some really unique shots of the planes in their sleeping state.

The big shows are Saturday and Sunday though… and I am kind of envious of my buddies who are out there working as well as shooting all day. Chris and Derek… well… we’ve already seen Dereks amazing shots from today of the Snowbirds and the Warthogs… and Chris… always manages to nail the shots home. I can’t wait to see what they come up with and I know others like Bruce will be out shooting non-stop as well. Hmm… stiff competition boys… you’re gonna make me work for this aren’t ya?haha

So… now to wrangle the hours… working 6pm till 6am, come home and sleep for a couple of hours and back out to the show to shoot till 4:30ish.

Practice tomorrow, work tomorrow night, shoot Saturday, work Saturday night, shoot Sunday, work Sunday night and then… holidays for a week where I can spend it all editing.

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Outdoor Photo Shoot – Downtown Dryden

Monday, April 5, 2010 9:38 am Posted in Buildings, Group Get-togethers, Lighting, Lighting Equipment, Nik Silver Effects Pro, Photoshop CS4, Portraits, Topaz Detail

Yesterday we had scheduled a little outdoor photo shoot for fun and crossed our fingers the weather held out (or as it may, hoped it would turn for the better). Sure enough come Sunday morning the sun popped out and the temperature climbed just into the teens for a beautiful spring day.

This session was very informal and to be very short in duration. I had lined up Dave and Natasha again (they volunteered) and Kyla and James were also planning on coming out to pose for any photog who showed up. Yes… I forgot all about it being Easter Weekend… it was just a weekend off like I get every two weekends… holidays don’t mean much when you’re a shift worker as it’s either a day to work or not (or night for that matter). Needless to say once it was pointed out to me I wasn’t sure what kind of turnout we’d end up with as most I’m sure would be spending time doing the ole Easter thing?

I had talked to my niece the night before and asked her if she’d like to come along… Alex said yes quite enthusiastically. At 11am we took off in search of a watch battery…. “what do you mean stores are closed” were the words out of my mouth yet again having flashbacks to Friday… again… my weekend off… but forgetting that most do in fact get such things scheduled. Luckily for me Shoppers was open and had the battery I was looking for, a simple little item that would allow me to use my Cybersyncs and off-camera flash or have to rely on ambient for the days shoot.

Yep…. we’re in business, the flashes now worked and we were off. We settled in at Earl’s Court downtown to wait for the rest of the crew and soon enough Derek dropped by on his way to work, Andrew, Bruce, Sarah and Rob all showed up along with Dave and Natasha. Missing were Kyla and James… but we waited for a bit… then had to start our shoot..

My goal for the day was to shoot high contrast shots so I could bump up the detail if needed or convert them over to Black and White. I wanted something edgy today… not the traditional portraits…. something… different.

We started our shoot off in a little back alley on main street… a curved metal wall/roof where the paint was peeling quite badly. The problem with the location was the sun was only coming in off to the models upper left… up high… not even a bit in front of them to light up their faces. The big reflector came out…. as did the flashes and we started shooting…

For the next shot, I did two edits.

First one… straight up colour shot…

Second one… converted using SilverEffects

After this spot we took off to another alley behind the Sears building. Upon walking into the alley I look over and see Dave striking a pose. I only had a second or two, but luckily for me I had the camera lens cap off (yes… it is great advice) and the flash in the other hand still turned on as well. I roughly composed and fired off a shot…

We ended up further down the alley to find it quite cold… but there was this graffiti on the wall… the sun was hitting the wall… come on… why not… it’ll be warm up against the cement wall basking in the sun wouldn’t it? Why waste and oportunity for another shot or two.

Again… next shot is straight up colour

More after the break…. View full post »

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