Tigercat

[DB2]

It was a sad day when she left Galveston for good, but I am really glad to see her flying so much and that she is getting so much good press.

I had heard the reason she never flew for very long at Galveston was that, during the restoration, the wrong spec hydraulic lines had been installed. Anyone now if that was true? I always thought it odd such an obvious mistake could have been made.

[treadigraph]

One of my favourites, too, I'm certainly going to miss The Fighter Collection's example in the UK. Dear Santa...

Love the pictures all you folk post by the way, always cheers up the day.

[Sasquatch]

Gorgeous shots of the Tigercat guys...really excellent.

Question for you, Neal...your photos are so incredibly razor sharp...other than being an a$$-kicking photographer, can you share a few details about the equipment you used for those awesome close-ups? Is that film or digital, and did you use a gyro-mega tele or what? As a budding warbird photog, any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Again...GREAT shots guys!

[PhantomAce08]

More pics!!!

[Neal Nurmi]

Equipment -- fairly standard semipro Nikon stuff -- nothing at all exotic. The Tigercat stuff is all digital D200 with 300 mm F4, the closeup with a 1.4x extender on the 300. I just went digital a year ago after almost 35 years of film. I've been doing this a very long time, (my first Nikon was an F with no meter that a friend of mine had gotten while on an alcohol soaked R&R in Hong Kong in the very early 70s and never learned how to use!).

Other than very careful technique and lots of experience, I rely on access and shooting a lot of images so as to have lots of choices for later use. Having a Press Pass at Reno, for instance, is wonderful -- unparallelled proximity to the machines and choice of dynamic angles.

A lot really is experience, though -- as shown by the shot of the Cat against the gray rather than blue background. We had a couple of days of truly crappy conditions at Reno last year --cold, overcast and windy. I got almost nothing that was very impressive for a day and a half. Finally we started to get some sun poking through the heavy crud. I waited til we had airlpanes in the sunny spots -- exposed for the sunlit airplane and let the sky do what it would. The result is a striking (to me at least) and unusual image.

One big advantage I have is that I learned my craft on all manual everything cameras that were really primitive by today's standards. This requires that one know what effect each setting change will have, and know the effects of changes of direction and quality of light , time of day, aperture vs depth of field, over or underexposure, etc. etc. Films were slow -- if you're going to shoot airplanes with ASA 25 Kodachrome, you'd better have good physical technique! We have a whole generation of pretty good photographers these days who really know very little about why their images work or don't work, because their incredibly capable digital toys do all the work, and don't require much thought to get an acceptable image. There's a difference between acceptable and exceptional.

Here's another crappy day shot...

[vg-photo]

It may have been a crappy day, but it's still a nice image.

[Neal Nurmi]

Thanks -- as I pointed out, the crappiness of the day actually enhanced the image in some ways. A whole portfolio of those would be a bit boring, but they do add spice to a presentation or article...

Like I said, access and paying attention helps too -- this unusual view of a Sea Fury is by my wife and partner Birgitta (on Fujichrome, by the way -- she's still pretty intimidated by all this digital foofarah).

[jbell]

Neal, I pm'd you but got no response. Do you sell prints or posters of these photos? Love these shots...........John

[Sasquatch]

Thanks Neal, I appreciate your willingness to share a bit of your knowledge about your aviaition photography with us. I can see that in this business, prime lenses are the way to go...expensive glass, but definitely worth it. I love how crisp your photos look...really nice stuff!

--Tom

[Neal Nurmi]

John -- did get your PM, but haven't gotten it together to reply yet. The short answer is yes, I do sometimes sell prints. Depends on my mood I guess -- I don't really need the money, making good prints can be a lot of work, and it's almost impossible to sell enough prints to even begin to really offset what I spend to get the shots. My prints are (have to be, given what I spend!) somewhat expensive too, which has always cut down my sales when I've tried to sell.

Anyway, I do have a print for you if you still want it -- I'll PM you.

[Neal Nurmi]

Thanks Tom -- I am afraid that in this business you do indeed get what you pay for to a degree, but results really depend even more on technique and hard work ( including work away from airshows so you're not trying to learn and missing good stuff through not knowing your equipment).

A lot of warbirds have been lost to us over the years because of pilots not reading the manuals and not knowing the cockpit layout and controls BEFORE starting the engine! I'm afraid the same applies to photography...

[jbell]

Thanks Neal. Didn't mean to rush you, looking forward to your reply..............John