Fun with a helicopter

Tobers

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I've got a little commercial shoot to do for a helicopter charter company. Inspired by this Strobist post, I decided to do some remote flash stuff as it looks deeply cool and very different from the usual "here's a helicopter" shots that all the other charter companies seem to have.

Yesterday's plan was to visit the company and check out how to set up the shots, where to place flashes, logisitics for in flight stuff etc. and prepare for the actual shoot sometime in the next fortnight. My plan to do a dual-helicopter shoot with me in one shooting the other as it passed over a gridlocked M25 was wrecked as it became clear that it costs £800/hour to put a single helicopter in the air, and just landing one of them costs £50 in landing fees.

So we decided to prep for some simple in-flight shots with a flashed interior and lit pilot and probable passenger looking happy & relaxed in the back.

The idea is to do the shots at or near dusk and underexpose a dramatic sky. Shutter speed to have blurred rotor blades is about 1/125th so that decides one of the variables. Aperture is determined by the amount I want to underexpose the background sky, flash power is determined by the balance of light required in the cockpit and the rear passenger compartment, leaving ISO as the remaining variable.

So here's a couple of test shots with our own lighting guru Gordon being the fly-boy.

#1 Seeing how far away the Pocket Wizards work. Strangely the front flash stopped working as distance increased but the rear was fine - we think the avionics are interfering with the front PW somehow - we'll need to figure out a solution for this. We were checking the light balance front and rear as well.
393281778_zGHQG-M.jpg


#2 Close in shot. The sky is too bright so we need to shoot a bit later in the day. I can always fiddle with it in post processing but it would be nice to get right first time. Flash balance and positioning looks good. Rotor blur added in Photoshop as we couldn't find the keys to start it.
393281923_yQJ5a-M.jpg


I'll update you all as this progresses. I'm hoping for some super shots that the company can use on their web site and promo material.

Cheers!

Tobers
 
we think the avionics are interfering with the front PW somehow - we'll need to figure out a solution for this.
I'd be more worried that the pocket wizards were interfering with the avionics:eek:

Great stuff tobers - sounds like a really exciting project for you both.
 
Fantastic! Sounds like great fun.

Do the pocket wizards have a relay mode - also depends on how many pocket wizards you actually have. Failing that, could you pocket wizard the rear flash - if that's the one that's working consistently and then fire the front one with an optical slave - much cheaper option but I've never tried it.

By the way, did you approach the helicopter company with a proposal? I'm curious as to how it all came about.

Can't wait for further installments!

Cheers.
 
By the way, did you approach the helicopter company with a proposal? I'm curious as to how it all came about.

Yes, I was wondering that - did you see the strobist blog and then start ringing helicopter companies, or was it just great timing?
 
Interesting job - I did a similar job for a private plane charter company many moons ago. We flew 3 planes over the Severn bridge - at £500 an hour :eek: and I shot two in formation from the third. Talk about pressure to get the shot right :D Shooting film in those days as well. Yikes.

I'll see if I can dig out the result (I'm always wary of posting any work from my commercial days for fear of copyright infringement)

I like the idea of the remote flash - works nicely on the second shot. I'm assuming you added motion blur to the blades?
 
I like #2 :thumbsup: I'd maybe of had a little less sky at the top and a bit more of the nose of the helicopter in the shot
 
Looks like you will be having some fun........are you sure two flashes will be enough? What about umbrellas, softboxes etc etc :devil:

Looking forward to the results!
 
Another great gig, and a helicopter this time - you're certainly 'going up' in the world :D

Looking forward to seeing the end result.
 
Softboxes etc - not enough space in the front of the heli for that - it's really tight and having a softbox flapping about whilst flying would be unwise. Could put one in the back but it seems to work OK as is. Might put a diffuser on the rear one though. We do have 4 flashes available though!! And I do need an umbrella now you mention it, but for something different :D.

Do the pocket wizards have a relay mode - also depends on how many pocket wizards you actually have. Failing that, could you pocket wizard the rear flash - if that's the one that's working consistently and then fire the front one with an optical slave - much cheaper option but I've never tried it.

Gordon has 3 PWs (I must buy my own sometime soon!!) and one PW should be able to trigger the other. Optical slave wont work as they aren't in line of sight unfortunately and the flashes are different types. Could give it a go through....

By the way, did you approach the helicopter company with a proposal? I'm curious as to how it all came about.

It's a polo connection - one of the team owners runs the heli business and I suggested we could do some of this cool stuff and he was up for it so happy days.
 
I like #2 :thumbsup: I'd maybe of had a little less sky at the top and a bit more of the nose of the helicopter in the shot
Then you'd see the trees and hangers and work out the heli was actually on the ground and some burke had photoshopped in the blur on the rotor blades :rotfl:. It was just a test to get the overall look sorted so the client could see what I was after, hence loads of sky.

Yes, I was wondering that - did you see the strobist blog and then start ringing helicopter companies, or was it just great timing?
I spoke to the owner first, then saw the strobist shot coincidentally 2 days later and went "wow!!!" and pursued it with vigour.

And damn those pesky avionics interfering with the flash setup!! :rotfl:
I reckon I'd blow the thing up if I used my dodgy eBay Cactus triggers :devil:
 
Here's another showing the illuminated rear as well. Might need to pop a bit more power on the rear flash, but I'll be having a passenger in there looking happy and relaxed so I'll need to watch that I dont blow everything out. The real shots will have the heli in the air with wheels up so should look outrageously cool.

393281848_ZGowo-M.jpg


Another consideration is a 580EXII going off in the pilot's eyes as he flies about at low level. I'll worry about that later :devil:.
 
Gordon has 3 PWs (I must buy my own sometime soon!!) and one PW should be able to trigger the other. Optical slave wont work as they aren't in line of sight unfortunately and the flashes are different types. Could give it a go through....

From memory of reading the Strobist write up it sounded like he had multiple redundancy with a PW in relay and the built in optical slave mode (SU-4 I think on the Nikon flashes) enabled. I'm not sure if the same is possible with Canon kit as you'd have to connect an optical slave physically to the unit and that may need the same connection as the PW - I don't know enough about either.

I'd be surprised if the optical trigger didn't work in such a confined space as I would have thought light would have been bouncing around all over the place in there.

I'm sure you'll get it all worked out anyway.

Have you got a date for the real shoot lined up?

Cheers.
 
Unfortunately, the front flash is rammed between the instrument binnacle and the windscreen strut so the IR sensor will be covered. It's a good idea though - we could try a 580 in master in the back and a 430 in slave in the front but also tied to a PW...if we can expose the sensor of the 430. It would be good to have redundancy there for sure.

No specirfic date for the shoot yet - sometime in the next 2 weeks weather permitting.
 
cool:cool:

Nice one Tobers These commissions keep coming thick and fast...chuffed for ya:smashin:

I noticed that heli feature on strobist a while back....Great idea to impliment here..Hope it works for you:)
 
Here's another showing the illuminated rear as well. Might need to pop a bit more power on the rear flash, but I'll be having a passenger in there looking happy and relaxed so I'll need to watch that I dont blow everything out. The real shots will have the heli in the air with wheels up so should look outrageously cool.

393281848_ZGowo-M.jpg


Another consideration is a 580EXII going off in the pilot's eyes as he flies about at low level. I'll worry about that later :devil:.

nice - I would be inclined to shoot this landscape (5x7 approx) and have the rotor blade leading to the top right corner of the frame. Would look great.

Top work and well deserved....
 
Love that last image, Tobers - Can't wait to see the final airborne images!
It's a really photogenic heli too - nice and stealth :)
 
And here's the final result :cool:.

Gordon and I set up the actual shoot this afternoon and turned up well prepped from the previous visit. Everything charged, enough lenses & bodies to keep us busy, flashes everywhere and a bunch of Pocketwizards.

And so to the hanger. It's the first time I've ever been asked "which helicopter would you like to use"!!! They are all twin-turbine Agusta 109's so I chose a dark coloured one that would look more cool. Gordon & I helped roll it out of its hanger and onto a nice little parking spot.

#1 First job was to do some PR photos of Philip, the boss of Rotormotion (biggest Agusta fleet in the world if you ever need one). Nailed these with Gordon's help as senior reflector holder. Helicopter in the background, blurred to various extents using a 50mm 1.4 (great lens!!!). All look pretty good but not for sharing yet. Here's one of Gordon so you get the flavour:
[imglink]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3053/2984137033_8be698da55.jpg[/imglink]

#2 Here she is ready to go:
[imglink]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3164/2984995160_d925c1c774.jpg[/imglink]

#3 I particularly wanted a low-down shot taken as the heli took off. I roped in my brave and fearless companion. As you can see, we had two flashes in the heli, a 580EXII taped to the front windscreen strut firing up & back, with the inbuilt diffuser engaged and at 1/4 power, and a Vivitar in the rear at 1/8 power bouncing light around the back. Both triggered by Pocketwizards.
[imglink]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3204/2984995536_d6f6cfbc70.jpg[/imglink]

As you can see, I've underexposed the background by about a stop to add drama to the in-flight shots. I'd earlier determined that 1/125th shutter speed was ideal for blurring the rotor blades a tad, so that was the shutter speed fixed. The variables left were the flash power which we'd previously sorted & balanced, leaving aperture & ISO. I left ISO on 100 and sorted an aperture of f/7.1-f/8 to give the right exposure. Gathering dusk made it important to get the shoot done quickly as opening the aperture further would have resulted in the flashes appearing overexposed.

#4 Here's a takeoff shot taken by me - Gordon is immediately under the heli at this point :eek: :rotfl:.
[imglink]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3153/2984995922_b13735cc8a.jpg[/imglink]

#5 A "Gordon's Eye" view
[imglink]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3232/2984996882_5e3da210cc.jpg[/imglink]

#6 Then onto the in-flight shots. I'd briefed Philip the boss and pilot to do clockwise circles around me and worked out some hand signals to ensure we got the height of the heli right so there were no trees in the background. Here's the first high-speed pass as he was getting sorted out. Looks cool with wheels up I reckon.
[imglink]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3191/2984139823_43e04963c1.jpg[/imglink]

#7 I'd said during the briefing that I wanted some banked shots so the heli was perpendicular to the lens, like this. Note the rear flash recycling time was a bit long so didn't fire in this shot, but I'm not overly worried about that due to the rear just being a large expanse of white leather.
[imglink]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3248/2984996390_86b684c275.jpg[/imglink]

#8 And I was after a more front 3/4 angle too like this. I think this is the pick of the day. Lots of room to put a big long ROTORMOTION logo along the top too :smashin::
[imglink]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3195/2984996644_bc16cec873.jpg[/imglink]

#9 and just for interest, here's me and the heli just to show the sort of bank angles we were playing with.
[imglink]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3247/2984997114_7f169f1840.jpg[/imglink]

Fun or what. Really enjoyed it. Huge thanks to Gordon for loan of his brain, body and flash gear, and to Philip at Rotormotion for lending me a gazillion quid helicopter to play with.

Tobers
 
What a great read and some great work you are doing. :thumbsup:
 
Fantastic photos, a very interesting read. 5 and 8 are probably my favourites. Great work. :thumbsup:
 

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