Over the years I have spent a lot of time shooting statics of aircraft and the one thing that I have learned is that you need to be creative and find different shots. Sure it’s great to get the standard head on portraits and tail shots, then there are the side views and detail shots but most of the time they have similar backgrounds. Finding a static image with something a little more unusual is a challenge. Thankfully, mother nature can help with that.
The one plane that I have certainly spent my fair share of time around is the B-25 Mitchell Bomber. I just love this plane. It has great history and a great look that even when sitting on the ground it looks mean. Well this particular one is the B-25J Betty’s Dream, owned by the Texas Flying Legends Museum and is one that I have photographed numerous times in the past. Well this morning in North Dakota marked a first and that was the smoke filled sky was so thick that the sun was just a red dot all through sunrise. To be fair we were all a little stumped that morning as to what made the best image as the plane really didn’t light up that much and neither did the clouds. One thing that I played with was the exposure compensation. It was one of the ways you could add drama into the scene in the camera. By underexposing -3.0 I was able to get this image with a little help finishing in ACR. The only other technique that helps add more drama was getting down low and shooting up at the plane making the plane seem smaller.