DSS 42 feedback wanted

mblonde

Shot this on a mission to Baghram Afghanistan within the past few days. C130 loadmaster watches outside a port window on the aircraft. He's looking for enemy fire as we transport a critically injured soldier.

rutt

This would be a slam dunk winner if you'd gotten the exposure right. I want his face to be properly exposed. The inside would still be plenty dark and outside the window would blown anyway.

mblonde

agreed on the exposure, but my circumstances are very limiting. I was duel hat if you will, once we got our patient stabilized, i looked for other shots that i good capture on the aircraft. There are some images of the patient that have become my personal favorites but because of the way the "world" is and ethics, i simply can't post them... Thanks much for the feedback

Tango

I wouldn't use this image simply because technically it's not there where it matters most... the face & eyes.

Do you use your spot meter? when exposing in an airplane I would think this would be a great tool to use. (whats your gear?)

mblonde

I did use the spot meter, after a couple tries and it was the best option...so im not sure i could have exposed it better. Also, flash isn't an option when flying in combat zones. Thanks for your input, appreciate you taking the time to comment

Tango

next time your in the plane maybe also shoot in bracket expo in rapid fire....

rainbow

Try a little more post-processing of your photo. You can bring the highlights down and the shadows up and get a more usable shot. I tried this on Adobe Elements 7 and got a better shot: realized he has a face shield over his eyes, which actually is probably better than eyes in this context. (I have already deleted shot from my PC -- I can also delete this if you prefer).

Tango

good job Rainbow, I assumed mblonde pushed it as far as it would go, so I didnt even think to ask....

Daddy0

Great shot even without all the PP trying to make it perfect. Under the circumstances, I'm surprised it came out as well as it did. Keep up the good work and try to bring all our boys home safe!!!

travelways

rainbow wrote:

Try a little more post-processing of your photo. ...

Great job, indeed

mblonde

I don't have the resources here to do any "real" PP so it's basically right out of the camera. On my screen it looks a bit grainy now after the post work. really appreciate the insight though, i wish i was home, shooting with my 5d instead of my xti and 18-55 f3.5. It's beyond dusty here, so i didn't want to subject my nice gear to this environment. Thought about having a 50mm f1.8 shipped, cheap and provides for better low light... Thanks again

mblonde

bracket exposure might work great, never tried it on the xti, it will be handheld though, and again i have no software to merge the images... im tryin!!!

Tango

oh man that bites not having software over there! best you can do is shoot raw & jpeg with setting as you wish (which aint bad most of the time IMO).

I dread for all the Raw files you come home with, it will take years to process!!(well at my speed it will take years)