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Spiderman

Skydiver Elof Wecksell posing on the outside of a Cessna Caravan.

Skydiver Elof Wecksell posing on the outside of a Cessna Caravan.
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Jan, 2015

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Awards

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Contest Finalist in Standing On The Edge Photo Contest

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Behind The Lens

Location

My Spiderman photo was taken in the air somewhere above the middle part of Sweden. The photo ship is a Cessna Caravan. I was there to take air-to-air pictures of an old Swedish bomber, the Saab B17 from 1943. Strapped in a harness not to fall out of the plane, I am sitting in the open door to get the shots. The spiderman guy is one of the load masters and was going skydiving as we were ready with the photo job. We had talked loosely before takeoff about taking some pictures as he jumped. Before he jumped he took this pose, smiled and held it long enough for me to get some nice shots. As it turned out these became the best shots of the whole photo shoot.

Time

We were up and about quite early since we were to catch the bomber as it was flying in to an airshow. This picture was taken about 08:30 am.

Lighting

The sun was really bright and the light was hard. Ideally, when doing air-to-air, I wish for nice warm evening light. But you don’t exactly get to decide for yourself when these guys are flying…

Equipment

I used a Canon 1d MkIV with the 16-35 2.8 lens.

Inspiration

The inspiration of this one was the model himself who had this idea of posing on the outside of the airplane. I am not sure I would have come to think of asking him to do a crazy stunt like this so I was lucky to have such a great model.

Editing

This picture was post processed in Photoshop to become black and white. This to take advantage of the sharp contrasts that the bright light gave me.

In my camera bag

My normal equipment for air-to-air is one Canon 1d MkIV with the 16-35 2.8 and one Canon 5d MkIII with the 70-200 2.8. If I would go up today I would exchange the Canon 1d MkIV for a 1dX since I have bought one since that time. The 70-200 is the lens I use the most, but I have had some really nice pictures taken also with the wide angle that I couldn’t have taken otherwise – this one for example. Many air-to-air photographers use the 24-70, which might be the logical choice to get the whole span from 24 to 200. Since I don’t own a 24-70 I have been using the 16-35 mounted on the 1d MkIV. With its crop factor I get almost the same range.

Feedback

When going on an air-to-air shoot you have to consider that you might have very little space to move around. If you are sitting with an open door it will be quite windy. That means you cannot have any loose parts on your camera or lens. Strap the camera to your harness. You should also have shoes that can’t blow off or duct tape them to your trousers. Then you’ll elude fluttering trouser legs and cold air up your legs. It will get cold and it will be noisy so warm clothing and some hearing protection is recommended. If you are shooting through a canopy or other window there might be some difficulties with auto focus so you should be prepared that you might have to focus manually. A big lens might be hard to maneuver due to wind and/or little space. Have fun and don't forget to look at the view without the camera too :)

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Spiderman

Skydiver Elof Wecksell posing on the outside of a Cessna Caravan.

Behind The Lens

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