I could list the wildlife photographers for you that are renowned for their amazing images in nature. Typically their photos are captured under the most demanding conditions. But I wonʼt! However, letʼs agree that their patience, endurance, intuition and talent deserves two thumbs up!

The other day I took to the field to do whatever it would take to photograph my first American Eagle. This was no casual effort by the way. I had escorts and was required to be cleared for this assignment by security.

This American Eagle was a “Regional Jet” operated for American Airlines by American Eagle Airlines. This eagle would land and rise again with the help of a dedicated captain, his cabin crew and a ground crew – all of whom know no limits when it comes to making your experience the best it can be. You, by the way, are the passenger on this journey.

My assignment came to me when I learned of the quality of work this crew provides – all of which was stimulated primarily by a key factor, “a superb safety record.”

Location: Fresno Yosemite international Airport

Weather: Are you kidding me?

The weather in central California has been 100° plus or minus for the past two months – without missing a beat of blazing sunlight.

When I awoke on this morning my room seem darker than normal. “No way!” This was the thought that jumped into my mind when I realized, yes, “way,” it was raining.

Did the weather controllers not understand my assignment?

My American Eagle is a plane and its crew, not a bird and its nest out in the wilderness. So be it.

“Canʼt use my Westcott umbrellas now with this wind,” I determined.

That was okay because I quickly decided to use a new methodology which left me shooting from the hip. Iʼll bring my own sunlight in the form of a number of Nikon strobes and implement Nikonʼs creative lighting system (CLS). The advantage of this system is that a number of strobes can be placed in and around the scene, then triggered and controlled by a commander unit from the camera. This gives me the opportunity to have light fall wherever I decide.

It was time to load my gear and get to the location. Upon my arrival, American Eagle’s General Manager, Jeffrey Asbury, had one of his ground crew supervisors meet me at the ticket counter. They escorted my assistant, Mark Wojdylak, and I through security and out to the airfield. We established a staging area for my photo gear and began setting up the first shot.

While setting up lights from scene to scene, creating images, the rain increased to a point where I was concerned about my gear. My assistant, Mark, an avid fan of wildlife photography, assured me that this is tough gear and shy of a torrential downpour I have nothing to worry about. Then he handed me a soft towel so I could wipe the lens on my camera and continue my work.

A number of scenarios were staged, then captured. Here is one photograph that has the potential of being a useful shot. However, there really are a number of things about this photograph that could be improved. I’ll speak about that in a moment.

Pictured above is station agent Jeremy Torre. I asked Jeremy to stand boldly then positioned myself below eye level to capture some of the jetway overhead. I also aligned myself to include a number of strategic items in this composition. Iʼll point these out.

First and most obvious, of course is the American Airlines logo. Next in the distance is the red and white checkered wall and also the gate number on a distant jetway.

In terms of composition, I took advantage of repetitious shapes and angles to help provide this image with an inherent natural motion. Notice the angle of the jetway and how it matches the angle of the lift arms. Notice the angle of the orange hydraulic push on the extreme right side of the image. See how it matches the angle of the “A” on the first letter of the American Airlines icon?

Notice also that the handle protruding up in front of Jeremy and the entry area of the lift repeat angles. I also took time positioning the two orange ground markers in the opening of the lift’s entryway. These, too, actually repeat the two “A’s” in the logo.

The last thing to notice is that the subject [Jeremy] in this image is completely surrounded by open space – in this case the gray cloudy sky.

In photography, gray is good because it complements anything in the entire color spectrum. In fact, Photoshop users, if youʼre not using a gray background on the user interface of your installation of Photoshop, bookmark your location on this article now, then go change it to gray because any other color is throwing off your ability to render images accurately. Go ahead… I’ll wait!

“Oh, how do you make that change?” Sure, I’ll help.

To change the color of the background in Photoshop CS4 go to the interface section in Photoshop’s preferences and change your standard screen mode to gray. If you have a document open and the color surrounding your document is not gray, simply right click in the area surrounding your document, within the boundaries of your document window, and choose gray. Alternatively, you can select a medium or darker tone of gray from your color swatches, then select your bucket tool (keyboard shortcut G or shift G to toggle between the gradient tool and the bucket fill tool) and click in the area surrounding your document while holding the shift key. That will fill that area with your foreground color (gray).

Back to this example image.

You might look at this photograph, consider my numerous composition notes and think itʼs a bunch of hogwash. In defense of creating easy to look at photographs imagine a bunch of busy clutter behind the subject. What good would that do anyone? There actually is a controlling flow and motion to this image. This helps the eyes to look at the picture and keep the viewer’s attention. Even the position of Jeremyʼs arms have a purposely classical styling. Arms positions were a huge thing in Baroque painting, heavily (and exaggeratedly) used by the great masters during the Renaissance. There are directional patterns inherent in this composition that control the viewers eyes. This is all carefully calculated and contrived.

Now letʼs talk about whatʼs wrong with this photograph because there are a number of things going on that are just atrocious. First of all the American Airlines logo is faded from the UV penetration of the sun and that wonʼt do. Next, as much as I love that red ball cap and appreciate a dedicated sports fan, I would sure like to see an American Airlines logo in place there instead. The hand written felt marker name on the safety vest is not going to work for me either.

Iʼd like to see a little more light in the eyes. Iʼd also like to see a cleaner, less weathered, lift. I donʼt mind all the open space in the sky but it might be fun to bump up the contrast and density of the clouds a little bit. Finally, we might even play with some contrived lens flare. This (Photoshop) filter is one that we must be very careful with and never overuse. I have a feeling we can pull something interesting off using lens flare on this photograph though.

In Part II of this article, I’ll walk you through all of the steps I use in post production so we can see just how great we can make this image look.

I assure you the difference will be amazing and Photoshop users will really enjoy the techniques I use to make it happen.

For now, please fasten your seat belts and have a great flight!