Cessna taking off from Albert Whitted Airport St. Petersburg Florida - f/8 ISO 200 1/800th using shutter priorityEven though it is not entirely correct or perhaps in anyway connected, the inspiration for this post was, "One if by sea, two if by land." The only real connection between all four of these photographs is that they were taken from The Pier while I was otherwise engaged teaching a DSLR photography lesson. The photo of the Cessna plane above was taken with a student in practice for photographing eagles in Alaska. Tracking a small moving object can be tricky and is definitely a skill that needs to be repeatedly practiced and refined. This plane had just taken off from Albert Whitted Airport in downtown St. Petersburg.
Setting sail for Tampa Bay - f/7.1 ISO 200 1/800th using shutter priorityThis sailboat represents the whales the above student will photograph in Alaska. It is kind of funny how The Pier with a little imagination can be a single practice point for photographing the wide ranging wildlife of Alaska! For me, my goal with the sailboat shot was to get everything framed tightly and neatly regarding the boat's position in the frame, the location of the horizon and the predominantly cloud background.
Helicopter frozen in midair over Tampa Bay - f/4 ISO 200 1/4000th using aperture priorityA few months earlier, again with the same photo student, we were also on the roof of The Pier photographing anything that flew by. What does it take to freeze a helicopter's blades in motion? It would seem 1/4000th of a second does the job nicely. Helicopters always make me think of Magnum P.I.
Police ride jet skis in Florida - f/4 ISO 200 1/2500th using aperture priorityA few minutes later we were back to looking for waterborne subjects to photograph again and I saw for the first time a police jet ski! Personally, I am against jet skis and other similar watercraft they just seem to be "too much." They are incredibly noisy and it just seems so uncivilized for one person to be able to disrupt the Sea so much. To me it just looks disrespectful.
If not "one if by sea, two if by land" that what other connecting theme may you suggest for these four photos?