Exceeding our Expectations – Rob Van Petten
Suddenly, there is a magic moment when a crazy combination of events occurs at one perfect instant and we capture a special happenstance. It’s something better than we had ever anticipated.
Throughout photo history these crazy things have happened and document some of the most notable events because they are caught by a ready and available photographer.
Years ago I was shown a box of 4×5 negatives made by Murray Becker who happened to be taking a shot of the Hindenberg as it docked in Lakewood, NJ on May 6,1937. Suddenly an electrical charge in the air ignited a catastrophic hydrogen explosion. Becker’s images were transmitted globally and showed the grim reality of the historic tragedy which soon ended lighter-than-air transportation.
Becker had raised his camera when the air ship was docking, as he had done several times before. But this time – BABOOM – he shot 15 iconic historic images in 32 seconds. The point is he took the opportunity to shoot the shot again and it paid off.
That’s a huge historical version of the “better than expected” phenomenon. Everyday shooting can take on a degree of excellence beyond expectations on a regular basis too. On a smaller scale these unexpected events occur when we are toting our cameras and ready for something to catch our eye. Colors and shapes, light, birds take flight, sunsets project amazIng patterns on the sky, or just the shear success of balancing elements in a composition when it all comes together can create results beyond what we expect.
This notion of exceeding our expectations is the magic fuel for creativity. When I get a good one, I’m inspired. I know I’m good for a month of mundane catalog shots.
Give yourself the physical opportunity. You can think about it, read about it, talk about it, but in photography the process requires you put something in front of a camera and get it right. No excuses. If you don’t get it right, it shows. Photography connects expectations with results very quickly. That can be very gratifying or very frustrating.
The greatest inspiration comes from exceeding our own expectations. That’s the wow shot. It means you have grown. You have a new standard. You have made something more beautiful than you thought by your efforts. Tremendously satisfying. That to me is the biggest magic in photography. I look for that in myself. When it happens on a job, it is rewarding to my clients and our relationship as well, but ultimately it is for me. It’s the fuel that propels me creatively. It’s addictive.
Walking through the barn early in the morning with my D800, I discovered my daughter having a heart to heart chat with Knight – pointed and shot. Aperature priority F/4 and the shutter chose 1/60th which should not have been this sharp. It amazed me, and this is one of my favorite images ever.
For a cosmetics shot, I knew I wanted the big light bokeh dots in the background which meant shooting wide open. It was getting late. I was getting a tripod out of trunk when a street fight broke out behind us. I simply rested the camera on the roof of the car for stability and squeezed off about 10 frames. Better than I ever expected… and we were outa there.
Shoe advertising. I kept them jumping and doing stunts and it looked the same. I changed to the 16mm fish-eye and all of a sudden the shot was as crazy as they were.
Maybe my favorite. As she rocked back and forth, the sword got stuck and , and we got off balance creating this angle, hair swing and sidelong glance… It could not have been a better mistake.
I went off with a friend early in the morning to shoot birds. We were unlucky and couldn’t find any bird to shoot. However while returning my friend was driving the car and I was sitting next to him, windows open and with camera in my hand when I saw this bird. It was there only for a sec but got it in that sec. This shot made the entire trip worthwhile.
While below shot could be common shot but I did not plan it. Was shooting some other bird I saw this bird passing my frame through my viewfinder when I shot it.
As I sat at my little table, I watched a bald eagle perch on this old, weather-worn pole outside the window of the dining area. Suddenly, a raven showed up and started making pass after pass at the eagle–dive bombing him. My jaw hit the floor. My eye knew it could produce a moment I’d want to hang on to. Heck, it was one of the first times I’d ever seen a bald eagle in the wild and I wasn’t expecting anything so dramatic. I dashed upstairs to get my camera and lens, but when I came back down the raven was gone and the drama had ended. I sat there waiting and wishing and waiting. Nothing. I was down to my last spoonfuls of oats when the raven reappeared and renewed the acrobatic tension. I bolted outside. Thanks to the speedy 7 fps of the D300s I was carrying (I’ve wondered if my current body would have secured this shot at 4 fps), I got one of my favorite shots of the whole trip. The sky sucked and came out flat white, but the moment was just what I never knew I’d always wanted. It’s now on the wall in my office.
BioArt:Wow. That is one of those amazing unexpected moments. This is the stuff I love about photography. The camera can stop this kind of action when the eye cannot. This is the magic stuff that cameras can do. I love the wings in motion while the rest of the feathers and birds face and claws are tack sharp. Shooting most anything in motion is shooting with unknown results. When you get one like this it’s totally rewarding.
rajnishjaiswal:Wow. That is one of those amazing unexpected moments. This is the stuff I love about photography. The camera can stop this kind of action when the eye cannot. This is the magic stuff that cameras can do. I love the wings in motion while the rest of the feathers and birds face and claws are tack sharp. Shooting most anything in motion is shooting with unknown results. When you get one like this it’s totally rewarding.
Edson_Matthews:That’s a great story. It’s being prepared and waiting for something special to happen at any time. This has so many symbolic suggestions. Did you stock this picture out? It even has great copy space.
Carrying a camera with you always is the best preparedness. Every time you walk out the door you ask yourself, ” What does the light look like? Where is the sun? Is my camera set up for the most likely happenstance?” Then you can act on opportunities like this, no matter what your subject matter.
Personally I like the white background. You couldn’t have gotten that any better in a studio or in Photoshop. It’s such a great moment it hardly looks real. Great story. Better than your expectations.
shottwokill:This is one of those perfect situations where you take a chance and try to follow the action and there is a lot of risk – and then BANG – you got it. This is a great one. There’s so much to look at in this shot. You had good contrasty light to charge up all the silks on the jockeys and define all the muscles on these wet horses. This is a beauty. This is not easy to follow the horses, get a clear point of view, anticipate the shutter speed that will get most sharp and still blur the background into a set of horizontal brush strokes. Then to have all four feet off the ground is pretty cool. I especially like the reaching front legs of the back horse. If this were a painting it would not be half as believable. The fact that you got this with a D800 is impressive. Is this a high ISO image? You hit the moment. This is what I’m talking about.
Rob Van Petten:First, I appreciate the kinds words. I took a number of panning shots that day and there were a couple others I liked but when I saw this one, I thought it had that Bonus appeal. This was a higher ISO image (3200). It was taken with an 80-200 f2.8 lens. Although older, still pretty darn sharp. As you indicate the shutter speed has to be fast enough to catch the subject as you are moving with it but slow enough to blur the background. I think people do not always give the D800 enough credit for some applications. Granted the continuous fps isn’t the fastest and You pros would certainly want to have the better tool for the job, But I’ve had successful shots both anticipating the event while timing the single shot and machine gunning the shutter (if you can call 4 fps machine gunning) Even that is 250 milli seconds per shot. That speed will work in many situations but you do have to work a little harder anticipating the action and capturing the event and sometimes push the equipment. Sometimes it all happens just right and it’s a good feeling when one (as you say) ‘Hits the moment’.
shottwokill:Thanks for all the tech data on the shot. The 80 – 200mm F/2.8 is still one of my favorite lenses. My issue is probably 20 years old and shows the scars, but it still performs and is sharp and gorgeous on faces. You don’t have to convince me on that one. I wasn’t disparaging the D800. It is my favorite general camera. It’s just a slower fps body and has vibration blur issues at times with high speed situations based on the file size. The D800 is still my regular body of choice. 36.3 mp is why. I will work around the fps, and the vibration sensitivity of the machine because I have gotten the best images from this body way back to prototypes I shot long before the camera was released. That is a magic combination. D800 and 80-200mm works. When you say “You Pros” would want to have better tools… I don’t know what better tools there are. Many non-pros have better gear than most of the pros. Remember that every dime the pros make comes from using that gear, and has to support the mortgage, the insurance, the kids tuition, snow tires and lastly the new gear. If the gear is still cranking it doesn’t get replaced. We pros may know the nuances of getting the most out of that gear, but my classes and workshops have proven to me that my lenses and bodies are usually not the fairest of them all. But back to hitting that special moment…
Nice shot, and thanks for all the info. I had a feeling that was the lens.
The first one is of Sonny Del-Rio who is a well known rock n roll sax man in my part of Canada. His onstage kitsch is Hawaiian patterned shirts and red running shoes. I felt it was time to elevate him to elder statesman status.
The second is a young lady I brought in to play with lighting. It turns out she has a penchant for and the look to pull off older style poses.
Crap! I think I used the wrong size settings when I grabbed the links. Sorry about that.
Ivan Sorensen | www.ivansorensenphotography.com:By “Custom Portraiture” I assume you mean a non-formula approach to lighting and designing an individual shot around the qualities and characteristics of that person. Many portrait shots are executed with a lighting formula or follow a format and a system of mechanical steps to arrive a a final result.
Maybe what you’e trying to do is tailor the design and feel of the photo to what strikes you as unique to the subject. Am I getting close?
In any case, this is a really nice portrait of Saxophone Sonny Del-Rio. The lighting really highlights the guy with his sax in a classic but still relevant way. This has some of the qualities of the single light Irving Penn portraits. It’s got a lot of very appealing qualities. The rendering of textures and skin tones and the dynamics of the light and dark almost black shadow gives this strength.
The female model has got a cute playful quality, and some of that is the success of the bright key light. The eye contact is connective, but moreover, I think you arrived at a style of shot and controlled capture quality that you don’t get in most of you performance images.
These are really nice – a big step in exceeding your expectations, especially Sonny with the sax.
