Fire Fighting!

Amazing, dramatic shot. Bravoo!

Excellent vantage point for the drama unfolding below. Nice!

Wow!  This is amazing.  BRAVO and congratulations on a great capture.

Hi Janine,

I think I noticed once where you live and I'm pretty sure you are in B.C. I sure hope you are not anywhere near the Forest Fires!! It has been such a terrible season. We watch updates on the Weather Network and News. (I have a brother in Duncan on the Island and a brother in Canmore). BUT that being said, this is a fantastic and very dramatic capture!! Well done! I sure hope some rain comes soon to help the firefighters out.

in my thoughts, Gail

We have a cabin on Sproat Lk. right opposite this forest fire.  We have had two of the worlds largest water bombers on land at the lake until today when the government finally gave them a contract to fight this fire.  Unfortunately a lot of damage has all ready been done.  This fire could have been put out within an hour but has now burned over 125 hectares and is still out of control.

Latest update is the government hasn't signed a contract to have the Waterbombers fight the fire and it has now grown to over 250 h.

Oh Janine this is horrible and uncalled for!!!! what a loss for you at this beautiful place. The pictures truly show how close it is. The air quality must be terrible. I keep thinking of the wildlife and the birds!! Your hummingbirds must be affected terribly.....and the poor dogs.  It has to be so frustrating. I have not heard of any of this on the news. Government keeps saying they are doing the best they can.  This is a Travesty! I just looked at where you lake is and you are really not that far North of Duncan....well a good drive, but not that far. (brother Jamie is there)

It's a dramatic image, so has automatic impact. From a compositional view point I wish the plane was higher in the frame. It's a bit bottom heavy at present. In my opinion, a horizontal crop removing some of the sky would improve the image and would emphasize the right-to-left movement of the aircraft. Also the sharpness is a bit lacking (at least on the aircraft), possibly due to missed AF or too slow a shutter speed to freeze its movement.

Janine,
congratulations on POTW. Well deserved.

I would like to see this image presented for the weekly-post-processing challenge to see what others would do with it. Not sure I agree with Robin that the crop should be different, as I think the color adds much of the drama to the image and conveys the extent of the fire (though I'd have probably thought this was a plane crashing at sunset without the title), but it's certainly something to consider. I think a bit of 'clarity' and 'levels' adjustments might also work in the image's favor, and maybe a little bump in saturation (though I'm well aware of the overuse of such).

As presented, I don't find this to be as dramatic as others I've seen of similar subject matter, perhaps because there are no discernible flames, and because, as Robin notes, the plane is slightly out of focus. I think a little more separation between the plane and the retardant would add to the photo's impact.

Bill, the POTW is not an award or honor, but a selection the selectors believe can generate conversation (which they rarely do it seems). Some respondants might think it a great photo while others might not.

Bill,

Good point about crashing, although the title does tell us what it is. The sky is indeed important, which is why it is a shame the image is lacking in balance.

Lots of unrealized potential in the image. Colors are a bit dull - due to the image being underexposed. Agree with Robin that the image is bottom heavy - and wish the plane was higher up in the image; all quite likely due to focusing with the central AF area on the plane's nose and not recomposing afterwards. Cropping alone doesn't help much - the image needs to be extended to the left (and possibly to the bottom as well, but that's a tall order to do in post processing if the trees in the bottom right are to be preserved). Much easier to do it right in camera.
A slower shutter speed would have blurred the props more - but would have required panning with the plane which is quite difficult given the approach angle.

In the larger version the photo appears adequately sharp and appropriately exposed for the conditions and time (8:24 pm). A brighter exposure would be misleading.

At first glance the composition seems a bit odd, but after considering it awhile the somewhat unconventional framing suits the tension of the situation. The plane obviously appears unusually close to the ground, with the treetops visible. It would make a fine newspaper photo. And it's clearly a firefighting plane, given the context of the surrounding smoke and evening-orange sky, so even without the caption it wouldn't have occurred to me this plane might be crashing.

I like this image. It has a lot of visual impact. The action of the diving plane dropping it's water load is very well timed. The smoke and overall monotone orange color speaks to the fire situation and the danger present.
I think the composition could be improved some by a slight crop down from the top and made into a rectangle. that would help the balance of the image to a degree but a small point on an otherwise powerful picture.

Apologies to Janine for not viewing the larger version first. It does indeed show the plane in better focus. Some very nice shots in her portfolio. Perhaps the 'elves' would consider linking to the larger versions when posting.

Sunset time at Sproat Lake, B.C. on July 4 was 9:28PM - so the image is taken a full hour earlier (assuming, of course, that the camera time was set properly for the location - given the latitude (Vancouver), it should have still been quite bright out (sun about 10 degrees above horizon; though if there are mountains, that would change).

How much the fire and smoke influence the lighting conditions is everyone's guess - I was just going by the fact that - except for the yellow on the right side - the colors look dull and the white on the planes back is rendered quite gray - but that could just be caused by the smoke. Looking at the histogram now, I see that the red channel is blown all to smithereens already. IMHO, the plane could use another 2/3 to 1 stop exposure - but that's not knowing the real conditions at the time the picture was taken.

Then, of course, there is the question of whether the image is desired to reflect actual conditions or is tweaked for the sake of having more impact. At least for me, I'd boost things a bit - and could easily overdo it because I haven't witnessed the actual conditions.

Strange image - the angle of the plane and its probable speed mean that it is virtually impossible for it to lift up and avoid a crash (assuming the trees at its side are no more than about 50 to 150 feet tall). All this points to a collage of images. Even if it isn't faked, what makes it a memorable photo? I am looking....

Never occurred to me that it might have been faked. If it had been faked, it would not just be faked because, without a disclaimer, I would see it as fraud, since it's documenting something.

The memorability is in the event as much as the photo. Not all photos need to be memorable, IMO. This one could likely punctuate a story about the fires or the firefighting. It's just a moment in time, something unusual to be seen. Fleeting is fine.

The colors seem off to me, though I've seen first-hand the effect of forest fires on the color of atmosphere and lighting and it can be strange indeed. I do think a crop from the top, making the format more horizontal, would provide a good step-up in dynamics.

Good feel for the moment.

Great catch Janine! real life image of the moment with the yellow orange colour and smoke capture the real dramar of danger and urgency. A bit slower shutter speed probably would allow the propeller to blur would add more but I am amaze that you are still compose to catch this while the file is on going. TFS!

I think Janine addressed most, if not all, of the deficiencies previous comments have mentioned in another image covering the same subject matter. See http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=18061633. The crop is significantly different. The colors are more vibrant, and there is a dramatic contrast between the smoke from the fire and the substance the plane is dropping. This is the image the Elves should have picked!

I still find the angle of the plane physically improbable (whether collage or not) and somewhat disturbing as a composition, as the relation of its angle and that of the trees (perfectly vertical) seem to suggest. Michael's reference shows a plane in a much more normal appearance and a more astounding presence of chemicals (I hope her boat was at a safe distance). I don't necessarily agree that the elve's ought to have picked the latter photo, as the objective of POW is to create comments and discussion about the image and not necessarily highlight what appears to be a successful photo. However, either photo is interesting by showing us a seldom seen (up close) action.

The image which Michael claims should have been chosen by the Elves was not even posted to Janine's page when the potw selection above was posted earlier this week.

The image Michael linked to looks over-processed with a heavy hand. Earlier in the week, out of curiosity and after reading Lex's comment, I made an attempt at opening up the shadow under the plane and increasing detail so I know that it can be done subtly while still being effective.

The image as posted as potw is perfectly acceptable as an example of seeing an interesting event unfolding, pointing a camera at it and pressing the shutter. As a news photo it succeeds. Trying to make anything more of it becomes problematic.