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The Pitts Special (company designations S1 and S2) is a series of light aerobatic biplanes designed by Curtis Pitts. It has accumulated many competition wins since its first flight in 1944. The Pitts biplanes dominated world aerobatic competition in the 1960s and 1970s and, even today, remain a potent competition aircraft in the lower categories. Curtis Pitts began the design of a single-seat aerobatic biplane in 19431944. The design has been refined continuously since the prototype's first flight in September 1944, however, the current Pitts S2 still remains quite close to the original in concept and in design. Several of the aircraft that Curtis Pitts built had a picture of a skunk on them and were called "Stinkers". After she bought it, aerobatic performer Betty Skelton called the second aircraft that Curtis built, "Lil' Stinker". The prototype S-2, which was the first two-seat Pitts, was "Big Stinker", the prototype Model 11 (later called S1-11B) was "Super Stinker", and the prototype Model 12 was the "Macho Stinker".
A great deal of planning and passion goes into each large format image...
The Concept...
First I sketch out what I want the nal image to look like and then create a shot list for the various parts of the image. Locations need to be identi ed for the background and aircraft shots and models need to be hired. Only then am I ready to shoot the various parts of the image.
The Plane...
By shooting the plane by itself on the ground in a controlled situation, I can get much better detail and dynamic range in the image than shooting in the air. The plane is set up at the right angle with the shadow in the right direction. The pilot is positioned and looking in the right direction and the plane is trimmed out with the control surfaces in the correct positions. Multiple shots are taken at various exposures and different angles can be easily achieved during the photo session.
The Background...
This is where you have to wait for nature to behave. The air to ground or cloud formation shots have to be taken at the right time of day with the shadows in the correct position. When you are just shooting the background from the air and not worrying about exposing a plane correctly, you are able to create more dynamic views and color saturation that meld together and make the aircraft pop out of the image.
The Creation...
There are no short cuts in creating the nal large format photo illustration. You start by editing fty or so shots down to the ten that will be used in the nal master image. This is where my background as a designer/artist comes in. The nal 2 GB master image can take forty hours or more of painstakingly detailed work to combine all the photos, re-illustrate parts of the scene and to color balance the nal image to achieve the original vision.