Night jump photography

[MWDWCIS 0]

I am looking for an experienced photographer with a significant resume who can minimally illuminate a single jumper on a night jump while catching the full moon in the background, clouds illuminated with moonlight, and the Moon's reflection on the ocean with no land in sight.
Cloud Dancer

[quade 3]

First, let me say that this would be a difficult shot without the skydiving aspect, but adding the freefall element makes it extremely challenging if not impossible.
The single largest challenge will be making the full moon large enough in your photo so that it's recognizable as such. The second thing will be to take the photo early enough in the evening so that it's nearly on the horizon so that you can also include the reflection.
In order to make the first part work, the photographer will have to use a fairly long lens. Much longer than the 28mm I would normally use for skydiving.
Normally for "Moon shots" on the ground I'd use a 500mm, but this would be nearly impossible under the conditions of skydiving. I don't even know how you'd aim the thing. The subject skydiver would need to be backed off 100 to 200 feet and that's going to require one heck of a flash set up. I think you could do it with radio flash triggers and assistants, but I'm still baffeled by aiming the camera.
How much is this photo worth to you? It would probably cost several thousand dollars just in production.
Of course, if you wanted to fake the photo, it's almost trivial.
Paul
Edited by quade on 6/8/01 05:25 PM.