The recent viral Skycombo video (above) certainly caused a stir in the action and adventure sports communities. Red Bull Illume spoke to photographer Dominique Daher, who revealed some interesting facts about the project and finding the best gear.
Basic facts:
- The whole project took a year and a half to complete – it was initially canceled twice, but came back to life.
- The window for the jump was tiny – there were two possibilities, only on the weekend and between 3:00 and 3:10pm.
- It took 45 minutes of preoxygenation (like a diver who has to go back slowly to the surface, the team had to breathe pure oxygen in advance) and then 35 minutes to get into position above Mont Blanc.
- Photography and light-wise the conditions were tough – with strong light and low contrast.
- 33,000 ft is very different to 12,000 ft – the air is thinner, so speeds are higher and the opening of the canopy is even stronger. This meant helmet cameras couldn’t be too heavy for videographer Noah Banson’s neck.
Finding the right camera:
- The team explored the possibility of pulling files from a Red attached to Noah’s helmet, but the Red was too heavy.
- Dom then tested the Canon 5D Mark III with a 128G Sandisk card, but it was also too heavy.
- Dom tried the Panasonic GH4 that the video crew used, but couldn’t push up the shutter speed enough. He also found the 16/9 format was not ideal and the JPG files were too soft – not great for post-production.
The final solution was to use a GoPro in photo mode.
“I was not happy about it as I usually try only work with the best gear (3D, 1DX, Z645). It may not be the brush that makes the painter, but even Picasso didn’t paint with his finger! I’m no Picasso in the field too, but at least I like to put all the odds in my favour!” says Dom.
“So I put two GoPros on the videographer, one vertical, the other horizontal. As Noah would also be filming, it was impossible to ask him to frame in a way I like. Without forgetting that he would be jumping mostly upside down, I oriented the GoPros to have my subjects at a third of the frame.”
“I also put some GoPros on the jumpers – one facing the other jumper and one facing their own face to show their goggles and the O2 masks reflecting the rest of the scene. All together, I used 5 GoPros. I set up all the cameras in time-lapse mode taking a picture every half a second. All together, I shot almost 20,000 pictures from 6 jumps, 5 low-altitude jumps (training) and the D-Day project,” says Dom.
Enjoy a selection of his shots from the mission in the gallery!
For more of Dom’s epic photography be sure to visit his site.
The Mission behind the Mission: Shooting the Skycombo
The Mission behind the Mission: Shooting the Skycombo