Angels in Flight

Dixie

I visited Pensacola, Florida a few weeks ago and was lucky to hear that the Navy's Blue Angels would be having a practice session which was open to the public. Here are a couple of shots from the practice session.

Comments and suggestions are welcome.

These were taken with the Canon D50 and you can just click on the image for the rest of the EXIF data.

Two Up, Two Down!


One Up, One Down!


Close formation fly-by!


I scaled the photo above to get a good close up of the tightness of the Blue Angel's flight formation.

DaddyO

Very, very nice images. Looks like the light was very good for you
that day.

I thought I would check the EXIF just to see since you provided it.

I'm seeing camera used 10D. Shutter speed 1 sec. ISO 100. Aperture f29
lens 60 something mm.

I'm using firefox to read the exif. Is it reading it right?

Jack'll do

WOW thumb

I'm seeing exif as Canon 50D. f/7.1 1/400sec iso 100 200mm

Aspire

Awesome photos, it's like your up in the sky with them! Colours are lovely too

Dixie

DaddyO wrote:

Very, very nice images. Looks like the light was very good for you
that day.

I thought I would check the EXIF just to see since you provided it.

I'm seeing camera used 10D. Shutter speed 1 sec. ISO 100. Aperture f29
lens 60 something mm.

I'm using firefox to read the exif. Is it reading it right?

Don't use plug-ins to read the EXIF data. I have the framed images showning and for some reason they also show 10D (probably because when I created the frames I was working with a 10D). The EXIF data is linked to the original full-size image in it's gallery and will open the EXIF data in a new window if you just click on the image.

Light was good that morning from every direction except when they came in just behind and off my right shoulder. Virtually everthing else had the sun somewhere behind me.

Thank you for the comments.

Dixie

Jack'll do wrote:

WOW thumb

I'm seeing exif as Canon 50D. f/7.1 1/400sec iso 100 200mm

Thanks, Jack.

The correct EXIF should come up if the imaged is clicked.

Dixie

Aspire wrote:

Awesome photos, it's like your up in the sky with them! Colours are lovely too

Aspire - thank you for the kind comments. Actually, they were almost down on the ground with me. I'm still processing some of the RAW images and I have a series taken when one of the Blue Angels flew by just below the speed of sound about 50 ft or so off the runway. You could see the shockwave forming over the top of the wing (looks a little like snow on the wings drifting back towards the trailing edge of the wing). It was really neat and if he had boosted his speed another knot or two we would have had the crack as he went through the sound barrier.

eL eSs Vee

Beautiful, Dixie! Absolutely awesome shots!

Dixie

Here is the plane which went by flying right at the speed of sound, but not quite breaking the barrier. You can actually see the shockwave over the wing and on some other portions of the F-18. He did a roll at that speed under 100 feet from the ground and I caught the F-18 flying that fast from left to right as the top of the plane rotated towards me.

Click the image for EXIF data.

Almost breaking the sound barrier:

moose135

Very nice photos, Dixie! Looks like you had some great conditions for an air show - I shot the Blues earlier this year, and wish I had the light you did! Good work!

DaddyO

Click the image for EXIF. Ok, got that. Thanks. The numbers look
right now. When I first saw the exif data from right mouse click view
exif via firefox I was thinking no way thats right.

Skippy

Dixie wrote:

I visited Pensacola, Florida a few weeks ago and was lucky to hear that the Navy's Blue Angels would be having a practice session which was open to the public. Here are a couple of shots from the practice session.

Comments and suggestions are welcome.

These were taken with the Canon D50 and you can just click on the image for the rest of the EXIF data.

Two Up, Two Down!

One Up, One Down!

Close formation fly-by!


I scaled the photo above to get a good close up of the tightness of the Blue Angel's flight formation.

Dixie the flight formation shots are fantastic
You got some awesome shots here, I bet your real pleased
.... Skippy
.

Bkodger

the scaled close up looks awesome! Great shot.

jeffmeyers

Dixie: this are phenomenal shots. Very good photographic work! Love them.

Question: where were you when you shot these? Did you go over to the practice field? Is that at the Navy Air Museum? We go to Pensacola once a year and for the past two years I've missed these practices. This year I hope to be there for one.

Thanks!

Dixie

moose135 wrote:

Very nice photos, Dixie! Looks like you had some great conditions for an air show - I shot the Blues earlier this year, and wish I had the light you did! Good work!

Thanks, Moose. Yes, the light was good. The fly fairly early in the morning for the practice session which is open to the public so the light is fairly low and basically behind the viewing stand. I do recommend standing off to the right side of the grand stands where they let people in wheelchairs view the show. That way you don't have to worry about people in front of you standing or moving where you are shooting.

Dixie

Skippy wrote:

Dixie the flight formation shots are fantastic
You got some awesome shots here, I bet your real pleased
.... Skippy
.

Thanks, Skippy. Yes, very pleased. Thank you for the kind comments.

Dixie

jeffmeyers wrote:

Dixie: this are phenomenal shots. Very good photographic work! Love them.

Question: where were you when you shot these? Did you go over to the practice field? Is that at the Navy Air Museum? We go to Pensacola once a year and for the past two years I've missed these practices. This year I hope to be there for one.

Thanks!

Thank you, Jeff. If I remember correctly the practice sessions which are open to the public are on Wednesday mornings around 8:30 am or so. You can call the museum and they can give you the correct times. I also recommend that you visit the museum and the Blue Angels go in for half an hour to meet people and sign autographs. I got five of the six pilots - 1-5 and ran out of time before I got number six. The museum offers free tours as well and I highly recommend that you take one of them - I had gone through the museum sans tour, but found that it means so much more when you have someone with you explaining the history behind the exhibits.

Dixie

Fad2blk wrote:

the scaled close up looks awesome! Great shot.

Thank you. I had zoomed in on the shot to check the sharpness and like the look so I went ahead and scaled the shot to give the close-up of the formation. I think that it really amplified the closeness of the F-18s to one another.

aktse

absolutely stunning. clap

roentarre

Stunning work in deed!

Harryb

Outstanding captures Dixie.

Dixie

aktse wrote:

absolutely stunning. clap

Thank you, April.

Dixie

roentarre wrote:

Stunning work in deed!

Thank you for taking the time to look and the kind comment.

Dixie

Harryb wrote:

Outstanding captures Dixie.

Harry,

As always, your comments are appreciated.