AirShow - Tips, Help

ShebaJoShebaJo Registered Users Posts: 179 Major grins
edited August 11, 2005 in Cameras
Airshow in town, I need help!

I tried shooting the Blue Angels practicing today. A few pretty good, some OK, shots for my first time...I think. But, not perfect, not as good as I want them to be.

HELP TIPS very much appreciated....

Canon 20D and a cheapie Quantary 70-300 lens.

Thanks!
Sheila aka ShebaJo

Comments

  • wholenewlightwholenewlight Registered Users Posts: 1,529 Major grins
    edited August 11, 2005
    Post a couple of your practice shots as examples.:):

    Airshows are a little hard because of all the people that get in the way - especially if you're trying to get something while the aircraft are on the ground getting ready for maneuvers.

    In the air, use the zoom lens you have and practice panning with the aircraft. With the planes in the sky, your shots will likely be underexposed so use some exposure compensation (probably 1-2 stops depending on the brightness of the sky). Play around with the smoke trails and look for formations of flying aircraft. A polarizing filter can give you darker skies. Oh, and you'll probably want the "continous focus" setting on your 20D. Sorry if you already knew of these things.

    I went to Andrews AFB in the spring and got a few so-so shots (only took my Nikon kit lens and didn't take many shots) - here are a few:

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    31829423-M.jpg

    31830473-M.jpg

    31830469-M.jpg

    Good luck and post your shots! thumb.gif
    john w
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  • Matthew SavilleMatthew Saville Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 3,352 Major grins
    edited August 11, 2005
    ShebaJo wrote:
    Airshow in town, I need help!

    I tried shooting the Blue Angels practicing today. A few pretty good, some OK, shots for my first time...I think. But, not perfect, not as good as I want them to be.

    HELP TIPS very much appreciated....

    Canon 20D and a cheapie Quantary 70-300 lens.

    Thanks!
    Photographing jets that travel at combined speeds in excess of 500 MPH can stress even the best of lenses. What you need to do is decide beforehand what results you want, figure out the best, most fail-safe means to get these photos, and set your camera accordingly. Can you tryst AF to lock onto the rapidly moving planes? Does the AF track well enough with the Quantaray so that in "continuous" (some kind of AI Servo w/ the 20D? I forget...) AF mode, the camera does NOT just "lock focus" and then leave it focused at that point, cause the planes will probably do a LOT of flying towards you and then flying back away from you, so you want to be SURE you have it in whatever continuous focusing mode your 20D has; that body has incredible AF capability, if your lens is up to the task... So, if you're using AF, remember to keep it in the mode that continues to focus as long as you hold the button half way down, and hopefully DURING sequence, 5 FPS shots.
    10186217-M.jpg

    Or, are you going to pre-focus on "front and center" and then just wait for the planes to come into your zone and then nail them? This is rather easy but somewhat limiting if a photogenic situation catches you off guard. Some people are just used to their cameras autofocusing, plain and simple, so when they hastily raise the camera to their eye and hold the shutter half way down and they've accidentally left it in manual focus, you're dead unless you're VERY fast at focusing. Planes are probably some of the fastest things photographers will ever photograph, other than bullets lol... And some planes go even faster than that.

    Do you want to stop action right in it's tracks?
    10057822-M.jpg

    This is easy for most normal situations, just open up your apeture! But for incredible stunts like the knife edge pass,
    10201929-M.jpg
    ...even 1/800 sec gives at least one blue angel a slight blur. If I had planned ahead for this stunt, I would have upped my ISO to 400 or 800, or I would have switched the camera to shutter priority mode and tried for 1/2000 sec. However, I am a stalwart apeture priority shooter, and flipping to shutter priority really messes with my brain hehehe...


    Or, are you rebellious enough to try and PAN some action? (embrace the blur!!!)
    10201160-M.jpg
    My point is, your choice of shutter speed is going to be absolutely crucial in every action shot you take.

    Also, you're going to be shooting with a lot of sky in your frame, and sky is much brighter than the neutral grey that your camera is going to try and expose for. And it's often suicide to try and put it in center-weighted or spot metering mode, becuase if you miss the plane and get the sky, you've just ruined your photo. What I would do is, using matrix metering, leave your camera in apeture or shuter priority, and leave an over-exposure of maybe one stop, for sky & airplane shots. Or if you're confident and the light is pretty consistent over time, put the camera in M mode, get a nice combo of detail in the sky and detail in a flying object, and just leave it there, checking your histogram every dozen shots or whatever...

    Good luck! Feel free to inquire about anything else you're wondering about,

    -Matt-
    PS: Colorado, mmmm, is this in Boulder? Are you shooting the Blue Angels backdropped with the Rockies? You don't know how lucky you are, unless you've been out here to drab, dusty Southern California... ;-)

    PPS: If I could give two tips that I think you might not otherwise think of, it would be that yes, the crouds will be intense. Do NOT hesitate to plunk down the $5 or whatever it is to get into the grand-stands! Being up on top of the back row of the grand-stand will make an absolute world of difference.
    10186522-M.jpg

    Secondly, don't try to beat the traffic by leaving early. Instead, try to stay until they're pretty much kicking people out. Why? Because often, airshow planes and other private planes will be taking off and flying away somewhere, or just goofing off in the sky. ESPECIALLY on the last day, if you go on the last day of the airshow you really should stay as late as possible. The Blue Angels all take off one by one and fly back to ...Colorado. Well nevermind about the Blue Angels lol, but yeah staying late can yield some sweet, sweet shots...
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  • DJ-S1DJ-S1 Registered Users Posts: 2,303 Major grins
    edited August 11, 2005
    nod.gif15524779-Ti.gif Great info guys!

    I love air shows! I just shot the Blue Angels 6 weeks ago, what a blast. Take lots of shots and concentrate on matching the speed of the aircraft with your pan. For bonus points, follow one of the solo planes and try to get a shot as the 2 soloists cross show center. It's tough, the are closing at 1000mph!

    Here's my favorite from this year, good luck and let's see them when you are done! thumb.gif

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