airshow photography

Hi there,

I am a newbie to airshow photography and I am looking for some good hints and tips on the subject.

I have at the moment the Nikon D70s with a 18 - 70mm 3 - 4.5 G Lens and a 70-300mm 4 - 5.6G Lens both Nikon both with a Ultra Violet Filter fitted to protect the lens.

I am finding a range of conflicting information on the internet, so I am trying to cut the wheat from the chaff.

The event I am attending is Cosford Airshow http://www.cosfordairshow.co.uk/

Last time I went I took my new Fuji FinePix S5000 and found this camera could not cope with the show, the shutter delay ruined 90% of the photographs.

The confilcting info I am finding about using a Blue/Grey Graduation Filter or not some say it's a must but you loose about 2 F-stops which could dramatically ruin a picture.

Also some say Expose from the grass for a 18% grey scale but in practice this over exposes the picture and I get a pure white image, is is best to meter off the subject?

Also is it best to shoot free hand or use a tripod as some of these planes shift, but I cannot afford the more expensive lens's that have image stabalisation built in, so what is the answer, as I have seen some great shots done free hand with a 1000mm lens with image sabalisation at the last airshow I went to Cosford 2004, he was in the same spot as me and his shots we great, I did try my 35mm Nikon EM10 with it 70-300mm lens but still did not get any decent shots how can I get round this!

I have so many questions on this subject, any assistance would be greatly appreciated!

--
Life is like a box of chocolates!

Especially for airshows get rid of any filter you have on the lens. The sunlight will wreak havoc with your pics. grad filters have no use in airshow photograhy and the same goes for any other filter

As far as exposure is concerned it depends on the lighting. If you have a sunny day without clouds sunny 16 is your friend. Easy to set and forget in manual

if the lighting changes because of clouds you may need to use automatica exposure. For airshows i would use shutter priority. Shutter priority because you need different shutter speeds for different aircraft. Jet aircraft use shutterspeeds as high as possible. Prop aircraft or helicopters you want to use lower shutterspeeds around 1/250 or so to not stop the prop blades. You will need to use proper panning technique though.

With the lenses you posted a tripod would not be nessecary. If you where to shoot with a longer lens such as a 500mm prime a tripod and wimberley head works well.

--
Michael Salzlechner
http://www.PalmsWestPhoto.com

Expose for the sky and then up about 1 to 2 stops (review the histogram to get the sky to the right of the histogram without clipping)

You got very bad advice about exposing for the grass. Grass is not 18% anyway.

Use a tripod (or monpod) with a ball head to give you stability and free movement to follow the aircraft.

Robert Strom

Most of the shutter lag you get is going to come from the autofocus. Remember that all of the flying aircraft that you shoot are going to be quite some distance away so, forget using AF entirely...set your camera for manual focus and set it on Infinity. This will cut the shutter lag time significantly.

The last airshow I went to at Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas, I borrowed a D-70 to take along with my Fuji S2 Pro. I mainly used my Nikon 80-200 ED 2.8. I leave a UV filter on my lenses all the time, it didn't cause a problem for me at all and actually helped as it was a VERY sunny day.

If you have never shot a subject before like this airshow, believe it or not, I'd suggest that you leave it on all-automatic (Program mode). I shot at ISO 100, large jpeg quality. Use the matrix setting on your meter. I got some fantastic shots with this little camera. Shots of the Thunderbirds, the 82nd Airboorne doing a parachute demo, A-10's, F-117's and the vintage aircraft. Both on the ground and in the air.

The action is so fast, unless you are REAL GOOD, auto is best. Maybe using aperture priority to help control DOF or shutter priority to freeze fast action or to blur the motion.

Most important--- Have FUN.

--
Scott W. McClure

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'You only get one sunrise and one sunset a day and you only get so many days on the planet. A good photographer does the math and doesn't waste either.'... The Late Galen Rowell

Thanks for the heads up on the date! I'll be there too...

First, meter off the grass to give an average exposure is correct, assuming the grass is nice and healthy. Then lock that reading into your camera, on manual. This should give you decent exposures of passing aircraft... Tweak levels in PP. If the sky is blue, you shouldn't get highlight blowout?

Do NOT fit a grey grad, unless you want to record sky detail AND ground detail. Anything flying will silhouette because it's now underexposed.

Use a polariser, if you are shooting static displays, but NOT flying. The angle to the sun will change FAR to quickly for you to adjust things!

Take as much memory as you can, and shoot LOTS, you will get a LOT of junk, so keep shooting.

I remember one airshow at Cov Airport, 20 odd years back, I kept 10 shots, out of 10 ROLLS of Fujichrome!
--
http://catmangler.smugmug.com/

set your cam to 'tracking focus mode' (AI Focus on my 20D). Set your auto metering to your favorite mode (tv,av) and tie it to the center sensor.

Pick the plane up as it approaches and follow it in. Don't try to zoom and fiddle with this setting or that - just follow it in, and squeeze off the shot.

I don't know what equipment you have, but with mine it's:

Slap that 400 f5.6 on the cam, change to tracking mode and fire away!

PalmsWestPhoto said:

Especially for airshows get rid of any filter you have on the lens.
The sunlight will wreak havoc with your pics. grad filters have no
use in airshow photograhy and the same goes for any other filter

Michael Salzlechner
http://www.PalmsWestPhoto.com

Click to expand...

So, you are saying that skylight or UV filter with an appropriately long lens hood does little or nothing to improve the image (unless, of course, you are shooting into the sun when the filters can drastically affect the image from flare, etc.)

Just curious. From looking at your web site, you have a lot more experience with long lens event photography that myself.

robert Strom

As well as panning; try and get on th inside of the curve (unless you are unlucky and they all do straight flights). If you are in the curve they make then they'll bank and you'll get a shot sideways on or even from above the pilot. vastly better than looking up their exhaust pipes.

Personally, I'd decide on a lens, get it focused and switch to manual focus (ie so it doesn't change), use centre weighted metering and pan but don't stop the pan just because you've squeezed the shutter but carry it further. Also, look out for thing that will appear in the pan that you may not notice as you start to swing round. PA systems on posts come to mind mainly and that bloke who always stands just in front of you at the end of the pan...

Good luck. David

A long lens with a hood is needed. That will keep the sun off the glass as much as possible.

The exposure is an issue. I have always taken an exposure off the palm of my hand, with the palm facing the same way the planes will. That is, I will hold my hand up, with the palm facing at a downward angle and taking the exposure off that. If the light changes, redo the exposure. You may overexpose the sky but the planes will be fine, since the bottom of the planes will be out of the sun, the same way your palm was.

For planes with props, you may want to drop the shutter speeds down a little, to blur the motion. You can stop a prop @ 1/500. This also means you need to follow the motion of the plane as it passes.

A smaller aperture will let you get a greater depth of focus to help cover any focus errors.

Dr_Jimmy said:

Hi there,

I am a newbie to airshow photography and I am looking for some good
hints and tips on the subject.

Click to expand...

You've gotten lots of good advice to go with so with that and a little inovation on your own part to cope with any particulars regarding the actual venue, how clear the sky is and how far away you are from the planes should put you in great shape. The main thing to keep in mind is that for the most part, you'll be shooting into the sky so the planes will be backlit and as a result, you'll typically need to overexpose compared to what your exposure meter might be telling you in order to maintain detail in the planes, possibly at the expense of some detail in the sky depending on the conditions. Just be sure to "chimp" your first few shots to make sure you're getting the proper exposure.

Shootng jets with a digicam can be tough but it's not impossible. Here's a sample that was taken on a hazy day with a Coolpix 5700. The planes were far enough away that I could just use manual focus set to infinity which took care of the focus/shutter lag problems.

The exposure was 1/1000s at f/4.7 ISO 100 while panning the camera along with the jets. Certainly this would have been more fun with a nice long f/2.8 VR lens, but sometimes we just need to use whatever we have on hand.



--
Tom Young
http://www.pbase.com/tyoung/

Robert

i have used UV filters in the past and have come to the conclusion that the only thing i get from them is the occasional flare that i normally might not have had

at air shows you always shoot into the skay and chances are you get stray light hitting that filter just right

other filters such as polarizers or grad filters make no sense for action airshow displays because you constantly change direction and position

--
Michael Salzlechner
http://www.PalmsWestPhoto.com

on expose for the grass..in Bryan Petersons book Mr greenjean and sky bros.

when exposing for grass you expose by viewing the grass tilt the needle shows a correct exposure then back it off 2 or 3 .. in otherwords -2/3 for a correct exposure..thats why those are over exposed
--
'Beware of the oldman with one gun\camera..He knows how to use it'

All good points

I guess UV and maybe polarizers are good for the reverse, ie: shooting from the air to the ground (grin)

Robert Strom

VR or IS lenses vs tripod or monopod: Anyone have any thoughts or experience?

Tom B

VR / IS will help you when shooting panning shots at low shutter speeds

If you shoot with a 300mm lens at 1/2000 it doesnt help. If it isnt a panning motion VR/IS can actually hurt the image

--
Michael Salzlechner
http://www.PalmsWestPhoto.com

I mostly shot vintage aircraft and find a 200 mm lens, centre weighting and a shutter speed of 1/150 do the trick. Use 1/200th and the airscrews lose the blur that's so important.

Mostly the secret is the pan which needs a bit of practice and you have to learn not to stop panning once you think the picture is taken. And, as I said before, watch out for what will be in the pan when you get halfway and at the end.

I've a lot of examples of what can go wrong but can't show them as smugmug are adding new features and are off the air.

Regards, David