First Air Show this Sunday - any tips??

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dickelfan

Senior Member
Going to my first air show this Sunday here in Houston area. Really excited to see some awesome planes. The Blue Angels among others will be there.

I'll be going with an old high school friend that has shot at these before, and also does a lot of race car shooting. He'll mostly be shooting with a 70-200 and a 300. He has a FX camera.

I'll be shooting with my Nikon d7000 and I rented an 80-400 VR (not the newest version, they were out of that). Probably be taking something like my 35 1.8 or 18-105 for closer ground shots.

Any tips for shooting? Should I even bring my tripod? We have VIP tickets so we should have a good view.
 
AC016

AC016

Senior Member
I would leave the tripod at home. You have a good set of lenses to go with, that is for sure. I am sure your friend can give you a bunch of tips since he has been before. Most important would be a high shutter speed. Good luck.
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
AC016 said:
I would leave the tripod at home.
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Agreed. Most likely it will be far too crowded (it would be here, anyway) for a tripod to be of any use. Lens selections sounds spot on to me, as well.

Shots of planes against a clear blue sky, frozen in-frame are a yawn-fest for me, personally. If I were shooting this I'd try to get some unique shots by getting in close to the aircraft on the ground and I'm not above getting cozy with anyone I think can get me in behind-the-scenes or past the ubiquitous (and annoying) "Velvet Rope". Planes typically have really interesting shapes and colors, so I'd being all over that; playing it up hard with simple, tight compositions. Not that I'm trying to press my own sense of how to shoot this on anyone... I'm just ramblin'.

....
 
AC016

AC016

Senior Member
Shoot everything in RAW. I thought i would never say it, but do it. As Fish said, try some different styles of shooting as well.
 
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PapaST

Senior Member
Sounds like you're going to the same show I just attended. The edges (left and right) of the crowd can give you some interesting perspectives especially on their approach runs. And it's not as crowded on the edges. If you pick an edge try the side that has where they start their take-off and where they first touch down to land. The middle will give you the best looks at the flyby tricks (near collisions, etc.)

In my mind there are two aspects to the show, going around the parked planes and watching the airshow. Even if you didn't like some of the acts in the air (my least favorite was the clown helicopter), the breaks aren't really long enough to walk around the parked planes then get back into position for the next airshow entertainer. So I would either get there earlyish and do the walking and then get set for the airshow or try to walk around after the blue angels. My favorite part was the F-22.

Getting food or drinks can take a long time so plan accordingly. Every year (as it was told to me) the Blue Angels go up late. Our day they were slated for 3pm but didn't get started till 4pm.
 
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dickelfan

Senior Member
Luckily we are in the VIP tent area, we get catered food and drinks, and have our own bathrooms. I also have an in with the Texas Flying Legends who will be performing. Girl we went to high school with is dating one of the pilots and we are supposed to meet up.

I shoot everything RAW always.
 
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PapaST

Senior Member
Then you've got it made in the shade. ;) Pray for sunny skies.

I didn't find it absolutely necessary to wear ear protection but I put some plugs in just because the Angels and Raptor can get pretty loud. It's pretty neat on one part, the formation of Angels sort of draws your attention to one side and then number 5 or 6 Angel blows by super loud pretty much startling everyone. Times like that I was glad I had ear protection.
 
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STM

Senior Member
AC016 said:
I would leave the tripod at home. You have a good set of lenses to go with, that is for sure. I am sure your friend can give you a bunch of tips since he has been before. Most important would be a high shutter speed. Good luck.
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I would not cast that one in stone. I have shot a lot of air shows and a lot of it depends on where you can stand to watch the show. You should always have some kind of support with you even if it is just a monopod. I shot this image below with the D700, 600mm f/4 AIS and TC-300 (2x) and the gimble head on my heavy Bogen tripod. I could not have gotten this shot without it. Even with my monopod it would have been a stretch. The key to getting eye grabbing airshow photos is to get in CLOSE, otherwise your stuff will just look like every other person's stuff there with a camera, most of which is pretty pedestrian and boring.
 
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STM

Senior Member
Thumper_6119 said:
What shutter speeds are y'all using to freeze the action of the planes in flight, particularly the jets?
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That depends a lot on what you want to shoot. If you are looking to stop action, I would not go below 1/1000 of a second. But don't lock yourself in to just that kind of image. A panned shot at 1/30 of a second (which you WILL need some kind of support to really pull it off) with a sharp aircraft and blurred ground/spectators, is a great way to convey action as well.
 
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mauckcg

Senior Member
This is 1/400. I could have gone slower if I had used my monopod, but the way I had to hunker down to make the angle work was waaaaaaay to uncomfortable.

14188624389_b378001ec4_c.jpg
 
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mauckcg

Senior Member
dickelfan said:
Going to my first air show this Sunday here in Houston area. Really excited to see some awesome planes. The Blue Angels among others will be there.

I'll be going with an old high school friend that has shot at these before, and also does a lot of race car shooting. He'll mostly be shooting with a 70-200 and a 300. He has a FX camera.

I'll be shooting with my Nikon d7000 and I rented an 80-400 VR (not the newest version, they were out of that). Probably be taking something like my 35 1.8 or 18-105 for closer ground shots.

Any tips for shooting? Should I even bring my tripod? We have VIP tickets so we should have a good view.
Click to expand...

The 18-105 would be a good idea. Depending on what is on static display, you might not be able to get far enough back for the 35 without fighting the crowds.
 
hark

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
As was mentioned, panned shots are great. The biggest problem I find when using too fast of a shutter speed is that propellers become too defined. Personally I like seeing a little blur with the propellers rather than a plane that almost seems like it is stationary. I'd opt for a monopod especially with the 80-400mm lens rather than use the VR. That way you can use slower shutter speeds.
 
AC016

AC016

Senior Member
STM said:
I would not cast that one in stone. I have shot a lot of air shows and a lot of it depends on where you can stand to watch the show. You should always have some kind of support with you even if it is just a monopod. I shot this image below with the D700, 600mm f/4 AIS and TC-300 (2x) and the gimble head on my heavy Bogen tripod. I could not have gotten this shot without it. Even with my monopod it would have been a stretch. The key to getting eye grabbing airshow photos is to get in CLOSE, otherwise your stuff will just look like every other person's stuff there with a camera, most of which is pretty pedestrian and boring.
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Monopod would make more sense. You sure you did not shoot this on your monopod, not your tripod? I would not blame anyone for using a monopod to support 18.6 pounds ;)

click on link below
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DUCK!!
 
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STM

Senior Member
mauckcg said:
This is 1/400. I could have gone slower if I had used my monopod, but the way I had to hunker down to make the angle work was waaaaaaay to uncomfortable.

14188624389_b378001ec4_c.jpg
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You have got to love those later model Spitfires, such graceful lines and those big Merlin Griffon engines!
 
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STM

Senior Member
AC016 said:
Monopod would make more sense. You sure you did not shoot this on your monopod, not your tripod? I would not blame anyone for using a monopod to support 18.6 pounds ;)
click on link below
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DUCK!![/QUOTE[/URL]]
Nope, my big, heavy Bogen tripod and my Beike gimbal head. If you have a big, very heavy super telephoto like the 600mm f/4, gimbal head is the only way to go. You can spend $700 for a Wemberly or $100 for a Beike like I did. It works and pans as smoothly as one costing 7 times as much
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Patrick M

Patrick M

Senior Member
Oh, and shutter speed. I don't go too fast. For example, with helicopters you want to see some rotor blur ... It gives the viewer a sense of motion. If you see stopped rotors you'll wonder why the aircraft isn't crashing to the ground ..
 
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Whiskeyman

Senior Member
STM said:
I would not cast that one in stone. I have shot a lot of air shows and a lot of it depends on where you can stand to watch the show. You should always have some kind of support with you even if it is just a monopod. I shot this image below with the D700, 600mm f/4 AIS and TC-300 (2x) and the gimble head on my heavy Bogen tripod. I could not have gotten this shot without it. Even with my monopod it would have been a stretch. The key to getting eye grabbing airshow photos is to get in CLOSE, otherwise your stuff will just look like every other person's stuff there with a camera, most of which is pretty pedestrian and boring.
Click to expand...

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough." - Robert Capa


 
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