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Air show photography How to?



Guys I may get the chance to snap at RIAT this year but know very little about air show photography. I'll be fine with the statics but would love some tips for shots in the air as moving subjects, well i've never tried them :eek:

The only suitable lens I will have at my disposal is the Tamron 70-300 USD. It has the ultrasonic drive motor and the optical quality but is slow at f5.6, although it stays at f4.5 till 180mm. I also have some cropping ability on a 24 meg sensor.

Any tips appreciated!
 

Ay Ay Ron

ClioSport Club Member
I struggled using my 55-250 as on full zoom it was really slow (quite a slow lens anyway) and not the sharpest. Think I was using my 30d at the last airshow I was at, using auto ISO and Shutter Priority.

I found the Arrows quite easy as you could track them for a while (obviously depending on the path) as were the stunt planes. Don't know about the really fast planes I'm afraid, there was none there :(

I'm pretty sure you will work out whats best on the day though. Hope the weather holds out for you.
 
Is 300mm enough and wide open or a higher f stop? Lowest shutterspeeds I can get away with? Ta:)
 

.Simon

ClioSport Club Member
  Audi
The Tanron lens is not THAT bad imo.

I'm using a 100-400L IS this weekend - why don't you rent a lens?
 
  RS Megane DCi 175
lol @ sport mode!
I'd go with shutter priority selecting a speed based on how fast the aircraft are. Harder to gauge is the exposure especially against white clouds (blue sky or dark thunder clouds would be best!). Go -1stop for white / silver planes on your exposure compensation. If you want to capture propeller blur, keep the shutter speed slower than 1/250 ish.
 
Cheers guys

I won't rent a lens as I'm probably too late and would like to test out the tammy.

Focus wise, I take it settings should be AF continuous? What about focus tracking?

recommended burst rate?

I am a complete noob when it comes to anything that moves so don't be afraid to offer basic advice! Thanking you!
 
  Petrol Blue 182.
I'll be using a Sigma 70-300mm lense at Farnborough only other thing I'll be investing in will be a better polariser filter incase it's sunny!

7232336110_0e2f0b320e_z.jpg

Red Arrows 2 by couzens1989, on Flickr

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Red Arrows 1 by couzens1989, on Flickr

Taken with that Lense, I'll see how I get on. May have to rent a better lense in the future to get some close shots

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=62787
 
Last edited:

Hixle

Hi Kiss Luke E****
ClioSport Club Member
  E90 M3
I'd go with shutter priority selecting a speed based on how fast the aircraft are. Harder to gauge is the exposure especially against white clouds (blue sky or dark thunder clouds would be best!). Go -1stop for white / silver planes on your exposure compensation. If you want to capture propeller blur, keep the shutter speed slower than 1/250 ish.

Can't really add anything else to this tbh!

Have fun mate, I've only ever shot at one airshow and really enjoyed it - only had my 55-200 with me too. The red arrows are so photogenic, you'll struggle to take a bad shot.

4898892922_d17c9a7561_z.jpg


4898889228_37a9a0d55c_z.jpg


Still might try and get to Farnborough this year.
 
Well I was on site at 5:45am (working!) but was able to get a couple of hours from 11:00-13:00 which I think were the dryest too!

Sky was very cloudy albeit with some blue patches so not the best backdrop. Saw the vulcan, a couple of display teams including one of the new ones for this year and some heli's and a few solo jets.

Was actually really, really good fun. The Tamron 70-300 usd was actually more than fast enough in half decent light and was plenty long enough given the planes came very close by. Focusing was really fast and most shots were accurate bar the vulcan where a number of my shots were 'off'!

My learning point was to bring more memory cards as I very quickly shot off 500 frames at 10fps!!! Thats about a years worth of landscapes:eek:

Yeah I'll post up a piccy or ten when I get round to processing them but it has given me a new insight into a different type of photography and one that is much harder than it looks!
 

.Simon

ClioSport Club Member
  Audi
IMG_0846.jpg


This is one of my favourites from Saturday, the weather was shocking.

Off to Farnborough tomorrow so hopefully we will have better weather!
 
They look good, the only thing I would suggest is when you're shooting in the sky and there's clouds, add +2/3 or +1 exposure so that you still get the detail on the plane/helicopter instead of it being quite dark :)
 
  White APE
Quick question. Should the weather play ball and we get blue skies, will a CPL be of use to make ye skies richer or will it have a negative effect on the darker planes?
 

Matt_90

ClioSport Club Member
  Sprint/climb 106 gti
It will make the skies stand out more and stop things becoming blown out.. Think about what your sunglasses do (if you own some :s) when you put them on the sky and clouds looks darker but become more pronounced and vivid.

Using a CPL makes things darker and stops your photo down a little so you have to run slightly lower shutter or F stop to expose the photo correctly.

Hope that makes sense and is correct lol!
 
  BG Clio 182
Just seen this thread i am an avid airshow photographer, my latest show was Flying Legends at Duxford. I tend to use aperture priority f/7 to get a fast shutter speed for jets then for prop aircraft i tend to use 1/250 - 1/320 or sometimes lower if i'm feeling adventurous. A1 servo is a must and on my 7D i tend to use the center focus points.

This was at 400mm
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P-40 F by Tim Spicer Photography, on Flickr
 


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