A novice guide to airshow photography

[Gunsotsu]

Originally Posted by Nicole

Thanks for those additions. I'm heading to the show tomorrow when the bigger acts will be there Reading the tutorial totally gets me all excited again.

Looking forward to seeing those photos Nicole. Color me jealous.

[Nicole]

I'm finally back from the show (a fair bit later than anticipated thanks to some traffic problems), and now I'm on to the monumental task of downloading all the photos I took (yikes).

The show was great, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the acrobatic acts. Your tips were very helpful and greatly appreciated When I get done with downloading the photos I'll post up some that turned out (fingers crossed!)

[henryscat]

Excellent blog mate!
I did my first (and only) airshow shoot a few years back - need to go back this year for sure.




Full set can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/henryscat/sets/1709313/
looking forward to seeing your results!

[Nicole]

I've finally gone through some of my pictures (900 pictures is a lot to go through, but there were some keepers in there) and here is a sample of some of the ones I liked (thanks to Gunsotsu and his excellent tutorial).



The rest of the pictures I've uploaded are in my Wings Over Wairarapa Set.

The entire experience was a lot of fun for an air show newbie. It was a nice day, though overcast for most of it (so I missed out on the blue skies in many shots). The day would've been even better if it hadn't been for the 100km detour and 5 hour drive home (instead of 1.5 hours it should've taken), but I still had a great time and learned heaps about taking photos at an air show.

[Gunsotsu]

Nicely done Nicole! I'm jealous and itching to make it to the few shows I'll manage to get to this year. Lot's of really old birds there. I'm sure some of my babbling made more sense to you after you started shooting and especially after you got home and started looking at your results. 900 shots? Did you even take your eye out of the camera? Looking forward to seeing more of what you shot.

[Nicole]

Thank you Yes, I took my eye off the camera here and there A lot of it was due to taking lots of shots in a row to try to make sure I got the plane in the right place. I'm sure the number will be cut down by lots and lots.

And yes, your info made lots of sense when I was shooting and afterwards. It's still definitely difficult to do (I'm sure it gets easier with time), but lots of fun

[Gunsotsu]

In an attempt to resurrect a long forgotten post, I wanted to pass along this tip that somehow never made it into my little guide:

Look for the less obvious shots.
I've shot a lot of airshows. After a while, all your shots just sort of run together and you end up with a lot of the same shots just from different shows. If you're so focused on the skies, sometimes you'll forget to pay attention to what's happening on the ground.

[dswan52]

Let me point out at the very start...I am not a professional photographer. I do photography as a hobby, I travel around and photograph just about anything, and I am retired.

About my photos:
I label my photos by: 1-what the subject is; 2-Where the photo was taken; 3-Cygnus Productions, (as Cygnus is Latin for Swan - (my last name)); and 4-the date the photo was taken.

I use a Canon PowerShot G5 camera with the TeleConverter 1.75x lens. I purchased this Point & Shoot camera about 6 months before they came out with the DSLRs. I have been able to take some really excellent photos with this camera.

I agree with you on taking plenty of memory and lots of batteries. My camera uses rechargeable dedicated batteries, so I have a car and AC charger with me at all times. I also take with me if I am going for more than one day, my laptop computer; a place to free up my memory chips.

- Let me add a TIP. In your tips for taking pictures at the air shows, maybe I didn't see it, but while taking pictures of planes or jets in flight, tracking the subject is important as you may get a picture of nothing but sky if you don't. When I track the subject, I have the camera on the subject and follow the subject, take the picture at the proper time, continuing to track until after all the picture(s) are taken. I can sometimes get several shots while tracking the subject.

I am sending a photo of the Blue Angels doing what is called a Star Burst. A telephoto is definitely needed as they are so high up that they are very small. It was also a slightly hazy day when I was at the air show. I made about 100 copies of this photograph and went to our local Veterans Hospital and gave military veterans copies. They enjoyed them immensely. I also am sending a photo of a Harrier Jet going down the runway for a short take off.

I hope this was a little help.

Dswan52

[sheldonc]

I wish i'd found this tutorial earlier but having said that I think there is a large heaping of luck involved in taking air show shots

From my very limited experience I would endorse everything said but I might have missed it and if i did the golden rule should be shoot shoot shoot

I did and these were a couple of the results





Thanks

[Snaphappyscottie]

Hi Gunsotsu,

My name is Allan an i just joined the forum last week and i would like to take the time to thank you for the guide to airshow photography that you posted. Was it helpful, you bet it was as this was my first time photographing at an airshow.
If you want to please look at my photos by clicking on My Album below and tell me what you think good or bad.

All the best