Airshow Advice

[skokkin]

Hi,

Recently I attended a local airshow and took many photos of the amazing aircraft getting around. This is a subject I am keenly interested in and would like some advice on how I can improve my photography in this area. Attached it a link to a selection of my better shots of the day, or so I feel.
All shots were taken with a Canon 350d body, Sigma 70-200 f2.8 lens with sigma 2x teleconverter. Not all shots used the teleconverter!!!!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

WOI 2011 - a set on Flickr

[JFSanders]

Shoot with both eyes open so that you can track the planes easier. Go with the largest f/stop you can so that you can use a polarizer. Or a ND filter, but they are more difficult to use. Shooting against the sky at a grey airplane is a rough job. Work on your panning so that you can use a slower shutter speed or get some motion blur. You will lose too much light with the 2X to shoot anything besides static shots, but they can be great pictures if you can get a pilot's face in the cockpit.

Also, it will help to get you more responses if you pick one photo and post it in your post using this icon .

[Jim Poor]

Take a look at Moose Peterson's new Air to Air work.

[JFSanders]

You are absolutely right Jim! I forgot all about Moose. His Blog

[dlambert]

With any sort of "event" photography, the more you know about what's going to happen next, the better-prepared you can be for the shot. This can help you decide where you'll shoot from, and it might help you predict where you might get some of those interesting shots that aren't strictly about the airplanes.

When you frame your shots, think about what else is in the shot besides just the airplane. It's pretty hard to top the shots of the airplanes themselves that the pros get -- especially when you're stuck on the ground. I haven't been to an airshow for a couple years (and all I had at the time was a Canon P&S), but one of my favorite shots was a Mustang pulling up off the deck against a far-off thunderhead - it really framed the silver plane so much better than the grey skies you see all the time.

If you know a little bit about how the show's going to unfold, you might get some cool shots of one plane performing while another one taxis for takeoff, or pilots going through pre-flight, or whatever -- something that other people might be missing. Maybe even something like the reaction of the crowds. When you're shooting this stuff, obviously, you're missing the air show, so that might not be a great option for you.

[skokkin]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I positioned myself next to another photographer who had a radio scanner so we could listen to the communications between tower and aircraft bot on the ground and in the air, which was really helpful so we knew what was happening next.
un fortunately i'll have t wait another 12 months before the show comes around again but i will endevour to get to an airport to practice some of these techniques so i'm a little better next year!!!!!

[theosus]

Originally Posted by skokkin

Thanks for all the advice guys. I positioned myself next to another photographer who had a radio scanner so we could listen to the communications between tower and aircraft bot on the ground and in the air, which was really helpful so we knew what was happening next.
un fortunately i'll have t wait another 12 months before the show comes around again but i will endevour to get to an airport to practice some of these techniques so i'm a little better next year!!!!!

Get out to a small local airport, talk to the people in the office, tell them your plans, and what you want to do. If you just walk out there with a camera or hang out at the end of the runway, someones likely to call the police. While you aren't doing anything wrong, any time the police are questioning you is stressful.

[SydneAviationPhotographer]

Originally Posted by skokkin

Thanks for all the advice guys. I positioned myself next to another photographer who had a radio scanner so we could listen to the communications between tower and aircraft bot on the ground and in the air, which was really helpful so we knew what was happening next.
un fortunately i'll have t wait another 12 months before the show comes around again but i will endevour to get to an airport to practice some of these techniques so i'm a little better next year!!!!!

I was the ground control supervisor for the HARS apron and northern end of the strip

send me an email russell@russellsphotoforum.net and we can meet I can also keep you up todate on the HARS flying activities

WOI 2012 will go ahead in MAY, due to problems obtaining approvals while everyone was on holidays over christmas council has decided to change the date to later in the year.

Regards Russell