Any tips for photography at air show?

[asterix]

Hi

I am going to an air show tomorrow and so will be taking pics of fast moving planes. Anyone give a real amateur any tips??

 

[digital flower]

Wear sunscreen on your face. The last time I went to an air show I got a badly sunburned face from looking up all day.

 

[SCraig]

If you are using in-camera metering overexpose by 1 to 2 stops or everything will be underexposed. The wide expanse of sky with the comparatively small airplane will throw the metering off. Alternatively meter from a gray card and shoot in manual.

If you are shooting digital (as opposed to film) shoot a LOT! It's better to shoot a lot and get a few memorable shots than shoot only a few and miss the good ones. The last air show I went to I shot with two bodies, one on a tripod with my 150-500 and another hand-held with my 70-300. Between the two I shot right at 2,000 images in an afternoon.

For the static aircraft look for unusual close-up shots. An overall shot of an F-15 can be boring. An overall shot of an F-15 through the landing gear of a C-5 can be interesting. Use your imagination.

 

[timnottphotography]

For me going to an air show would be more about being prepared for a range of different shots...

yeah you want to take shots of fast moving planes with a long lens and that will have it's own challenges:

focus - if the sky is the only background then 'closest object' setting on the autofocus should work fine but if they are flying low then you will have to try a bit harder
hopefully it will be sunny and you will have stacks of light and can use a reasonable aperture to keep the DOF deep enough.

but as well there will be a million other shots you could take of the planes close up etc so you will want wide angle lens as well...preferable a second body - one with wide angle one with long.

try and position yourself between the sun and the planes...otherwise you might end up with a bunch of silohuettes...

 

[Forkie]

Continuous focus mode, shutter speed priority mode, evaluative metering mode with exposure compensation set to +1 or 2, continuous (burst) shooting mode.

 

[KmH]

Use good panning technique, an appropriate white balance, the lowest native ISO your camera has.

A long reach lens mounted on a monopod with a good ball head. Long reach like 500 mm or 600 mm. A good CPL filter on your lens will also be helpful for both the 2 stop or so reduction of light transmission and for saturation.

For shooting aircraft on static display use - single focus mode, aperture (or manual) mode, spot metering, no exposure compensation, and be prepared to use fill flash.

 

[PlanetStarbucks]

Compositionally...the people at airshows are often far more interesting than the planes.

 

[ceejtank]

Depending on you comfort level of shooting with you camera in manual mode- you might want to go with Time Value (shutter speed) priority. Find a speed that will let the camera get a unblurred shot, then play with the settings from there once you have a base point to start from.

 

[Mike_E]

All blur is NOT bad.

Planes frozen in time look a lot like models- kind of meh.

A plane with some blur looks to be moving and as such more interesting. If you're shooting a prop plane try getting the props blurred a little and you'll see what I'm saying.

Not the best example but something like this..

 

[Ernicus]

Last time I shot airplanes in flight (bi planes) I was around 1000 shutter speed to stop prop action for a total frozen in time shot. Pan accordingly to get some motion blur if you like. Obviously all settings will be dependent upon the light of day once there.

all great suggestions given thus far...mostly depends on your equipment and the lighting that day.

 

[ceejtank]

All blur is NOT bad.

Planes frozen in time look a lot like models- kind of meh.

A plane with some blur looks to be moving and as such more interesting. If you're shooting a prop plane try getting the props blurred a little and you'll see what I'm saying.

Not the best example but something like this..

View attachment 19644

True.

 

[SCraig]

All blur is NOT bad.

Planes frozen in time look a lot like models- kind of meh.

A plane with some blur looks to be moving and as such more interesting. If you're shooting a prop plane try getting the props blurred a little and you'll see what I'm saying.

Not the best example but something like this..

Agreed! Use whatever shutter speed you want on jets but on prop-planes slow it down so the prop will blur. Otherwise it will just look like a static model.

I also agree with KmH and others about panning. Pan with the airplane and if there is any background other than sky let it blur.

 

[Ernicus]

I kinda like to freeze planes in the sky at times, even prop...mostly because it looks like it does not belong...as you state gives that static model look, which is odd when in the sky. lol. other than that, a nice prop blur is the way to go.

 

[Derrel]

Compositionally...the people at airshows are often far more interesting than the planes.

Yes. Look for tank tops and lean, fit ones...

 

[Tony S]

Look for something that is different, even if it means going off the official viewing site of the air show. Sometimes the official site gives you side views only, but off site you can get views coming in almost straight at you. also, if it's a day with constant lighting, either overcast or sunny, set up two manual exposures. One for the bright sunshine bathed side and the second to expose underneath an aircraft where it is shadowed.

Here's two examples of where off site gave a perspective of being in line with the action, the official viewing area had side views.