US Navy Blue Angels

SCraig · Jun 21, 2014

The US Navy Blue Angels flew at the Great Tennessee Airshow last weekend. I've seen military flight demonstration teams fly many times, including the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds, and each time I am amazed at their grace and precision in making something so difficult seem so simple and easy. Untold hours of practice and experience go into every show they perform and it shows clearly in their performances. Here are a few of my favorites:

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

keyseddie · Jun 21, 2014

Well done.

astroNikon · Jun 21, 2014

Great shots

It's good to see them flying again. With the federal budget cuts and such I thought they were grounded still.

IzzieK · Jun 21, 2014

These are the 2014 team. I have all their autographs...'love Ryan Chamberlain.
Nice captures...all of them.

SCraig · Jun 21, 2014

keyseddie said:
Well done.

astroNikon said:
Great shots

It's good to see them flying again. With the federal budget cuts and such I thought they were grounded still.

IzzieK said:
These are the 2014 team. I have all their autographs...'love Ryan Chamberlain.
Nice captures...all of them.

Thanks everyone. I appreciate your comments.

AstroNikon, I didn't even know they were grounded. It doesn't surprise me, I just never heard about it. They flew here 2 years ago (it's a biennial airshow) and then again last weekend. Never thought about them being grounded since they are such a showpiece for the Navy.

IzzieK, I'm not much into autographs but I certainly admire them for their abilities. I think I could sit and watch them all day long

DarkShadow · Jun 21, 2014

No feathers on them birds but plenty of detail.Excellent shots.

astroNikon · Jun 21, 2014

They apparently got the green light again this April
U.S. Navy's Blue Angels are back after 2013 budget cuts clipped wings - Washington Times

when they were grounded
Blue Angels grounded by budget cuts for rest of 2013 - CBS News

Great to see them flying again.
My brother got into photography back in the late 1970s because of the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels
and I would fiddle with his cameras

PropilotBW · Jun 21, 2014

I Love this set. Although they are all spectacular, #6 is my favorite of the "Delta Breakout"

I'm attending an airshow in a couple months, Can I ask some tips? I can see you shot at 400iso, 1/2500, f/8. What else... Was this manual mode? Continuous servo focus? Matrix Metering?

SCraig · Jun 21, 2014

astroNikon said:
They apparently got the green light again this April
U.S. Navy's Blue Angels are back after 2013 budget cuts clipped wings - Washington Times

when they were grounded
Blue Angels grounded by budget cuts for rest of 2013 - CBS News

Great to see them flying again.
My brother got into photography back in the late 1970s because of the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels
and I would fiddle with his cameras

Amazing! They were grounded for an entire year. That might explain why there was no airshow here last year. It used to be an annual event but when there wasn't one in 2013 I assumed they had changed to a biennial schedule.

I saw the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds for the first time back in the 70's as well. The Blue Angels were flying A-4 Skyhawks and the Thunderbirds were flying T-38 Talons. I've got some old 35mm shots of them somewhere. I might have to try and dig them up

Thanks for the links. Very interesting information.

tirediron · Jun 21, 2014

Nice shots Scott!

SCraig · Jun 21, 2014

DarkShadow said:
No feathers on them birds but plenty of detail.Excellent shots.

Nope, no feathers but they definitely fly very well

PropilotBW said:
I Love this set. Although they are all spectacular, #6 is my favorite of the "Delta Breakout"

I'm attending an airshow in a couple months, Can I ask some tips? I can see you shot at 400iso, 1/2500, f/8. What else... Was this manual mode? Continuous servo focus? Matrix Metering?

Thanks, much appreciated. I grew up in an aviation family, both my parents were pilots, so it's in my blood

I don't fly anymore but I can still admire precision.

They were all shot in manual mode. I metered on the apron in front of me using center-weighted metering and, since the sun was high and to my right, I added about a stop to keep from underexposing the bottoms. At times it wasn't enough and I had to kick the exposure up on some of them in post processing. Check the histogram regularly since light changes and LCD's can't be trusted.

They were all shot with my 70-300. I couldn't decided whether or not to take my 150-500 and in the end it wasn't needed. Two years ago I took two cameras, one with my 70-300 and one with my 150-500, and that was just too much to deal with. This time I simplified everything and it was much more enjoyable.

They were all shot using continuous-servo (AF-C) autofocus.

Pan with the airplane. A fast shutter speed alone won't freeze the motion so you need to pan with them.

When shooting prop-planes slow the shutter speed way down and pan smoothly. That allows the prop to blur and impart a sense of motion as opposed to just a frozen image. I was really annoyed with myself over that. I knew the Blue Angels were about to start so I kicked the shutter speed up from 1/500 to 1/2500. Fat Albert, the Blue Angel's C-130 transport airplane, flew a routine first and I forgot to lower the shutter speed back down so I got frozen prop blades.

Keep your eyes and ears open. Both the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds use solo aircraft and they love to come blistering up from behind at low altitude while the rest of the team has everyone's attention looking elsewhere.

Shoot a LOT. It's easier to have a bunch of junk shots you don't want than miss the one that you do want. The first shot, for example, an opposing pass at 450 knots (900 knots closure between the two aircraft). There is no way to time that to get the shot when they pass. I followed the right side aircraft with the viewfinder, and kept my left eye open. As soon as I saw an aircraft enter my field of view on the left I hit the shutter release and held it. That shot was the second of 5 that I shot in a burst.

All in all I shot 1100 images that day. Some of the static airplanes, some of the other performers, and a BUNCH of the Blue Angels. It costs nothing, other than disk space to store them, so there is no reason not to.

Edit ... Forgot a couple of things.

Don't forget sunblock, and don't forget to put it on your ears! I know that last part from recent experience ;(

Shoot a little bit wider than normal. Don't worry about filling the frame as tightly as normal and crop during post processing. By that I don't mean make everything dots in the sky but give yourself a little more room than normal. You never know what will come screaming in from the side, plus reflexes and shutter lag can put part of a fast-moving jet out of the frame.

SCraig · Jun 21, 2014

tirediron said:
Nice shots Scott!

Thanks John. Much appreciated.

pjaye · Jun 21, 2014

These are fantastic shots. And thank you so much for posting the settings. I am a huge fan of airshows, and a long time fan of our Snowbirds. Unfortunately our local airshow hasn't happened in years. I miss it.

SCraig · Jun 21, 2014

symplybarb said:
These are fantastic shots. And thank you so much for posting the settings. I am a huge fan of airshows, and a long time fan of our Snowbirds. Unfortunately our local airshow has happened in years. I miss it.

Thanks, Barb. And you're welcome

I'm also a big fan of your Snowbirds. I haven't seen them in person, but I saw one of their flights on television once and they are amazing. I don't know exactly how many airplanes they fly in a show but it's more than the Blue Angels or Thunderbirds and their coordination is absolutely masterful. I'd love to see them in person some day.