The Red Bull Air Show was this past weekend and I had a bit of fun tracking the planes with my k10d and bigma (for the most part). Here is the link to the whole gallery:LaRee | Red Bull Airshow 2008
Here are a couple examples. I have a feeling I did better last year but I'm not sure why except I had a different vantage point this year and there was more haze in the air. If you follow the link above, you'll be able to click on the folder that is holding the other air show galleries I have on zenfolio. Anyway here are a few I like. The first because it is hard to get these guys exactly between the pylons as this one is.


This one because I love capturing the vapor off the jet in an image.


And this one because this is the Red Bull plane and it is the view I had most often. The paying audience was on the other side of the bay, so the course is set up to give them the front side show. lol


Thanks for taking the time to open this post and view. I hope you will take the time to post some feedback also.

[roentarre]

They are great shots. I remembered seeing similar shots last year and this series has a better reach this time around

[augustmoon]

Very nice job!

Especially considering there was an awful thick haze this year. It's good you had a long lens with you, anything shorter and that haze would have crippled the image. I went with my K20D (still kinda new to me) and a shorter lens, and it wasn't enough... But I was pleased with the K20D being able to keep up with the focus tracking as I followed the planes through the air at least, and they were movin' at a good clip....

[k100d]

nice pics LaRee, i wish they'd have an event in Toronto.
did you use the bigma for all these pics?

[tcom]

Very nice pics LaRee, and I know how difficult it is, I attended the show in Interlaken here in Switzerland last year.

[LaRee]

They are great shots. I remembered seeing similar shots last year and this series has a better reach this time around

Well, the air was much clearer last year but hopefully I've improved somewhat. ;-) Thank you for taking a look and posting James.

Very nice job!

Especially considering there was an awful thick haze this year. It's good you had a long lens with you, anything shorter and that haze would have crippled the image. I went with my K20D (still kinda new to me) and a shorter lens, and it wasn't enough... But I was pleased with the K20D being able to keep up with the focus tracking as I followed the planes through the air at least, and they were movin' at a good clip....

There really was a thick haze this year. A few times I thought hmmm...I'm not sure how these are going to come out. I had the ev bumped up to +1 and was shooting in tav mode. I still had to adjust the exposure in post processing by .5 to almost 1.5 on some shots. Maybe the haze was affecting the exposure too? I'm not sure. Since my k10d was serviced it seems to underexpose consistently by at least 1 stop. At least it is consistent now though. If you get some photos uploaded of the show I'd love to see them. Thanks for looking and posting.

nice pics LaRee, i wish they'd have an event in Toronto.
did you use the bigma for all these pics?

Yes I did use the bigma for all the shots I uploaded to the gallery. I wasn't sure at first, but I checked and they all are from the bigma. Thanks for stopping by and posting.

Very nice pics LaRee, and I know how difficult it is, I attended the show in Interlaken here in Switzerland last year.

Tracking them is challenging, but since they follow a pattern it is do-able. What really plays heck with the captures is the haze in the air. On a clear day the images come out so much better. But I haven't been to an air show with clear skies in over 2 years now. Seems like I'm due since I am in "sunny San Diego". BAH!