[DWS1]

Got an opportunity to see a mini air show today. The Blue Angels did a health care worker tribute flight over Little Rock, Arkansas, today. This the first time I've ever seen them, and tried to photograph low flying, fast moving aircraft. I had a K70 with a DA 55-300 plm lens, and a K50 with a DA* 300mm, because I had no idea what focal length I would need, and no time to change lens. Both cameras were set to Tav mode, shutter speed 1/1500, aperture f:8, auto ISO, 11 auto focus points, average metering, +1 EC, and slow burst mode. Unfortunately, it was a heavily overcast day, and the light was fairly dull and flat. This is something I want do more of. Any advice or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

As a side note, my adult son, DIL, and teenage grandkids finally realized a phone can not replace a real camera. Their photos were nothing but blurry, dark spots streaking across the sky, and one of them had the I-Phone 11. I had to give them copies of mine for them to send to their friends.

The first 2 photos are with the K70 and 55-300mm plm. The last one is with the K50 and 300mm.

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Last edited by DWS1; 05-14-2020 at 09:54 PM.

[robgski]

Good shots. There is nothing quite so exhilarating as the sound and sight of an airshow featuring state of the art high performance aircraft.

[rpjallan]

Well done...

[johnha]

Good shots, very good metering against a bright sky. For formations (or larger aircraft) zooms are preferable as you can quickly switch to single aircraft. For jets, your approach is good, but for anything with propellers, you need longer than 1/250th to stop the props bring recorded static (looks unnatural).

[redpit]

Good job! Take a look here if you like, as I don't have much more to say!

Pentax and aviation photography

Feel free to ask me anything you might need to know. I will hapilly help if I can!

[Sidney Porter]

I went to an air show with my father in law. He was a 20+ year air force pilot, he primarily flew f4 then ended up being an instructor.

It was really interesting sitting next to him and hearing about the formation, what is easy what is hard. Difference in formation distance for the blue angels / Thunderbirds vs normal flying. He could predict the next move before it was executed.

He knew some some of the Thunderbirds (air force version of the blue angels) during his time. The try out / interview process was less about your flying skill and more personality, ability to present well, etc.

[mee]

Exciting (very loud) when the Blues are in town, flying low over rooftops. I like the 2nd image the most.


Your shutter speed is fine for jets, aperture at a large f/8, ISO not too grainy at 400. Vantage point and angle of/from your subject really make or break an aircraft demonstration photo imo. I typically frame for corners of the image with the demonstration teams in formation. Be it their direction and/or the lines formed by their smoke plumes.


If you have enough resolution, you can 'cheat' a bit by giving a little extra negative space around the subject for better framing and positioning in post.

[Wasp]

Here is one I made a few years ago. Sometimes a wider angle works better. Using a longer lens would just have given me a picture of a Boeing 737-800 in fight.




Another one taken at an airshow that worked out well. I like to to think that the friendly pilot was looking at me when I took the picture but I will never know. I used my SMC Pentax (K) 200mm f/2.5 so that great big front element might have caught her eye.

[jswilson64]

Here's a couple from Austin's mini-air-show this past Wednesday. K-50 + Sigma 170-500.

[AggieDad]

Thanks for all the photos. I am envious.

I stood in my driveway in the Houston suburbs waiting for the Blue Angels to fly over. My neighbor received a text from a friend who saw them fly over some five miles away. Alas!

Four days later a whole group of old "warbirds" from the air museum was doing its own flyover. Not to be fooled twice, I put the camera and lenses in the car and headed to where it seemed to be the most likely location to see them. Well, I saw them, but they were far enough away that even my Sigma 150-500 didn't bring them in very close. Arriving home, I learned they flew right over the house!

Planes, trains and automobiles. With trains and automobiles it is pretty easy to know where they will be. Planes, not so much.

[DWS1]

Thanks everyone for your nice comments and suggestions. As the OP, I sincerely appreciate them. I really like the photos and experiences others have shared from around the world and have already learned quite a bit from them. It would be nice to keep this thread going as the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds are doing these tribute mini air shows all around the country.

There was some advance notice a few days before the flight, but nothing very specific until the night before when they released the flight plan. I saw it on the 10:00pm news. The plan showed the Blue Angels entering Little Rock from the west, following the main east/west street thru the city, taking them over the major hospitals, the state capitol, and into downtown where they did a loop around the downtown area, then out to the northeast to fly over North Little Rock. Not being real familiar with the city, I kept thinking about a place that would have a lot of visibility and was easy to get to. (I live an hour away.) I settled on the parking lot of the Clinton Presidential Library. That area is fairly open and turned out to be somewhat in the center of the loop they flew, which to my surprise they flew two times and I could see them all the way around and exit. Got about 2 minutes to watch and photograph. The entire flight over Little Rock was 5 minutes. This was the first time I ever did 2 hours of driving to see a 2 minute show, but it was well worth it. I share my experience so someone might benefit from it, and perhaps afford them an opportunity to get some great photos.

It was reported the Blue Angels flew this entire mission out of NAS Pensacola (Florida, their home base) going first to Nashville, TN, at noon, then to Little Rock, AR, at 1:45pm, then back home, with in flight refuelings.

---------- Post added 05-15-20 at 08:48 PM ----------

Here's a couple from Austin's mini-air-show this past Wednesday. K-50 + Sigma 170-500.

Nice shots of the Thunderbirds. I saw a photo online from somewhere, I don't remember where, that had the Thunderbirds and the Blue Angles flying in an intermixed formation. I know they did joint mission fly overs of NYC, Wash DC, and Atlanta.

[mee]

Thanks for all the photos. I am envious.

I stood in my driveway in the Houston suburbs waiting for the Blue Angels to fly over. My neighbor received a text from a friend who saw them fly over some five miles away. Alas!

Four days later a whole group of old "warbirds" from the air museum was doing its own flyover. Not to be fooled twice, I put the camera and lenses in the car and headed to where it seemed to be the most likely location to see them. Well, I saw them, but they were far enough away that even my Sigma 150-500 didn't bring them in very close. Arriving home, I learned they flew right over the house!

Planes, trains and automobiles. With trains and automobiles it is pretty easy to know where they will be. Planes, not so much.

I can circle around your driveway with my arms out, making airplane sounds if you'd like. You can have your choice of prop or jet sound effects. I'm not quite sure it will be same though.

[Wasp]

I knew this airline was going to do a flyby, so I picked my spot in advance. It worked out well.

[StiffLegged]

Some good images here, @DWS, I wonder if you found the same as me that a 300mm on APS-C is about the limit for prolonged handheld shooting? The usual problem is the aircraft - especially fast jets - are dots in the sky until they approach and then they approach real fast, fill the viewfinder, and zoosh past before you get a couple of decent frames off. Formation teams are great for coloured smoke to add interest, plus you get a good number of aircraft in the frame to make interesting compositions. You also get noticeably different characteristics with different display teams: our own Red Arrows are quite different to your own Blue Angels or the Patrouille Swisse or the Royal Jordanian AF team, but they're all so much fun to watch, and to photograph.


I like older warbirds with propellors in front, so here are some from 5 years ago, Flying Legends at Duxford, UK, shot on my K-7 with FA 80-320mm, shutter speed no higher than 1/200s to keep the props blurred.

Gloster Gladiators:–





Curtiss P-36 Hawks and P40 Warhawks:–





Bristol Blenheim, three Supermarine Spitfires and a Hawker Hurricane bringing up the rear:–





Two Vought Corsairs:–





One of the best airshows I've been to.

[DWS1]

Nice photos @Stifflegged I love those old war planes. Yes the DA*300mm is about my limit on hand holding and only for a short time. I didn't even see the Blue Angels until they were almost on top of me. (The first photo) They were so low and the downtown buildings blocked the view. I was lucky. They flew 2 tight circles completely around where I was and I had a 360 degree view. I used the camera with the 55-300mm on the first circle because I didn't know what focal length I would need, then grabbed the one with the 300mm on the second. I try to use the 300mm as much as I can because it is so good. When this virus is all over, I am going to make a point to attend some full fledged air shows.

---------- Post added 05-16-20 at 06:15 PM ----------

I knew this airline was going to do a flyby, so I picked my spot in advance. It worked out well.

That's a great shot. Very creative.