[raider]

thanks for the quick reply.

now this is the probs at the sat and sun air race. if i go to south perth near the grand stand, i will be shooting the planes directly at the sun's direction. so i guess i will just get underexposed planes and nothing else.

If i go to the other side of the shore, i will have better shooting environment but then i will be about 1km away from the action.

what else can i do?

i can't shoot raw (not for this event) because i need to use the burst mode. Raw on the k100D is just too slow.

I can put on the ND filter. will that help?

[navcom]

How do i avoid the plane/sky either turn up too dark or too bright? what EV value should i dial in?

He's right....your position in relation to the sun is the secret. If it's cloudy, you just have to find what works. You may want to try bracketing. Your test shots don't look bad at all!

Keep in mind that you can also post-process them in Photoshop (if you have it) or similar software if your aircraft is underexposed. This way you get a properly exposed sky and you just bump up the shadows a bit and presto. For this, it's better underexposed than overexposed...as it always is.

The best advice over anything else is to HAVE FUN! I mean after all, those are folks strapping themselves into metal flying machines with loud and powerful engines, hurling themselves through the atmosphere! How cool is that! And so you can appreciate it even more....I'm a professional pilot and have done that stuff!.....and I STILL find it exhilirating just to watch! It never gets old! Even the absolutely worst photographic day at an airshow is STILL a day at the airshow!

It's real easy when you are new at anything to get frustrated and obsessed with perfection. Just remember it's your first airshow and try to do your best...but in the end, your first at anything is really nothing more than practice for the next one. Just remember to document what you did well and what you didn't do well. That way, you learn from the practice.

Now go out there, kick the tires and light the fires!

[navcom]

thanks for the quick reply.

now this is the probs at the sat and sun air race. if i go to south perth near the grand stand, i will be shooting the planes directly at the sun's direction. so i guess i will just get underexposed planes and nothing else.

If i go to the other side of the shore, i will have better shooting environment but then i will be about 1km away from the action.

what else can i do?

i can't shoot raw (not for this event) because i need to use the burst mode. Raw on the k100D is just too slow.

I can put on the ND filter. will that help?

If you use an ND filter, choose one that is not too dark. A dark ND filter will slow your shutter speed way down causing motion blur. I would personally not recommend an ND filter but possibly a polarizer......so......

What you can try is picking the closer spot that puts you into the sun and then try to find a point in the race where the aircraft are about 90 degrees to the sun (or as close to 90 as possible) and focus your attention there. Here you can use a circular polarizer quite effectively. It will help a bit.

[MRRiley]

Given a choice between properly exposed aircraft/washed out sky and underexposed aircraft/properly exposed sky, I'd take the former. Its a tough call between the better light and the closer position but I think I'd have to go with the better light. In some ways this could simplify your job since you could shoot at your highest focal length and stay focued at infinity, thus letting you concentrate on following the aircraft and good composition. Also, the exposure will not vary as much with the sun behind you, illuminating the aircraft evenly.

Any way you can get onto a boat on the good side?

[Michaelina2]

Here's a tip to consider:

AIRC - Adorama Imaging Resource Center: 100 in 100: Photography at airshows

BTW: I'm NOT affiliated with the source and have no experience with this type of gig.

Looks like fun...

[nobbsie]

If it was me I'd go for the the closer spot and deal with the sun as best as you can. From 1km away you'll probably lose a fair bit of IQ due to distance, after-all you'll probably enjoy being closer to the action. Try to expose so the sky's just shy of becoming blown out, the planes should be bright enough to get great results with a bit of tweaking in photoshop later.

Experiment with AF, I'd probably lean towards using AF-S and tapping the shutter constantly while tracking.

[raider]

thanks for all the helpful comments and tips!! Appreciate all these!

By the way, I can't get on a boat to shoot the airshow That's a very good idea however.

There is another training session today. So today I am going to try my FA80-320 set at infinity focus and to try also the DA50-200 with circular polarizer filter. All these just to see which one works better than the other. I just need to steal some time off work today. Ssshhhhh....Don't tell my boss

I will keep u guys posted.

Okay. now that I know the preferred photo is a properly exposed aircraft with a blown sky, i think i know what to do. I will set at spot metering and meter the aircraft. I hope this works.

Yesterday I tried the AF-C mode. Don't think it is any good. Still think that AF-S is the way to go. Do you guys use AF-C?

[MRRiley]

I'm going to disagree with one point made in the Adorama article. Airshows do NOT confine themselves to "fairly well defined area in front of you". Its true that most significant maneuvers happen at "show center" however the nature of many maneuvers require thousands of feet on either side. Many even commence "behind" the audience. ALL occur at varying flight altitudes. Why do I make this point?

These factors render most monopods and virtually all tripods (other than those with very high-end fluid buffered gimball heads).... USELESS. A monopod is great for horizontal panning, but is darned near impossible to use for angled panning.

Naturally the air race may be shootable using either a monopod or tripod as I imagine the flight levels are more constant, but I wanted to point out that for general airshows, they are not practical.

Other than hand-holding (which I do manage even with the BIGMA) the only suitably flexible stabilizer is a shoulder stock.

All of the recent airshow shots I have posted in various threads were shot handheld with a K10D/BIGMA.

[navcom]

All of the recent airshow shots I have posted in various threads were shot handheld with a K10D/BIGMA.

Couldn't agree more! I do the same with my K10D and 500mm Sigma. It looks strange and gangly and takes some practice, but hand held shooting is the way to go. Using a tripod is setting yourself up for alot of frustration.

Your post reminds me of one of the Angel's shows I attended some time back. Having seen most of the jet teams over the years and having flown precision, you pretty much memorize their routine after a couple shows.

Well, with this in mind as I'm sure you can attest to, you learn to know when the high speed "sneak run" will occur and where to be looking to see it. So at this particular show, I see the lead solo do his break and knew it was almost time. I turned around to look behind the crowd and saw him line up for his run in the distance so I zoomed in on him in preparation. Of course the entire crowd is completely focused on show center. Except there is this 7-year-old boy right behind me that is fascinated with what I'm doing. Why is this strange guy taking pictures behind us when the airplanes are in front of us? So I leaned down and whispered in his ear (as best I could) what was about to happen. His eyes lit up like wild and he flung around just in time to see the aircraft....followed by the boom in which everyone else except myself and this boy jumped out of their shoes. He was absolutely thrilled! He will never look at an airshow the same again, I assure you!

...of course, because of this, I missed my shot. But it was worth it seeing his excitement!

[raider]

Thanks for all your tips. Here is what i learned:

1. Focus set at infinity works well.

2. ND filter is not useful in air race. so is circular polarizer.

Here are 3 of the more successful photos for the day. Will go and practice more tomorrow before the big day on saturday.

Comments are welcome. I am still learning

Attachment 21393

Attachment 21394

Attachment 21395

[navcom]

[QUOTE=raider;379910]Here are 3 of the more successful photos for the day. Will go and practice more tomorrow before the big day on saturday.[QUOTE]

Looking pretty good! Which spot did you take the pictures from....the sunny spot or the 1 km spot?

[MRRiley]

Couldn't agree more! I do the same with my K10D and 500mm Sigma. It looks strange and gangly and takes some practice, but hand held shooting is the way to go. Using a tripod is setting yourself up for alot of frustration.

Your post reminds me of one of the Angel's shows I attended some time back. Having seen most of the jet teams over the years and having flown precision, you pretty much memorize their routine after a couple shows.

Well, with this in mind as I'm sure you can attest to, you learn to know when the high speed "sneak run" will occur and where to be looking to see it. So at this particular show, I see the lead solo do his break and knew it was almost time. I turned around to look behind the crowd and saw him line up for his run in the distance so I zoomed in on him in preparation. Of course the entire crowd is completely focused on show center. Except there is this 7-year-old boy right behind me that is fascinated with what I'm doing. Why is this strange guy taking pictures behind us when the airplanes are in front of us? So I leaned down and whispered in his ear (as best I could) what was about to happen. His eyes lit up like wild and he flung around just in time to see the aircraft....followed by the boom in which everyone else except myself and this boy jumped out of their shoes. He was absolutely thrilled! He will never look at an airshow the same again, I assure you!

...of course, because of this, I missed my shot. But it was worth it seeing his excitement!

That is priceless navcom. Sorry you missed the shot but sometimes its worth it. That kid will talk about that for months!

That does bring up another important "logistical" point. If there are bleachers or grandstands... get on the TOP row just so you can get shots from all directions and angles. You can't shoot the sneak-pass with a bunch of people in your way.

Mike

[tcom]

Pretty good for a start.

I was at the Air Race here in Switzerland last year. Due to the mountains behind, I had less problems to give an impression for speed, and exposure was also easier.

I tried two ways to get these planes. Fast shutter speeds to get maximal details on the planes, but unfortunately, these shots freeze the speed. So I also tried myself at panning shots using slow shutter speeds. This turns out to much more blurred photos...

K10D, Tokina 80-400, 1/200s f/9.0 at 200.0mm iso100


This and more (for ideas) under Air Race Interlaken Photo Gallery by Dominique Schreckling at pbase.com

[raider]

[QUOTE=navcom;379926][QUOTE=raider;379910]Here are 3 of the more successful photos for the day. Will go and practice more tomorrow before the big day on saturday.

Looking pretty good! Which spot did you take the pictures from....the sunny spot or the 1 km spot?

This is at the 1km spot I took these pictures during my lunch break (okay. it is an extended lunch break ) since i didn't think i can make the time if I go all the way to south perth to catch the action. The 1km spot is pretty close to where my office is.

Tomorrow the qualifying round. I will be at the south perth side. I hope the sun is not that strong tomorrow.

[sluggo913]

I don't know if these shots will help but they were taken at a remote controled airplane show a few weeks ago on a sunday morning very strong sun to my left for all motion shots. About the first 2/3 of the shots were raw at iso 100 and 250 shutter with a 70-300 sigma, the later ones were jpeg at various settings for trial and error shooting. you can see them here www.lsphotographyandvideo.ifp3.com and then check the gallerys.

Thanks, and hope it helps.