Shooting an Air Show Tips

[dputz]

I'll be shooting my first air show this August 18-19 on the Chicago waterfront. See my sig for my lenses, but I'll be renting a 400 2.8 just for the occasion. :D

So, what are some tips for an air-show newbie?

[GeoffSobering]

Jets you can freeze with the fastest shutter speed you can get (keeping ISO and aperture in mind, of course). Props need no faster than 1/320 to get some blur on the blades. Slower is better (until you get too soft from motion blur or diffraction due to small aperture).

I generally set the Av mode with the largest aperture that will give me good sharpness so I'll get the fastest shutter speed for the conditions. That's my "jet" setting. I set Tv for 1/250 (or faster/slower depending on how confident I am). That's my "prop" starting point. With those two preset, it's easy to switch between "freeze-frame" and "prop-blur" modes just by turning the AE dial.

For props, try shooting a couple at 1/250 or 1/320 and chimp them to see if you like the look of the prop.

Use continuous AF. Many folks set C.Fn-04 set to 1 so the AF starts with the "*" button. I suggest using "all points" AF, although others get good results just using the center point. I generally "line up" on the plane with the center AF point when it's some distance away and press/hold the "*" button to start the AF and IS. Then pan with the plane(s) firing as you see a good shot. Don't press the shutter-release half-way unless you want to lock the auto-exposure.

Shoot bursts of 2-3 shots (or more). The Canon continuous AF mode will take the first shot when you press the release, but subsequent ones will only fire when the AF system thinks it's got a good focus (it's a bit more complex than that, but close enough); it's common to find one shot from a burst that's substantially sharper than the others.

Watch your histogram (keep the default review mode set to it) and adjust the exposure compensation based on the last couple of shots. Sometimes I'll even take a frame of a "boring" plane that just happens to be about the same size/location as something I'll be shooting next and check the histogram.

Checkout this thread (http://www.fencecheck.com/forums/index.php/topic,7418.0.html) for more info. on the show and specifics about it.

If you're in the Chicago area next week, try getting a ride up to Oshkosh, WI for the EAA Convention (http://www.fencecheck.com/forums/index.php/topic,7182.0.html), or one of the other shows on the calendar (http://www.fencecheck.com/forums/index.php?action=calendar).

I hope this helps.

Cheers,

Geoff S.

[GeoffSobering]

Some pages with airshow photography tips:

http://www.richard-seaman.com/Photography/Airshows/index.html
http://photo.net/learn/airshow/

Oh yeah - practice with the rental lens before the show!
Read the manual (or talk with the folks you're renting from) to find out how the IS responds to panning. I'm not familiar with the 400mm f/2.8, but some Canon IS lenses will automatically sense panning and stop trying to compensate in the panning direction, and others require that you switch from "Mode-1" (both axes stabilized) to "Mode-2" (just the vertical axis stabilized). The 400mm probably has buttons on the barrel that you can program (via a custom-function) to start the AF (or other functions). It also likely has a "prefocus set" capability that you should learn about.

Cheers,

Geoff S.