RC Airplane Practice shoot

[idealhobbies]

I can't quite figure out where else this would go, so this forum looks like a winner. First, a little background information. I just got a "new to me" 350D. Talking about it to a buddy of mine. This lead to another and another... I was "asked" to bring out my "high dollar camera" and take some picture of members in flight for the web site, etc...

So, on the advise of a few here, I arranged for a "test run". Please understand that I am about as green as you can get, and I'm honestly not ready to take any pictures for anyone's use. I am trying to learn HOW TO USE the camera, for my own personal satisfaction.

Ok, the equipment used: Canon 350D and Sigma 70-300 f4-5.6 hand held. The weather was mid 40's very overcast. I was going to try to set the camera manually, but lost the nerve and ended up using "Sports Mode". I took about 250 pictures and here are some of the best. The lens honestly was not fast enough to keep up for quite a few of the shots. Even on servo mode, the focus was off on quite a few.

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o249/totalsnafu/IMG_8527.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o249/totalsnafu/IMG_8283.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o249/totalsnafu/IMG_8423.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o249/totalsnafu/Diamonte2.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o249/totalsnafu/Eratix.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o249/totalsnafu/IMG_8297.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o249/totalsnafu/IMG_8504.jpg

This one reminded me to keep an eye on the subject outside of the camera lens. My buddy thought that I was on the other side of him. He missed me by inches.
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o249/totalsnafu/extremeclose.jpg

Since this is my first time, be gentle. I welcome hints, tips, suggestions.

[PhotosGuy]

#s 3 & 4 look pretty good, but generally, Sports Mode won't give the results that you want. Read pixelbasher's thread: RC jet and heli (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=674828), and the links in this:
Shooting airshows in Manual (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=766329)


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/PhotosGuy/Forum%20Junk/Welcome-ChargerRT_020.gif

[Richtherookie]

Ok I'll rip on you! The forth one is a little to bright. But I do it all the time. The things have good focus and at the speeds they fly i'd say you did awesome! With the "brighter" background it had to have been tough.

One honest thing I am sure someone will tell you. if you can use a slower a shutter speed to show more prop motion it will look a little better. NOW what I say: GOOD LUCK, i shoot bike races, darn hard to get good prop/wheel blur and keep a sharp focus. Keep shooting, your off to a great start! I'd be damn proud of these.

[ChasWG]

Yeah, that last one is a little scary! I think the blame falls to your buddy flying the rig. He needs to be aware all the time. You need to not be stupid and get into areas that you shouldn't.

I shot some pics a few months ago for a friend (Brian O'Meara, he's a ledgend in the RC warbird world) as well of his new(ish) F-4U Corsair. I ended up selling a few of them for $200!
I asked where I could stand to shoot and where I could go. He always had a quick eye on me to know where I was, but I also didn't move too much as his plane was making passes down the runway at around 100 to 110 mph! I shot in Av mode as I wanted the BG to be as OOF as possible and set a higher than normal ISO for the day light so as to keep SS up. Maybe it was around 200 to 400. I hine-sight, maybe I should have done it in all manual mode, but the subject matter is small and in this case, moving pretty fast. And I wish I had more prop blur in mine. Maybe too fast of a SS. Hmmmm... It's a trade off, sharp focus or prop blur. The good ones can do both.

If you want to see what I got, look here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chaswg/sets/72157623006593974/

It seems like you did a pretty good job for being new to photography and new to the camera. It looks like you had enough lens to reach out and get those high stall shots. I only had my 70-200 f4 L, but that's the beauty of RC planes. I just told Brian where the best pictures would be made at and he put it there! I liked having a little BG other than sky in the shots. So the low passes worked best, that and I wasn't always at the end of my lens.

Keep working at it. What you were asked to do isn't all that easy. You'll get better the more you know your new camera! :)

[idealhobbies]

Thanks. In the defense of my buddy, the last picture was my fault. I got so into the shooting that I was not paying attention to my wandering. I had started on the other side of him, and in the course of taking the pictures (while circling) I had drifted unintentionally onto his other side. I fly with him often enough that we tend to read each others minds when it comes to flying. I knew where his flight path was, and had wandered right into it. Lost in the moment I guess. WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN!

Following the action is not an easy task. I'm honestly not happy with the majority of the aerial shots due to the lack of color. That in itself was due to the weather and was outside of my control, but it's still rather drab to me. If 3 and 4 were in focus I would be quite pleased with them. The background contrasted well (to me anyway) and brought out the airplane. Unfortunately, they were out of focus. Here's a few more:

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o249/totalsnafu/IMG_8401.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o249/totalsnafu/IMG_8431.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o249/totalsnafu/IMG_8593.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o249/totalsnafu/IMG_8265.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o249/totalsnafu/IMG_8437.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o249/totalsnafu/Takeoff.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o249/totalsnafu/concentration.jpg

I'll keep at it. Practice makes perfect.

[ChasWG]

well, I'll admit, my plane shots were of a much larger type. Did you look through the flickr set and see the one with Brian crouched down by the plane. Kind of sets the scale. Those were really big in comparison to the ones your buddy is flying. But they are flying at a much fast rate too.

I like the 2nd shot in your second post, that looks good to me. Maybe try sharpening it in PP. And the last image in the second post as well is cool. You had the right idea there. Maybe setting focus on your buddy controlling the plane would have made for a better image there. And a tighter crop with a verticle framing to focus on your subject matter more.

[idealhobbies]

Yes, I looked at your set. His planes were very nice. We're flying the Park Flyers vs. his large scale. Way too much money for me in those big things. They're really nice, but $10,000+ can buy me 40+ planes.

There was one plane that did not make the cut. His F16 was going over 90mph and was very hard to keep up with. None of the pictures were good enough to keep.

[idealhobbies]

Here you go Chas.... setting the scale:

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o249/totalsnafu/BarryPrep.jpg

[ChasWG]

Brian didn't fly his F4 Phantom that day. He forgot to pack the jet fuel. The rig of his costs around $100K and flies at over 200mph! It has a really turbo fan jet in the middle of the plane. The plane wieghs in at 53 pounds totally fueled, the output from that turbo fan is about 150 lbs of thrust. Crazy! I so wanted to see that one fly, but the F-4U was way cool too. It had a 17 channel controller. Canopy slides back, wings fold up, it can even drop a payload. A little scary actually. I think the Corsair cost him around $40K to finish. And it wasn't done yet either. It still had it's test flight prop on front. The real tri-blade was still being set and balanced. Once that goes on it'll be another 25mph faster yet at top speed.

[ogre1231]

I think those are pretty good especially for the first time out. Panning takes some practice and on those little 3d birds it's not super easy. I would have liked to see some variety next time. Maybe some KE or some spins with the control surfaces out at the limits.

[ChasWG]

Here you go Chas.... setting the scale:

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o249/totalsnafu/BarryPrep.jpg

Ha! LOL Nice! ;)

I'll post mine for comparison if you don't mind.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4044/4188043780_0c962c4793_b.jpg

And one in flight. Yeah, that's a real 5 cyl. radial engine powering that bad boy.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2591/4187290121_fc4d50131a_b.jpg

And on the ground before flight for beauty shots with the tri-prop.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2513/4188053032_1851de7626_b.jpg

I'll take them down if you want me to.

[idealhobbies]

Ogre,

I have more, but these have not been processed at all. These are Raw right out of the camera.

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o249/totalsnafu/IMG_8525.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o249/totalsnafu/IMG_8524.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o249/totalsnafu/IMG_8514.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o249/totalsnafu/IMG_8511.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o249/totalsnafu/IMG_8490.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o249/totalsnafu/IMG_8466.jpg

[idealhobbies]

ChasWG.... those are incredible models. Leave them please.

[ChasWG]

ChasWG.... those are incredible models. Leave them please.

Thanks, I will. I like the tail spin ones of your's. Can you crop in a little tighter with your editting program?

[idealhobbies]

I have not touched them at all.....