Any tips for my first airshow?

[RickFL]

Hi everyone, I'm shooting my first airshow tomorrow (Sunday). It's the MacDill Airfest in Tampa, FL. I'm wondering if anyone can pass along any tips so I come home with more keepers. Thanks!

Are there any rules of thumb? I've heard that shooting with shutter speeds around 1/160 to 1/200 gives good blur on the prop planes. I'm assuming you need fast shutter speeds for jets to avoid blur. Maybe around 1/1000?

Any tips are greatly appreciated! You can see my gear below. I plan on using my 70-200 f2.8 with my 1.4x TC on my Rebel T2i. I think that should give me enough reach.

[cicopo]

You've got the shutter speeds about right for prop vs jet but you'll need even slower for heli's. My tip is to remember you've changed them for whatever you were shooting & now must do it again because something different is in the air. It really takes a bit to think to check your settings while also enjoying the show. Look at the shutter speed in the viewfinder at every opportunity you can.

[ewheeler20]

Shoot at aperture between f8-16 for in-flight shots. No need for small DOF help distinguish a plane from the sky, lol.

[RickFL]

Originally Posted by cicopo

You've got the shutter speeds about right for prop vs jet but you'll need even slower for heli's. My tip is to remember you've changed them for whatever you were shooting & now must do it again because something different is in the air. It really takes a bit to think to check your settings while also enjoying the show. Look at the shutter speed in the viewfinder at every opportunity you can.

Thanks I'll keep an eye on that!

Originally Posted by ewheeler20

Shoot at aperture between f8-16 for in-flight shots. No need for small DOF help distinguish a plane from the sky, lol.

Good point! Small DOF should help with sharper images too, so thanks for the tip.

By the way, does anyone have any thoughts on getting the right exposure? The forecast calls for partly cloudy conditions.

[Snydremark]

What lens(es) will you be shooting with? The ones in your signature? Or are you renting something longer?

[RickFL]

Originally Posted by Snydremark

What lens(es) will you be shooting with? The ones in your signature? Or are you renting something longer?

Yes the ones in my signature. I'm not renting anything.

[cicopo]

I shoot R/C events & rely on using Tv settings to get prop blur or very sharp images of jets. I set my cameras to the shutter speeds I think work best for what is flying, adjust the ISO to TRY to stay out of the the smaller apertures (f11 & up) that show dust specks in the photos). check my display whenever I can for exposure (what I think is acceptable) with the highlights alert set to on (overexposed areas blink) & try for just a little over exposure in sky areas. That gets me close enough for my needs but may not work for everyone depending on how they process their images & how demanding they are of the final result.

[Snydremark]

Ok. Make sure you have your TC with you; you're going to want all of the reach you can get once the planes are in the air...

AI Servo focus, with single, center AF point active

I'd suggest setting your metering mode to spot and shooting Tv, at least to start with. Dial in the shutter speed you want for the type of plane you're shooting and then adjust ISO if the camera can't get a good exposure with that SS. You'll likely need a starting point of 400 ISO if it's partly cloudy or overcast.

[RickFL]

Thanks guys. I'm really excited about my first airshow today.

Something tells me today will be the first time I really wish I had a 2x TC instead of my 1.4.

Any other tips will be greatly appreciated!

[Mike Deep]

Too late to help you now, but don't be surprised if your images look washed out. MacDill is backlit about as bad as it can get when the Thunderbirds will be going up. Skipped the show for this reason...

[ewheeler20]

Do you taken into account the time of year? The sun will be at a different angle maybe?

[Mike Deep]

Originally Posted by ewheeler20

Do you taken into account the time of year? The sun will be at a different angle maybe?

Yes, this is actually the worst time of year for MacDill. The show begins side-lit with the sun to the South at 9:00 and gets progressively worse from there. By the time the Thunderbirds go up, the sun is almost exactly to the southwest at an altitude of ~30 degrees and falling... Directly behind performers as seen from the flightline.

[RickFL]

Originally Posted by Mike Deep

Yes, this is actually the worst time of year for MacDill. The show begins side-lit with the sun to the South at 9:00 and gets progressively worse from there. By the time the Thunderbirds go up, the sun is almost exactly to the southwest at an altitude of ~30 degrees and falling... Directly behind performers as seen from the flightline.

Yes, you are correct. Unfortunately this is entirely too true, as I discovered today. I spent the entire afternoon shooting into the sun, pretty much. It was fairly overcast at times but overall it was very challenging lighting conditions. I haven't sat down yet to look at my images. I'll try to post some after I see what I have.

[JTX]

Originally Posted by RickFL

Yes, you are correct. Unfortunately this is entirely too true, as I discovered today. I spent the entire afternoon shooting into the sun, pretty much. It was fairly overcast at times but overall it was very challenging lighting conditions. I haven't sat down yet to look at my images. I'll try to post some after I see what I have.

My first air show shoot last week was into the sun also. I deleted a LOT of photos.

Also I used a shutter speed in the 160-250 range that was WAY too slow. Everything in the 500+ gave plenty of prop blur but the slower ones resulted in blurry planes, AND props.

Theres a bunch on my gallery if you want to look at the settings.

[RickFL]

Originally Posted by JTX

My first air show shoot last week was into the sun also. I deleted a LOT of photos.

Also I used a shutter speed in the 160-250 range that was WAY too slow. Everything in the 500+ gave plenty of prop blur but the slower ones resulted in blurry planes, AND props.

Theres a bunch on my gallery if you want to look at the settings.

I see what you mean, although you definitely got some good keepers. By the way, I noticed your ISO was pretty much always at 400 for the in-flight shots. Any reason why? I'm just trying to learn as much as I can and don't have a lot of understanding of ISO in bright sunlight. I shot in TV mode and varied my ISO anywhere from 100 to 800 just trying to see what the difference would be in the shots, and the exposure of the planes/jets, and I couldn't tell much difference most of the time. That's probably just because I have a lot to learn.