NAS El Centro Air Show 2011

Well the 2011 Air Show season is now upon us with the Blue Angels launching off in El Centro and the Thunderbirds this coming weekend at Luke AFB in Arizona. I managed to get Saturday off from work and was able to fly down and attend the show! Special thanks to Opi from Viper West for the great hospitality after the show and to the F-18 pilot that was nice enough to take me out on the flight line to get some shots of him with his aircraft after his flight. There are many more shots still to come but these are a few that I have managed to get done to this point, I hope you enjoy them as much as I did taking them!

Viper West Crew looking on while waiting for taxi clearance-

the break over the moon is deadly! and i really like the one of Baby Huey... the desaturation of the background is perfect. really makes him snap out of the shot.

Ultra Sharp.. and need to see a little more prop blur on the 130 next time

Saw that break with the moon on your flickr earlier - absolutely insane shot ! a good set this one - but i agree on that c-130 prop blur comment

the last one is A+!!! Print it and put it on your wall! WOW!

Thanks Everyone, on the subject of prop blur I did try to do some but the light was just to harsh for anything worth posting sadly.

Very nice series, & I love the break!

Thank You!

I think your break shot is in focus, just a large crop taken of it (I'm assuming since it was at 260mm). Great capture though. I couldn't get any with them in front of the moon.

I honestly was surprised they went that high, I thought for sure they were going to pull up just short, I was watching and waiting and saw them get close to is and saw them on it and pulled the trigger and had some success with it!

C-17 action-

Great set
Is it just me or does that pilot look very much like Maverick aka Tom Cruise?

Haha I thought the same thing, the other F-18 pilot looked like Peyton Manning. I was thinking look, the NFL keeps all the money the players had to get other jobs. JK

great shots!

love 'em!

Really nice series. That break shot is KILLER! - although, it could just be my computer or image compression or something, but the blue sky seems a bit noisy. Perhaps separate the moon and the angels from the blue sky using layers and then apply some noise reduction to the sky? Might make the airplanes and moon stand out more.