Air shows. Post your best shots.

jwol wrote in post #18181157
The Kuhlig Cloud

Texan Twosome

57 Years

Nice

Desertraptor wrote in post #18181377
Welcome to Transport and the joy of photographing aircraft. As you can see it's a challenge.
As you've read everyone here has issues with prop blur.
I don't want to sound condescending but can I assume you shot either in auto or AV?
The various high shutter speeds indicate one or the other.

Airliner.net likes nice and sharp and usually frozen props ie the sharpest shot possible.
Around here people like to see a prop in motion. The more blur the greater the challenge.

The typical setting for prop aircraft is either full manual with shutter as low as you can go or Tv
Tv at least performs exposure for you.
For jets you can go as fast as you can. But panning a low fly by jet and getting background blur is just as satisfying as prop blur (at least for me).

When you have a full disc blur with an aircraft in focus you will know and fully understand the challenge.
Hope you are not offended by these comments. We learn by criticism and practice.

I like that you actually labelled the aircraft too. Some here don't.

Totally agreed

Desertraptor wrote in post #18181377
Around here people like to see a prop in motion.

At the same time, some of us don't give a f$*k..

I appreciate that prop blur is nice, but some of us aren't fortunate enough to be close enough to shoot at short focal lengths. Therefore long focal lengths are required and so are shorter shutter speeds.

To base all photograph merit on whether or not a plane has a frozen prop is just stupid.

Vladdo wrote in post #18182083
At the same time, some of us don't give a f$*k..

I appreciate that prop blur is nice, but some of us aren't fortunate enough to be close enough to shoot at short focal lengths. Therefore long focal lengths are required and so are shorter shutter speeds.

To base all photograph merit on whether or not a plane has a frozen prop is just stupid.

To add another stance on this - It also depends on the circumstance at the time - was you ready for the aicraft/helicopter with enough warning to change settings, or was it a complete supprise type event where you just had time to raise the camera to the eye and fire away.
Some times this applies to me especially if I am doing other photography prior to an unexpected arrival that would benefit from slower shutter speeds.

An exaqmple of this was the other day - I was in the house and heard a helicopter coming so I ran to the cupboard grabbed my camera bag took out my camera, took the lens hood off then ran with it to the back door whilst trying not to trip up while turning the camera on, once outside the helicopter was going fast just gone over me and just enough time to raise the cam to head to take a shot.

P.

Vladdo wrote in post #18182083
At the same time, some of us don't give a f$*k..

I appreciate that prop blur is nice, but some of us aren't fortunate enough to be close enough to shoot at short focal lengths. Therefore long focal lengths are required and so are shorter shutter speeds.

To base all photograph merit on whether or not a plane has a frozen prop is just stupid.

Pagman wrote in post #18182093
To add another stance on this - It also depends on the circumstance at the time - was you ready for the aicraft/helicopter with enough warning to change settings, or was it a complete supprise type event where you just had time to raise the camera to the eye and fire away.
Some times this applies to me especially if I am doing other photography prior to an unexpected arrival that would benefit from slower shutter speeds.

An exaqmple of this was the other day - I was in the house and heard a helicopter coming so I ran to the cupboard grabbed my camera bag took out my camera, took the lens hood off then ran with it to the back door whilst trying not to trip up while turning the camera on, once outside the helicopter was going fast just gone over me and just enough time to raise the cam to head to take a shot.

P.

Yes there are times when things happen to quick. Also age and a steady hand. Sometimes we get what comes.

I don't agree. The title of THIS thread is "Air Shows, Post your best shots" so how does that mean anything with an airplane or heli apply? I do agree that many who have never shot an air show nor read up on how to get good results don't know what's expected from them but the whole idea in joining a photography forum is to learn from others who do things better than those just starting out.

cicopo wrote in post #18182161
I don't agree. The title of THIS thread is "Air Shows, Post your best shots" so how does that mean anything with an airplane or heli apply? I do agree that many who have never shot an air show nor read up on how to get good results don't know what's expected from them but the whole idea in joining a photography forum is to learn from others who do things better than those just starting out.

I was posting a generic example not aimed specifically at airshows, just to show that sometimes without prior prepaeration you can get caught out/

I know and understand at an airshow where you know whats coming next and how to set yourself up, you would have more time to tinker with different settings and even adjust things in situ with display plane doing more tahn one pass.

My main addition was decribing a situation that is a one off with no prior warning.

Alot of street photogs must be in this situation but must have a general setting that meets most critera ?


P.

Pagman wrote in post #18182169
Alot of street photogs must be in this situation but must have a general setting that meets most critera ?

I shoot in manual exposure. That doesn't mean that I totally ignore the Av & Tv settings because I've been known to accidentally bump the mode dial & not notice it.
So I also set a slow shutter speed on Tv because I like to shoot motion shots. And set a wide open aperture on Av, along with the Exposure Compensation (EC) that I think will work at the time I set it up. Then it's just a quick change of the dial to get something usable if an unexpected situation comes along.
It's not perfect, but it works for me.

PhotosGuy wrote in post #18182176
I shoot in manual exposure. That doesn't mean that I totally ignore the Av & Tv settings because I've been known to accidentally bump the mode dial & not notice it.
So I also set a slow shutter speed on Tv because I like to shoot motion shots. And set a wide open aperture on Av, along with the Exposure Compensation (EC) that I think will work at the time I set it up. Then it's just a quick change of the dial to get something usable if an unexpected situation comes along.
It's not perfect, but it works for me.

I guess its a combination of what the situation is, what you was shooting last, and how mutch warning you have of the next shooting situation, I too have been in a situation where I was at 1/1000sec for jets then see a helicopter or even biplanes, but dont get the chance or foreget to change settings in the thrill of the moment, sometimes the art side of photographty givesway to the need to just grab what you see.

P.

Vladdo wrote in post #18182083
I appreciate that prop blur is nice, but some of us aren't fortunate enough to be close enough to shoot at short focal lengths. Therefore long focal lengths are required and so are shorter shutter speeds.

I regularly shoot with the Canon 100-400mm (original recipe) zoomed out at the long end with shutter speeds below 1/320 (usually in the 1/125 - 1/250 range) and get sharp shots with acceptable prop blur. It takes practice, but you can shoot a long lens with a slow shutter speed.

Yes, my main lens is 100-400 and as slow as I can as long as I can.
The trick is to shot fast to start to make sure you get keeps on the first pass but then you can slow it down.
They aircraft engine matters too. Turbo props can be shot at higher speeds than piston engines

What I'm saying is that my body & lens, is a good 4kg/8lbs of kit.. so when you're waving around 600mm of length.. 1/200th is impossible to achieve sharp focus, handheld.. That said, I'd rather shoot at 1/500th.. 1/750th.. (for me) and at least get some keepers with minimal prop blur, rather than a mess of blurry out of focus shots.

I don't have herculean arms or hands of a surgeon.. Whilst I have a 100-400, it's pretty useless when shooting small prop planes at a distance, so the 600 gets used the most.

Vladdo wrote in post #18182323
1/200th is impossible to achieve sharp focus, handheld..

LMAO......

IMAGE LINK: http://s157.photobucke​t.com …5438_zpsqvpq5en​t.jpg.html

Vladdo wrote in post #18182083
At the same time, some of us don't give a f$*k..

I appreciate that prop blur is nice, but some of us aren't fortunate enough to be close enough to shoot at short focal lengths. Therefore long focal lengths are required and so are shorter shutter speeds.

To base all photograph merit on whether or not a plane has a frozen prop is just stupid.

I shoot from 400mm to 800mm and I strive for prop blur every shot.

To me the difference is do you want an ascetically pleasing pic or do you want to document the plane. If it is for documentation then a static prop is OK. When First started shooting I thought "cool" I can freeze the prop. Now my tastes have changed.