2015 LA County Air Show

Thanks Boggy!

LV Moose wrote in post #17488533
I'm no expert, so take this with a grain of salt. I like the amount of blur seen on the B-29 more than the full circle on the P-51. Prop blur is kind of subjective, like the blur of hummingbird wings; some (few) like them frozen, some like them almost invisible, I like them in between.

I agree with Moose. I've never been a big fan of full circle prop blur. To me it doesn't seem natural. When I see propellers turning on an aircraft, my eyes don't see a full circle. The image I see is more like that on your FiFi shot. That seems natural to me.

Of course getting a full circle blur takes a lot of skill, especially when panning. And many people love full circle. Like art, prop blur is subjective.

chuckie365 wrote in post #17488504
Wow...glad I didn't go on Sunday then. Am I the only one that thinks the $90 seems excessive for what they are offering at that show in terms of a photo tour? I also thought FIFI was too high...although with 500mm, I didn't have much room to work with....i contemplated shooting it at a higher speed just to make sure i got it nice and sharp..but at the end kept it at the lower speed to get those props to stand out a bit...

Thanks all for the nice comments.

Questions for the experts here.... whats more important? Sharp Plane throughout...or nice prop blur and not so sharp throughout because of parallax....i wonder if its worth the trouble and throwing away a lot of pics to get good blur on the props... by good i mean almost full circular (1/60 - 1/80 shutter speeds typically)

Let me know what you think....i might post this in a topic by itself in a different forum since most people probably don't look at topics more than once...

Thanks!

First off, your photos are fantastic! You do a great job of panning.

I had the photo pass for Friday ($60) & Saturday ($90). I think both days were over-priced. The photos pens were too small and offered no advantage over being outside the pen. At least being outside the pen allows you to walk around. And one photo pen had the two F-18s parked in front of it, blocking the view.

As for the lunch provided, I got a so-so half sub sandwich and a bottle of warm water. Gee, couldn't they at least put the bottles in a ice cooler?

As for the prop blur, it looks like you're doing a fine job already. I consider myself a sharpness freak, so I'd rather do without a full circle prop blur and get a super-sharp image. But that's just me.

I've been trying to find the sweet spot for prop shooting shutter speed for a few years now and seem to have come up with shooting according to prop speed. The smaller props need the faster shutter to be seen and the slower ones much longer. I also have settled on getting less than full circle to be a better presentation. That is not to say a well lit prop reflecting a full disk isn't a great capture but I don't like the prop to disappear.

So what would your recommendation be for a P-51? As i stated above you can almost get full radial blur at 1/60. Would you say 1/125 is decent? Thanks guys for all of your inputs. Shooting them a little faster will definitely improve my keeper rate

I have gone down to 1/30 with the Osprey. You did a great job with the posted photos, including FIFI. Clear shots look dumb if the props are frozen. You did well with the shutter speed in all your shots.

chuckie365 wrote in post #17499357
So what would your recommendation be for a P-51? As i stated above you can almost get full radial blur at 1/60. Would you say 1/125 is decent? Thanks guys for all of your inputs. Shooting them a little faster will definitely improve my keeper rate

I can only speak for myself, but 1/160 - 1/180 is my comfort zone. In other words at these shutter speeds I can expect to capture a few images I'd be happy with. If I know that the plane will make several passes, then I'll try 1/125, or even 1/100. But the odds are I won't get many (perhaps no) keepers at those speeds.

Here's a shot from last year's LA County air show, at 1/160s, that provides prop blur I'm satisfied with (excuse my dust spots )

Yeah, that's about the amount I like.

LV Moose wrote in post #17500574
Yeah, that's about the amount I like.

Great minds think alike

So too much blur like the shot below is generally frowned upon for the most part? This was 1/80.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.scapeshots.​com …Air-Show-2014/i-sjbxBm2/A

chuckie365 wrote in post #17502387
So too much blur like the shot below is generally frowned upon for the most part? This was 1/80.

Frowned upon? No way. I'd be very pleased if this were my shot. Plenty sharp.
If you're concerned about a low keeper rate, you could shoot a few at 1/100 or 1/125 also.

No frowning by me. That's a sweet shot. Shows lots of speed.

Edit. Hey, I shot that same P-51 at Nellis AFB. Of course mine's relatively sucky. Couldn't pan well with the Big Tammy at slow shutter speeds to save my life.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/lpKT​oYD

Thanks guys. I'll mix it up next time and see if I can fer some more keepers. When they are right in front of me it's a lot easier to get them sharp as compared to when they are approaching from the sides.