Hawkins Field Airshow 2009

Hi, y'all. First time Transportation poster here. I went with my family to the Hawkins Field Airshow in Jackson, MS this past weekend and snapped some shots. First airshow ever for me! So I totally didn't know what to expect and I'm not sure what the accepted/typical aesthetic is for airshow shots, but I got a few that I liked. Apologies for any blue sky dithering/banding--I'm linking to pics on my blog, and when I upload the photos there the resampling happens automatically when the watermark is placed on the images.

Very nice set.

Yohan Pamudji wrote in post #8771496
I was wondering: what's a typical shutter speed for capturing a good amount of propeller blur? Is it different for older planes vs. newer ones? It was a challenge getting good propeller blur while getting the airplane itself sharp, because with the lower shutter speeds camera shake and motion blur were issues. I have a lot of respect for those of you who make this stuff look easy. It's not!

There are a lot of variables in getting nice prop blur. The speed of the engine, the number of blades on the prop, etc., all have a bearing on the amount of blur you get.

If the aircraft is on the ground and taxiing or sitting still then you'll have to use a slower shutter speed than you would if it were in flight. If you want to get a "full arc" blur, then that requires a slower shutter speed also.

It will require a slower shutter speed to get blur on a two-bladed prop than it will a three or four-bladed one. I usually start at about 1/160th of a second and go down from there. For this full arc shot of a taxiing Mustang I used 1/30th

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These are a good start here!

Excellent Effort. I'm really liking the framing in #3. Gives it an edgy, aggressive quality.

. . . nice series, with action in every shot !

Thanks a bunch for the warm welcome, y'all! And thanks for all the compliments. It was lots of fun and I wish we had more airshows around here.

John, so 1/160 and slower for good propeller blur? Figures. The lowest I dared go for in-flight shots was 1/320, with most shots at 1/640 and some at 1/1250 for the crazier, more frenetic acts. I don't know that I'd ever be confident shooting 1/160 at these kinds of focal lengths (I was almost always at 500mm with my Bigma) even with tons of practice, let alone with only 1 airshow a year in these parts, but it's good to know anyway. Maybe I'll be bolder and experiment more next time.

Nice shots! Look a little dark to me.

24alpha wrote in post #8782125
Nice shots! Look a little dark to me.

Thanks for the comments. I think #1 and #3 in particular could use an exposure bump. They looked fine during my quick edits, but going through almost 2000 shots in quick succession must've clouded my judgment I'll have to revisit them and see what I can do.

A fine effort indeed...well done!

Yohan Pamudji wrote in post #8777808
Thanks a bunch for the warm welcome, y'all! And thanks for all the compliments. It was lots of fun and I wish we had more airshows around here.

John, so 1/160 and slower for good propeller blur? Figures. The lowest I dared go for in-flight shots was 1/320, with most shots at 1/640 and some at 1/1250 for the crazier, more frenetic acts. I don't know that I'd ever be confident shooting 1/160 at these kinds of focal lengths (I was almost always at 500mm with my Bigma) even with tons of practice, let alone with only 1 airshow a year in these parts, but it's good to know anyway. Maybe I'll be bolder and experiment more next time.

The prop blur in most of your shots looks just fine. The only ones where it could be better are the shot of Skip Stewart cutting the ribbon and one of the Tora, Tora, Tora shots.

Here's Sean Tucker in a similar plane and a similar position as your ribbon cutting shot. This is a three-bladed prop shot at 1/160th of a second and I got almost full arc blur. For this particular pass, he's at a pretty high throttle setting so the RPMs are up. I could have probably gotten by with a faster SS.

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John, you're killing me! I definitely wish I could get more practice. Maybe I'd get 1 or 2 shots like yours, ever

Great shots.

I'm going to shoot my first airshow in two days. I'm really excited because we're going to have a Harrier jet come in and the airport officials are wondering if it will melt the runway. Funny.

We have a great airport here in Peachtree City.

I was there!! Great shots!

Awesome series.