Joint Forces Open House Airshow

Hello all,
I see others have already beaten me to the punch, but I wanted to share a few of my pics from my first airshow taking photography somewhat seriously. I still haven't gone through all of the about 2,500 shots I took, but these are some of my favorites so far. Feel free to let me know what you think, and if I could have done anything better. I plan to try and make it to at least one or two more shows this summer and would love some tips. Hope you enjoy...

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more

more to come

still more

hopefully I'm not sending too many.. just hard to narrow them down...

still have more, 2 at a time stinks!

almost done

last one for now..

pictures all seem a bit too soft for me.

Thanks for posting the shots. I was hoping somebody would. I am going to see the Blue Angels next week for their pre-graduation Naval Academy show. Can you tell me what lens you used and what settings. I have only had my DSLR for about one month now and am just learning how to use it. I have a EF-S 18-135 IS lens and a EF 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 DO IS USM lens. I'll have very close up access. Which lens do you think will give me the best shots?
Thanks!

Great series.

I have to agree.. is there anything I could do to make them sharper next time or is it all just in the lens? They were shot with my Sigma 120-400, which I think has a bit of a reputation for being a little soft at 400mm. I'm curious if anybody has gotten and tried the new Sigma 50-500 with OS yet? I'm tempted to sell the 120-400 and get one of those. I would love to get an even nicer lens, but I think that is about all I can afford on my budget as a hobbyist.

T2iMdSue wrote in post #10197679
Thanks for posting the shots. I was hoping somebody would. I am going to see the Blue Angels next week for their pre-graduation Naval Academy show. Can you tell me what lens you used and what settings. I have only had my DSLR for about one month now and am just learning how to use it. I have a EF-S 18-135 IS lens and a EF 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 DO IS USM lens. I'll have very close up access. Which lens do you think will give me the best shots?
Thanks!

Sounds like the 70-300 should be perfect! There is pretty much always plenty of light in the sky, so you won't need a super fast lens. My Sigma is in the same range, but most of the day I had it stopped down to like f/18-f/22.

What body are you shooting and what were the settings. They are soft but some of them had some promise in the "light" category. The Memphis bell was not moving and wonder what lens you had at that time as maybe you were inside minimal focus range ?

horse51 wrote in post #10198389
What body are you shooting and what were the settings. They are soft but some of them had some promise in the "light" category. The Memphis bell was not moving and wonder what lens you had at that time as maybe you were inside minimal focus range ?

I was shooting on my 50D, all of the shots in the air were on a Sigma 120-400, the Memphis Bell shot was with a Canon 17-55 f/2.8 IS. I will have to check the settings when I get home and can view that data.