Taking pics at an air show
Discussion
Hi folks,
Looking for any advice on settings!
I will be mostly using a 55-200 VR and a 70-300 so I won't be able to get in very close - some cropping will be needed later on methinks.
I am thinking aperture priority with a large aperture selected and hopefully a corresponding short shutter speed for minimum blurs. Neither of my lenses are particularly fast and the 300 is a bit woolly at full reach...
Any advice re: metering/focusing modes to get shots as quick as possible. I'm wondering about continuous focusing... (may have to get the manual out
)
Any advice gratefully received
Looking for any advice on settings!
I will be mostly using a 55-200 VR and a 70-300 so I won't be able to get in very close - some cropping will be needed later on methinks.
I am thinking aperture priority with a large aperture selected and hopefully a corresponding short shutter speed for minimum blurs. Neither of my lenses are particularly fast and the 300 is a bit woolly at full reach...
Any advice re: metering/focusing modes to get shots as quick as possible. I'm wondering about continuous focusing... (may have to get the manual out
)Any advice gratefully received
As a rule for fast jets i normally shoot with the aperture wide open to get as fast a shutter speed as i can. This obviously helps freeze the plane a lot better. Having said that if its bright weather i try and shoot at between F8-F11 due to this being most lenses 'sweet spot' for optimum quality.
For older warbirds such as spitfires, hurricanes etc etc then i go to shutter priority and set my shutter speed at a maximum of 1/250sec though normally i use 1/200. This allows the props to blur and not be frozen with too high a speed.
As for metering just have a play. If you have spot metering try that, also try taking a meter reading off a neutral area first, such as grass or a light peice of concrete. A lot of the time i just keep my camera in matrix pattern metering, though as i have quite long lenses it makes things a bit easier.
Continuous autofocus is a must, single shot simply wont work and you'll get a lot of duff pictures simply because by the time the camera has focussed then taken the shot the aircraft will have moved significantly.
Oh and get plenty of panning practice for nice smooth shots
For older warbirds such as spitfires, hurricanes etc etc then i go to shutter priority and set my shutter speed at a maximum of 1/250sec though normally i use 1/200. This allows the props to blur and not be frozen with too high a speed.
As for metering just have a play. If you have spot metering try that, also try taking a meter reading off a neutral area first, such as grass or a light peice of concrete. A lot of the time i just keep my camera in matrix pattern metering, though as i have quite long lenses it makes things a bit easier.
Continuous autofocus is a must, single shot simply wont work and you'll get a lot of duff pictures simply because by the time the camera has focussed then taken the shot the aircraft will have moved significantly.
Oh and get plenty of panning practice for nice smooth shots
What Wedge says.
I'd probably go for shutter-priority just to make sure I 'freeze' the planes properly, dropping it down (as per Wedge) for prop-planes and for low/quick 'fly-bys' where I want a little motion in the pic.
At the end of the day the aperture doesn't much matter when you're aiming at the sky...
I'd probably go for shutter-priority just to make sure I 'freeze' the planes properly, dropping it down (as per Wedge) for prop-planes and for low/quick 'fly-bys' where I want a little motion in the pic.
At the end of the day the aperture doesn't much matter when you're aiming at the sky...
The trick i do is just simply preset the shutter and aperture priority beforehand. I set shutter priority to 1/200sec and set aperture priority to say F8.
Then simply flick between aperture and shutter priority depending on whether a prop or jet aircraft is flying.....
You have your settings locked so no need to go fiddling with speed/shutter.... (assuming weather stays fairly consistent!!)
Then simply flick between aperture and shutter priority depending on whether a prop or jet aircraft is flying.....
You have your settings locked so no need to go fiddling with speed/shutter.... (assuming weather stays fairly consistent!!)
Thanks for the advice guys.
I did Wedge's trick of flicking between shutter/aperture priority and it worked very nicely.
Only problems I encountered were:
- my panning is rubbish
- even using spot metering most of my pics were underexposed thanks to the bright sky. Next time I'll try a couple of +s of exposure compensation.
Did get some nice jet pics, it tended to be the prop planes (on the slower shutter speed) that blurred.
Turns out that my 70-300 is not as soft as I remember at full reach. ETA: although you could go for a bite while it's focusing
Anyway, all pics shot in raw so maybe I can do something with the exposure in photoshop or something...
I did Wedge's trick of flicking between shutter/aperture priority and it worked very nicely.
Only problems I encountered were:
- my panning is rubbish
- even using spot metering most of my pics were underexposed thanks to the bright sky. Next time I'll try a couple of +s of exposure compensation.
Did get some nice jet pics, it tended to be the prop planes (on the slower shutter speed) that blurred.
Turns out that my 70-300 is not as soft as I remember at full reach. ETA: although you could go for a bite while it's focusing
Anyway, all pics shot in raw so maybe I can do something with the exposure in photoshop or something...
Edited by NiceCupOfTea on Wednesday 11th June 19:41
Glad i could have been a little help....!
With RAW you should be able to play with the exposure more than if you'd used jpeg (limit is 3 stops really as you'll get extra unwanted noise). Which software are you using to convert?? I find the built in converter in Photoshop a little hit and miss sometimes.
I've always used Pixmantec Rawshooter which i love to bits, but seeing as this doesnt exist now (bought by adobe) i wont be able to use this if i buy a new camera.
Havent really got to grips with Adobe lightroom as yet, had a play when it first came out on trial download but gave up pretty quickly and went back to Rawshooter!
Are you going to any other airshows this season?? I'm at Waddington, RIAT and Duxford at various points if you ever want to get together and compare shots!!
With RAW you should be able to play with the exposure more than if you'd used jpeg (limit is 3 stops really as you'll get extra unwanted noise). Which software are you using to convert?? I find the built in converter in Photoshop a little hit and miss sometimes.
I've always used Pixmantec Rawshooter which i love to bits, but seeing as this doesnt exist now (bought by adobe) i wont be able to use this if i buy a new camera.
Havent really got to grips with Adobe lightroom as yet, had a play when it first came out on trial download but gave up pretty quickly and went back to Rawshooter!
Are you going to any other airshows this season?? I'm at Waddington, RIAT and Duxford at various points if you ever want to get together and compare shots!!
Hi guys =]
Not meaning to high jack the thread but here are some pics that I took on sunday at an airshow.
I am a very amature photographer so was realy just playing around. using a Nikon D50 and a Sigma DG macro lens 300mm
What do you think, Struggled with the jets as they were so bloody fast and I could not focus fast enough or they went blurry. but here are my best pics. be honest.
Not meaning to high jack the thread but here are some pics that I took on sunday at an airshow.
I am a very amature photographer so was realy just playing around. using a Nikon D50 and a Sigma DG macro lens 300mm
What do you think, Struggled with the jets as they were so bloody fast and I could not focus fast enough or they went blurry. but here are my best pics. be honest.
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