Handheld at 600mm, f-9, 1-1000, ISO 250. Although it looks a little HDR, I only cropped and sharpened the image.
Handheld at 600mm, f-9, 1-1000, ISO 250. Although it looks a little HDR, I only cropped and sharpened the image.
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People's Choice in Flying High Photo Contest
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Peer Award
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Behind The Lens
Location
At the Biggin Hill festival of flight airshow in the UK.Time
Early afternoon.Lighting
the lighting was terrible - it was driving rain and very overcast with fairly flat grey skies, although the weather made the smoke trails stand out more which was a bonus.Equipment
Just a Canon Eos 5dsr and a old Canon L 600mm though it was shot beyond the range of the lens.Inspiration
I wanted to get a nice shot of the smoke trails but ultimately, I just saw the moment and seized it.Editing
I had to crop the image as even at 600mm the planes were tiny on the uncropped image. I applied a little sharpening. Think that was pretty much it.In my camera bag
I don't tend to do air shows much nowadays and have since sold my Canon lens but generally I'll just take a Canon DSLR, a Sigma 150-600mm Sport, and a Sony A7R ii with 24-105mm lens, a load of SD card and batteries. I don't tend to take too much to airshows as it's hard work handholding a big zoom lens so I try to keep it to a minimum. I just really need the big zoom for in-flight shots and the Sony with a shorter zoom for context shots of the show itself & closeups of the aircraft.Feedback
Plan your visit. Make sure you know the layout of the showground and the flight paths of the planes, so you can work out the best spot to get the kind of photos you want, and get there early to set up. Make sure you have enough betteries and memory cards you can access easily as you'll get through a fair few of both & if it's crowded - you might miss a shot if you're fumbling about for a new SD card etc. Understand and work with the gear you have - you don't need a massive & expensive superzoom to get decent shots - but you do need to know the limitations of the gear you've got. For example; a 70 - 200mm wont have the reach of a 500 or 600mm but will take a perfectly good shot if you set up where you know the planes will be closer. There's a ton of stuff I could go on about but the best way of trying to capture something similar (and I'm not that great photographer when it comes to air shows) is trial and error. Play with different settings and see what works for you. Main thing is have fun & take a moment to enjoy the show - it's not the end of the world if you miss 'the shot' but it's not so great if you miss the show.