Backward Glance
At EAA's Airventure in 2015, a beautiful P-51 Mustang climbs into darkening skies.
At EAA's Airventure in 2015, a beautiful P-51 Mustang climbs into darkening skies.
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Apr, 2018Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo is a P-51 Mustang performing at the Experimental Aircraft Association's Airventure air show in 2015. The EAA, headquartered in Oshkosh, WI, is popular among all aircraft enthusiasts, but focuses on home-builders and hobbyists.Time
The air shows at EAA always occur in the afternoon as a bit of a capstone for the days' activities. In this case, local time was a bit past 4:30.Lighting
The weather cooperated a bit to add some drama to this shot -- the P-51 is banking up and into some heavy clouds that help create some great contrast with the polished plane.Equipment
This was one one of the early-days photos for me using my (then) new Canon 7D and 100-400 lens. The 100-400 is a great choice for an airshow, as the light is typically more than plentiful enough for the slowish aperture of the lens, and the 100-400mm range is very useful for framing planes at different distances.Inspiration
I've been a fan of warbirds like this since I was a child, and any chance to photograph one in action is a treat. In this case, I was thrilled to see how well my new upgrades let me see the pilot looking back over his shoulder to spot the runway as he pulled up and away from the flight-line.Editing
Some minor post-processing included cropping, adding a bit of contrast and vibrance to pop the plane against the sky, and a final pass to sharpen the image.In my camera bag
The 7D and 100-400 I used for this image are still (sometimes) in my bag, but I more frequently use a 7D-II these days, and if I were shooting this today, I'd likely be using a Sigma 120-300 f/2.8 with a 2x TC.Feedback
I think the biggest key for someone shooting propeller-driven planes is to slow the shutter enough to see some prop blur. Too frequently, I see planes like this shot with fast shutter speeds that make the planes look like their props aren't moving -- not a great thing for a plane! Here, shutter speed is 1/200, which shows some blur. If I tried to improve on this, I'd keep slowing the shutter to see if I could approach a complete "disc" of blur without losing the details of the plane.
