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Aug, 2019Views
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2020 Choice Award
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo at the Kansas City Air Show on July 6, 2019. Although it looks like it was taken from another plane flying next to the P-51 Mustang the photo was actually taken from the ground with a Nikon D500 using an 18-300 mm zoom lens, settings: 270mm / ISO 140 / f8 / 1250th sec.Time
This photo was taken early in the airshow that started at 10 a.m. This particular photo was taken at 10:18 a.m. as the P-51 Mustang made a low banking pass over the runway. I was amazed at getting so much detail in the cockpit. A viewer might think I was flying in another plane next to the Mustang.Lighting
The lighting was natural sunlight at 10:18 a.m. taken from the ground with a Nikon D500 using an 18-300 mm zoom lens, settings: 270mm / ISO 140 / f8 / 1250th sec. Even though the plane is silver, due to the bright background of the sky I adjusted the exposure compensation to +1. The sunlight also lit up the cockpit so the detail of the pilot is very visible.Equipment
This was a hand-held shot taken from the ground with a Nikon D500 using an 18-300 mm zoom lens, settings: 270mm / ISO 140 / f8 / 1250th sec. Less shutter speed would have given more prop motion but might also have resulted in a blurry photograph considering my camera was hand-held and the Mustang was flying past about 400 MPH.Inspiration
At one time I was a pilot and have loved anything to do with aviation. I had this opportunity to attend the Kansas City Air Show while visiting my daughter and her family so I treated them to the event. I had my Nikon D-500 with an 18-300 mm zoom lens and came away with many wonderful photos of the many airplanes that were at the event. I'm proud of this particular photo because it came out so well. I was panning the P-51 Mustang, hand-held, as it made a low-level pass at about 400 MPH. I was amazed at the clarity and how well you can see inside the cockpit.Editing
I did very little post-processing other than de-haze and a slight exposure/contrast adjustment to enhance clarity and show what was actually being seen with the naked eye. What you see is pretty much as it was shot. I could have used more de-haze and brought the sky, clouds, and airplane out more dramatically but at this level, it is natural to what I witnessed on that day without overdoing it. I used ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2018 in edit mode.In my camera bag
My camera is a Nikon D-500. I have two favorite lenses that give me a range from 18 mm to 750 mm. The first lens is an 18-300 mm DX AF-S NIKKOR zoom that covers wide-angle and close-up to medium-range shots. My second lens is a 200-500 mm AF-S NIKKOR zoom that, because I have a crop-sensor camera, gives a good reach from 350 - 750 mm range. My only frustration is not having them both available at the same time. This is because I shoot 99.9% hand-held in the field photographing any subject that interests me and often the range of the subjects can drastically change quickly. Although I have several prime lenses I rarely use them because in the field I need zoom capabilities. If I were to add anything else to my bag it would be another camera body, perhaps a Nikon D-850 so I could have both zoom lenses at the ready at all times. That would be carrying a lot of weight, but I don't have time to change lenses especially when taking action shots.Feedback
I love the challenge of taking great action photos. My prime subjects are birds and butterflies in flight. Because butterflies fly so erratically, trying to shoot them in flight is about as frustrating as trying to build a house using cooked noodles, but when I get a good in-flight photo it is well worth the effort. One thing about photographing butterflies; forget what you read about shooting in the "golden hours" of morning and evening. Butterflies are out in the bright sun of midday which also gives plenty of light to capture their beautiful colors. Birds, on the other hand, feed in the morning and evening and hide from the hot sun during midday so stick with the golden hours rule with birds. Also, if shooting birds or butterflies against the sky bump your exposure compensation up generally from +1 to +2. This also applies to airplanes in flight. This may blow out the sky with overexposure, but who cares? It will prevent you from getting a nice sky with a black, underexposed blob of a subject. If you shoot against the sky or other bright background using Automatic or even using Manual and don't compensate the exposure your subject will be underexposed. Be sure to remember to reset to 0 when going back to shooting subjects with a background or you'll overexpose your whole photo. In my haste, I've made this upsetting mistake on several occasions. Good luck with getting some great action shots.
