(black point, white point, polarization to 200% in Nik’s Color eFex Pro 3.0)
This past memorial day weekend I went to the Jones Beach Airshow. I had a fantastic time saluting our troops and enjoying many of our inventions and tools that they use to protect this great country. Going to an airshow is something I highly recommend to anyone. They are a ton of fun and the bigger ones have some amazing headliners. This year the major act headlining the show was the US Air Force’s Thunderbirds. They are painted in red white and blue and put on a major show. There are high powered aircraft such as the f-18 hornet and many local performers showing off their stunt planes and what they can do, as well as legacy planes that are always exciting to see. I was hoping for some nice peppered in cumulus clouds with a bright blue sky. What did I get instead? 20+ mph winds that prevented the US Army Golden Knights from performing and sand just blowing everywhere. Why did I want cumulus clouds? After shooting several airshows with a plain blue sky it’s.. well.. plain. As you can see from last years f-22 raptor (shown here) the right weather makes all the difference. Unfortunately we can’t make the weather (..yet anyway) and I was left with high winds and haze fighting its way in. The rain held up however and we always try to make the best of it. A few tips for me to remember when shooting the airshows:
1) Shoot at 320th of a second if not a bit slower to get the motion of the propeller.
2) When it comes to jets with no moving parts (such as propellers) you keep a low enough ISO setting to reduce noise and your lowest yet sharp aperture and fire away. You can normally get away with f/8 on a clear day as the sun is so bright. Depth of field really isn’t too much of a concern considering the distance of your subject, just aim for the center body of the aircraft with your autofocus point.
3) Matrix metering does the trick real well.
4) Polarizers may be tempting at times, but they steal light and if you don’t have proper hand holding technique down you will need those extra 100ths of a second to freeze that action. Plus for this scenario polarization can be added via Nik’s plugins using color efex pro in photoshop.
5) Take advantage of high speed shooting when you have dueling planes. Line up the plane with the autofocus point that is approaching with the eye that is in the viewfinder. For example if you are using your right eye in the viewfinder put the plane coming from the right on an autofocus point to the far right of the focus screen. Your next objective is to track him and keep your other eye open. This way it will allow you to anticipate when the planes are getting close and you can rip that shutter. Trying to freeze action of a plane going 500+mph dead on to get both would be real tricky.
Method for post process:
1) Real simple. Using the levels area of your editing program whether it be capture or photoshop take a look at your shadow and highlights slider. What we will want to do is grab the shadow slider and bring it almost plum to where the data begins on your histogram. Same goes for your highlights slider. It’s just that simple. Shooting in normal conditions with blue skies or even mixed clouds put in leaves things simple.
The show started off with several passes of the Flying Fortress. A favorite of mine. This year they did something new for the show. Rather then drop bombs into the water they dropped watermelons!
Our Canadian friends came to put on a show and boy did they. From dual dueling to loops and striking fly byes they did it all. To keep nine planes in full coordination and have an idea of where they are is truly a feat within itself.
These planes really were capable of so much. It was a pleasure to watch our next door neighbors take on the sky for all us on the beach below.
This is one of the several stunt planes that performed. From the Oracle Bi-Plane to the..
Zivko Edge 540 performing a 17 loop act (couldn’t fit them all.)
The A-10 came out which is still used in service today. A great thing at these airshows for photographers and enthusiasts is that they know we all want pictures of them and they do slow fly byes. They will do their normal performance, but many times do a real slow gradual pass for all us shutter nuts.
Speaking of variable speed we have the f-18 hornet seen here in a legacy fly over. It can go as slow as 74 knots and still stay airborne…
…yet it can break the sound barrier!
They never fail to disappoint our men and women of the the military forces.
Geico skywriters stepped in and painted the sky with beautiful formations and nimble aerobatics.
Something that was a treat for me that I have never seen before is this red bull sponsored aerobatic helicopter. This isn’t a flipped photograph. This is the first ever certified, in the world, stunt aerobatic helicopter pilot. The helicopter is specially built and he puts it to the test. From loops to corkscrews, and barrel rolls! I never knew a helicopter could do something even close to that.
The Thunderbirds truly entertained and showed us just some of what those F-16C aircraft can do. From the moment the suspenseful music started they blasted onto the scene not hearing a peep out of them until they were already over head. These aircraft have been in use for over 20yrs as performance era planes on the circuit. The longest to have that title. They put on a show that does not disappoint.
So with that said get out and enjoy those airshows anywhere you can. They are a fantastic way to spend the day. I Just touched on some of the airplanes that were at the Jones Beach airshow put on every Memorial Day weekend out on Long Island, NY. There is a ton of great food, wonderful patriotic atmosphere and an all around good time. Plus great photography!
