Lydd Airshow 09-09-2006 (lotsa pics)

[Skyraider3D]

For a change I decided to prepare and post my photos here again. Haven't done that for awhile, due to lack of time...

Last weekend I visted Lydd airshow. I didn't know what to expect and after a bit of a worrying start (30+ minute queue and an absolute tiny flightline with the runway very far away) I was very pleasantly surprised. The flying was good, varied and since the pilots didn't have a runway to orient on they came much closer than usual.

Special mention should go to the enjoyable show of the Turbulents, the excellent display of the Blades and the spirited demonstration of the Hunter. But all the other items were good too and it was a thoroughly enjoyable show (with great lighting conditions for photographers).

I hope the organisation will be prepared for an even bigger crowd next year (i.e. more ticket offices and a larger flightline) as it was undoubtedly a great success that will hopefully be repeated!!


On to the photos... more here: http://skyraider3d.military-meshes.c...lydd060909.htm

[Skyraider3D]

Some nice visitors:




(whoever owns the Cessna... I love your plane!!! )

And what would we do without...

[Peter D Evans]

They are marvelous Ronnie, thanks for posting them!

BTW: are you available for camera lessons as the images I take are not a patch on these!!!!

cheers,

Peter D Evans
LEMB Administrator

[Skyraider3D]

Thanks Peter!

Camera lessons... not sure what to tell. Hmmm... let's see:

Equipment:
Any SLR will do, really, it's the lens that is important. 300mm is generally good for airshows. I use the Canon 100-400mm on an EOS 300D.
Shutterspeed:
As high as possible for jets, but for props no more than 1/400th of a second to keep the propeller "alive". I typically use 1/250th and for side-on take-off/landing shots go down to 1/30th-1/60th (not easy!). For slower planes I often use 1/100th to keep a sense of action. Helicopters look best at 1/200th or less. I use 1/125th. Anything higher and the rotor freezes. This makes helicopters pretty tricky to shoot now and then!
Exposure:
I usually frame a "generic scene" (ground, trees, sky) and take the lighting from that. A medium grey object (concrete or wall) works fine too.
ISO:
100 ISO whenever I can, as I hate grain
Panning:
Stand parallel to the flight line - do not face the plane, as you can't pan that way. Dry-practise your swing to make sure you are stable and don't hit your neighbours
Don't stop panning too soon. You might just miss a plane lighting its afterburner and pulling away hard trailing wingtip vortices etc etc...
Shooting:
Depending on the speed of the subject, I either pan and "machine-gun" away (multi-exposure) or take my time to frame the plane and shoot. Whatever technique I use, the success rate seems to be pretty constant. In general, take plenty of shots. Especially when using low shutterspeeds expect that perhaps only 1 in 5 is perfectly crisp. I shoot over 1000 images/show so that's no biggy. Plenty to choose from.
Composition:
Always remember you can crop an image, you can't make it bigger! Keep some spare space around your subject. Nothing is worse than a perfect picture with missing spinner tip!
Post editing:
Never be happy with the pic straight from the camera. Printers adjust the colours/brightness/contrast before printing your photos, and so can you with digital image. Photoshop (or similar) bitmap editing experience comes in handy there!
Also shoot RAW not JPG. RAW gives a greater range of colours to play with (12-bit compared to 8-bit for JPG) which can safe a slightly under or over exposed image. Also it doesn't suffer from JPG compression artefacts, which may be near-invisible on screen but are painfully obvious in print.
Experience:
Practise a lot... I am "rusty" every time at the start of the season and I've been attending airshows regularly since 1992. Nothing beats practise unfortunately!


PS. More here: http://skyraider3d.military-meshes.c...lydd060909.htm

[Peter D Evans]

...thanks for the detailed reply Ronnie! Some very interesting tips there, its a shame that the airshow season has more or less come to an end as there are several I would love to try...

I've just started using a Panasonic DMC-FZ7 and this is my first foray into digital photography having always used Canon EOS film cameras. The FZ7 has a lens "equivalent to 36mm to 432mm on a 35mm film camera". Taking static shots at max resolution in TIFF format is a breeze and the results are very good...

For me, the problem with taking flying shots is the shutter lag between images, even when in "machine-gun" mode. I appreciate that practice makes perfect and that the sooner I aquire a monopod to steady the camera/sweep, and perfect the art of taking panning pictures, the better my images should become... or perhaps I should save up the extra pennies for a dedicated 35mm digital with the option of adding lens etc (Nikon, Canon etc)...

Cheers,

Peter D Evans
LEMB Administrator

[Ruy Horta]

Thanks Ronnie, will certainly practice those tips!!