Shooting the Blue Angels

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wing tong
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p.1 #1 · Shooting the Blue Angels

So the Blue Angels will be in town again for Fleet Week in SF this week and I will have another opportunity to shoot them. My first attempts last year resulted in blurred pictures as I only had a 350D and a Tamron 200-500 attached to it - not exactly a Blue Angels kinda setup. By the way, for those uninitiated, Blue Angels are performing military jets that can reach speeds of up to mach 1, http://www.blueangels.navy.mil/index.htm.

Anyhow, this year, I will be using a 40D with a 400mm f/5.6L attached. My first vantage point will be at Union Square on both Thursday and Friday for their practice runs which involves waiting for the sound of their jet engine then visually panning around the tops of tall buildings until they appear and then taking aim and shooting like mad! They are in view and out of view within seconds. For the actual show on Saturday, I will likely be situated at Crissy Field and waiting for them to shoot out from the downtown area towards the Golden Gate bridge which will be a little easier since I will have time to spot them and catch up with them as opposed to waiting for them at Union Square to appear in and out of tall buildings.

So the question here is, for those who's shot fast moving jet planes, is there any good tips and tricks?? Thanks.

Oct 07, 2008 at 11:39 PM

blueirisarts
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p.1 #2 · Shooting the Blue Angels

eye drops so you don't have to blink!

Oct 07, 2008 at 11:40 PM

BennyR
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p.1 #3 · Shooting the Blue Angels

I will be there as well. I also shot them at Miramar last weekend. Fleet week is nice because you aren't looking into the sun as much as you are at Miramar.

Your set up will be fine. I will have my new 50D there. I just received it today.
You could experiment. For the jets I like to use Tv and 1/2000th or so, depending on the aperture it will give you. I'd want to stay away from the real small openings but that shouldn't be a problem. When they do their criss cross I want to step it up to 1/4000 or so to see if I can get a good one. I'll have to bump the ISO up to do that. As for metering, either evaluative or partial should work. I have done both. I think I am going to use +1/3EV though since the sky is a bit brighter than the planes.

I can't decide between sRGB or RGB though. I just tried a few test shots with the 50D and the 40D and the colors looked better on my screen with the sRGB. Probably my monitor isn't calibrated well, that's another issue.

Have fun.

Oct 08, 2008 at 12:09 AM

jerrykur
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p.1 #4 · Shooting the Blue Angels

I would say keeping the speed up is the best thing to do. 1/1000 or better.

I shot them last year from Pier 39 and that sucked. I had a 5D and with 100-400 they were so far away that the AF would not engage consistently. I ended up shooting most of the show with manual focus.

Several other FM people are shooting there on Friday. Meeting at Crissy Field around 2.

Oct 08, 2008 at 12:53 AM

sjms
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p.1 #5 · Shooting the Blue Angels

if you hear the engines your too late.

Oct 08, 2008 at 02:33 AM

Gary Petersen
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p.1 #6 · Shooting the Blue Angels

I used to shoot the Air Force Thunderbirds with a Yashica TLR and had no problems. All this new gear ought to make it easy.

Oct 08, 2008 at 03:33 AM

wing tong
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p.1 #7 · Shooting the Blue Angels

sjms wrote:
if you hear the engines your too late.

Actually, the Blue Angels seldom fly near mach-1 during these air shows and so we are still able to get a warning before they appear in the sky.

Oct 08, 2008 at 03:53 AM

LCollector
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p.1 #8 · Shooting the Blue Angels

wing-man is right...

Oct 08, 2008 at 04:01 AM

wing tong
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p.1 #9 · Shooting the Blue Angels

BennyR wrote:
I will be there as well. I also shot them at Miramar last weekend. Fleet week is nice because you aren't looking into the sun as much as you are at Miramar.

Your set up will be fine. I will have my new 50D there. I just received it today.
You could experiment. For the jets I like to use Tv and 1/2000th or so, depending on the aperture it will give you. I'd want to stay away from the real small openings but that shouldn't be a problem. When they do their criss cross I want to step it up to 1/4000 or so to see if I can get a good one. I'll have to bump the ISO up to do that. As for metering, either evaluative or partial should work. I have done both. I think I am going to use +1/3EV though since the sky is a bit brighter than the planes.

I can't decide between sRGB or RGB though. I just tried a few test shots with the 50D and the 40D and the colors looked better on my screen with the sRGB. Probably my monitor isn't calibrated well, that's another issue.

Have fun.

Being a creature of habit, I was shooting Av last year and got about 1/1600th to 1/1250th most of the time which perhaps attributed to the blurry pics. I will definitely go Tv this time and aim for 1/2000th. Quick related question, last year, we struggled to find a parking space at Crissy Field. Does anyone know what is the latest one should be at Crissy Field and expect to find decent parking?

Oct 08, 2008 at 04:05 AM

John Ferguson
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p.1 #10 · Shooting the Blue Angels

Have shot blue angels / thunderbirds a few times. The first year I shot at 1/1000 and when panning with the plane got some sharp shots but on the crossing shots when panning on the plane in the foreground, the plane in the background was blurry like this:

Did some math and figured out that when panning against the direction of movement, the plane in the background had twice the actual speed (effective speed) ... moved almost 2 feet in 1/1000 second! Once I figured that out, the next year I upped my shutter speed to 1/5000 sec on crossing shots and got shots more like this:

When shooting prop planes, use a slower shutter speed to get some prop blur, about 1/250 sec, or they will look like they are sitting on the ground. Take lots of photos as it is hard to get real sharp shots at 1/250. Example:

Shooting the dark blue planes against a bright sky will probably require some plus exposure compensation or they will look black. Here are a couple of my airshow galleries, both using a 1DMKIII and either a 70-200 F 2.8 IS with EF 1.4 extender or 100-400L and mode 2 IS when panning. Shoot RAW, use highspeed mode and machine gun away!

2007

2008

Oct 08, 2008 at 04:09 AM

wing tong
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p.1 #11 · Shooting the Blue Angels

Thanks John. Your galleries are pretty awesome! I actually like the first shot you show here more than the speed-corrected 2nd shot due to its freeze frame juxtaposed against the movement of the jet passing it. And if you can freeze that front jet at 1/1000th, I think I need alot more practice panning, or at least blame it on my unbalanced 350d+tamron200-500 setup last year!

Oct 08, 2008 at 04:26 AM

4x4rock
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p.1 #12 · Shooting the Blue Angels

I'll try to be there Friday to beat the weekend crowds.

Which lens are you shooting with? I'm debating should I bring the 300 f2.8 or stick with the 300 f4 and the 70-200 + 1.4x.

Oct 08, 2008 at 04:43 AM

dcad10
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p.1 #13 · Shooting the Blue Angels

I was at miramar this past saturday. luckily i had evening tickets in one of the tents, or else i might have been in a little trouble when it started raining, as i hadnt really anticipated or prepared for rain.

Oct 08, 2008 at 04:49 AM

wing tong
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p.1 #14 · Shooting the Blue Angels

4x4rock wrote:
I'll try to be there Friday to beat the weekend crowds.

Which lens are you shooting with? I'm debating should I bring the 300 f2.8 or stick with the 300 f4 and the 70-200 + 1.4x.

Friday? So you are camping out? I would've done that 4 years ago before I had a kid. I think I will shoot my 400mm f/5.6L since my Tamron 200-500 was a little difficult to handle last year and I don't think my Canon 70-300 is up to the task. I was shooting mostly at the 500mm end on a cropper last year, so for my limited experience, I will need at least the 400mm.

Oct 08, 2008 at 04:58 AM

4x4rock
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p.1 #15 · Shooting the Blue Angels

Haha.. no not camping out but just shoot the practices on Friday. I've heard that the routines are pretty much the same on Friday and Saturday so I figure to head up Friday and not have to deal with large crowds on Saturday.

There are a few Norcal_FM members head out on Friday at Crissy fields too.

Oct 08, 2008 at 05:25 AM

freaklikeme
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p.1 #16 · Shooting the Blue Angels

John Ferguson wrote:

Cool galleries, John. But I have to say I really like this image because the second plane is motion blurred. It makes it a very dramatic image.

Oct 08, 2008 at 05:38 AM

miccullen
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p.1 #17 · Shooting the Blue Angels

freaklikeme wrote:

Cool galleries, John. But I have to say I really like this image because the second plane is motion blurred. It makes it a very dramatic image.

About to say the very same thing.

Oct 08, 2008 at 09:36 AM

martines34
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p.1 #18 · Shooting the Blue Angels

wingtong:

I have a sheet with tips for shooting aviation that I comprised for various tips from the net if you would like it. Send me a PM and I will respond with the info which you can take for what they are worth.

Oct 08, 2008 at 10:10 AM

John Ferguson
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p.1 #19 · Shooting the Blue Angels

Thanks for the kind words. I like the motion blur of the center jet in the "thread the needle" shot and would like it better if it had even more.

Here are a few more from my first airshow effort, some with motion blur, some without.

www.johnferguson.net/images/airshow.jpg

www.johnferguson.net/images/airshow1.jpg

www.johnferguson.net/images/airshow3.jpg

www.johnferguson.net/images/airshow4.jpg

www.johnferguson.net/images/airshow5.jpg

www.johnferguson.net/images/airshow6.jpg

www.johnferguson.net/images/airshow8.jpg

Oct 08, 2008 at 12:26 PM

FLORIDAG8R
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p.1 #20 · Shooting the Blue Angels

Aviation is my primary subject, and there are a few general rules that I will share with you...

First - for F-18's, you will need to be at 1/1000 sec at the minimum. If you can go faster, do.

Second - use Tv Mode and lock in your shutter speed to the appropriate value (1/1000 or faster if light allows.) Don't be afraid to pump the ISO up to 400 or 800 in order to achieve the faster speeds. You want an ISO that will get you to as close to a wide open aperture to eliminate seeing every spec of dust your camera sensor has sucked in.

Third - I use spot metering mostly for military jets. Play with your meter modes to get familiar with how they work with jets and blue or grey skies. The big thing here is pump up some positive EC (+1/3 or +2/3) to compensate for the dark blue paint scheme on the Blues. The most commonly seen problem with airshow pics is a properly exposed blue sky with a very dark plane. I am always more concerned about properly exposing the plane, and if the sky blows out, so be it.

Fourth - Work on your panning technique and breathing / stability. While at the faster shutter speeds, you shouldn't have problems with motion blur, but you may have trouble tracking and holding the planes in your viewfinder.

For crossing shots, you need to focus and track on one or the other. When the wings begin to move to take them to the knife edge, begin your shot sequence. Crossing shots are generally hit or miss, but you can anticipate the timing by watching one plane make the knife edge maneuver.

Adam

www.HaleyImages.com

Oct 08, 2008 at 04:41 PM

4x4rock
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p.1 #21 · Shooting the Blue Angels

Good tips Adam. Thanks for posting.

Oct 08, 2008 at 05:10 PM

hoghunter
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p.1 #22 · Shooting the Blue Angels

Adam,

Thanks for your post it has so much good content, I am now excited to go to the next air show here in Jacksonville.

Oct 08, 2008 at 05:41 PM

wing tong
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p.1 #23 · Shooting the Blue Angels

4x4rock wrote:
Good tips Adam. Thanks for posting.

+1

Oct 08, 2008 at 05:43 PM

Roland W
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p.1 #24 · Shooting the Blue Angels

For exposure issues, one thing I always do at airshows is shoot RAW. It uses up a lot of memory card space, but it gives you more options to correct for exposure issues. Dark planes like the Blues, especially with the side you are seeing sometimes in partial or full shade, makes it very tough to expose right. On top of that, conditions change fast as you point different directions for different shots. With RAW and post processing, you can adjust the exposure and contrast to get a better balance between the sky or clouds in the background, and bright or dim lighting on the various parts of the aircraft.

For hand holding, depending on the lens you are using, image stabilization can help quite a bit. Only a very small percentage of shots at an air show have you panning fast enough where IS can behave badly, and if you have an IS lens that has Mode 2 available for pan shots, it should still handle most fast pans nicely. After several years of experimenting, I now have IS on in Mode 2 for nearly all air show shots with my 300 f2.8 IS and my 100-400 IS lenses. It helps for fast movers like an F-18, and is also helps for classic prop planes where you want to get prop blur using low shutter speeds. Good hand holding technique and practice is still important, but IS can help also.

Oct 08, 2008 at 06:47 PM

Paul B
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p.1 #25 · Shooting the Blue Angels

wing tong wrote:
So the Blue Angels will be in town again for Fleet Week in SF this week and I will have another opportunity to shoot them.

Anyhow, this year, I will be using a 40D with a 400mm f/5.6L attached. My first vantage point will be at Union Square on both Thursday and Friday for their practice runs which involves waiting for the sound of their jet engine then visually panning around the tops of tall buildings until they appear and then taking aim and shooting like mad!

Just curious why you're doing the first couple days at Union square; that'll make things a little dicey trying to get them as they fly by. If possible, you might try someplace nearer the waterfront looking north. A couple times I've gone to the top of a garage just south of Pier 35 (I want to say it's at Kearney and Francisco streets.) If you walk in it's free; driving will cost. It's about five stories high and gives you great views of the Blue Angels all the way from the Golden Gate through the east-to-south banking maneuver as they head towards San Jose (or doing the opposite route.) The first time I did this I was using a 20D and a rented 500 and did fine (although I was not really prepared for the walk from BART at Market to the garage and my legs were complaining for a couple days.)

Oct 08, 2008 at 07:37 PM


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