Shooting the Blue Angels

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wing tong
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p.2 #1 · Shooting the Blue Angels

Work on Maiden Lane, sneak out to Union Sq. around lunchtime.

The Thurs + Fri practice runs are more of a convenience shoot than anything else. But, based on last year's shoot, Union Sq does provide a decent open air space and the tall buildings add a nice backdrop which adds a certain composition/drama I would not be able to get near the waterfront. And again, I will also be out Sat at Crissy Field which will provide a lot more open air space to shoot.

Paul B wrote:
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.........

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 07:51 PM

7echo
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p.2 #2 · Shooting the Blue Angels

I have some images of when they have visited the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort SC. I was there when the jet crashed last year, killing the pilot. I have an image of that plane taken a few seconds before the crash. It was a terrible ending to a great show.

2008 © 7echo

Oct 09, 2008 at 02:21 AM

7echo
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p.2 #3 · Shooting the Blue Angels

another...

2008 © 7echo

Oct 09, 2008 at 02:23 AM

drbob
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p.2 #4 · Shooting the Blue Angels

Have fun. I shot them in September In Eau Claire on an overcast day. Yes, up the ss to catch both jets in frame. I shot at around 1200 and the non-panning jet was obviously blurry. I was just happy to catch the two jets in the same frame 3 times!!
And yes, drop that SS for prop planes to show prop motion blur.

Here's a few of my best.

And an air vapor over the wings shot...

Good luck and show us your best.

bob

Oct 09, 2008 at 02:56 AM

wing tong
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p.2 #5 · Shooting the Blue Angels

What a difference a year makes or maybe it was my new gear plus the invaluable tips I got here. Not great by any means, but the blur is virtually gone this year (last year = 350d+tamron200-500; this year = 40d+400 f/5.6L). They barely flew today for their practice runs but at least I got a few shots in; maybe tomorrow they will practice a little more?

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Oct 09, 2008 at 10:47 PM

wing tong
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p.2 #6 · Shooting the Blue Angels

one quick question, should I activate all the AF points or stick with Center point only? I've been doing center only but seems it would be easier to catch the jets if I went ahead and activated all af points?

Oct 10, 2008 at 11:48 PM

Psychic1
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p.2 #7 · Shooting the Blue Angels

Blue Angles final run into Jones Beach. 1D and 35-350L.

Oct 11, 2008 at 12:23 AM

dfresh
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p.2 #8 · Shooting the Blue Angels

I shot some when they were at an airshow in DC back in May.
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I used my Sigma 100-300/4 which is great lens for this type of shooting IMO

Oct 11, 2008 at 01:09 AM

mihind24
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p.2 #9 · Shooting the Blue Angels

I used all focus points for the majority of the Miramar airshow last weekend, got mostly keepers. Used a 150-500 so for the most part was able to keep a large portion of the jet within the focus points.

Oct 11, 2008 at 05:56 PM

capt3450
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p.2 #10 · Shooting the Blue Angels

Went out to SF Fleet week on Friday practice at Crissy field , took couple shots with 100-400L lens and 5D/50D. Luckily no crowd and less windy than this weekend. Set the cameras with Tv between 800-1000th then fire aways. it's about 75% keeper. Saw quite a lot of "white lenses" around.

Capt3450

Oct 11, 2008 at 08:25 PM

4x4rock
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p.2 #11 · Shooting the Blue Angels

capt3450, nice shots.

I was there at Crissy Field on Friday too with the 1D MK II and 300 2.8. I saw a coupld of 100-400 and maybe one of them was you

Oct 11, 2008 at 08:42 PM

capt3450
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p.2 #12 · Shooting the Blue Angels

If that's a case then it's sad.

-capt3450

7echo wrote:
I have some images of when they have visited the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort SC. I was there when the jet crashed last year, killing the pilot. I have an image of that plane taken a few seconds before the crash. It was a terrible ending to a great show.

Edited on Oct 13, 2008 at 04:13 AM · View previous versions

Oct 11, 2008 at 08:58 PM

capt3450
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p.2 #13 · Shooting the Blue Angels

I saw one 300 f/2.8 at the wave breaker, then must be you, how's many folk can afford 300L 2.8

-capt3450

4x4rock wrote:
capt3450, nice shots.

I was there at Crissy Field on Friday too with the 1D MK II and 300 2.8. I saw a coupld of 100-400 and maybe one of them was you

Oct 11, 2008 at 09:04 PM

runamuck
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p.2 #14 · Shooting the Blue Angels

wing tong wrote:
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.

I did the Gary IN airshow last summer. The warmup show Friday evening the lone thunderbird did not fly at mach 1. It was at mach 0.9 and as it flew right to left, you were hit witha wall of sound just as the plane went over. At Gary I was 40 yards or so from the runway, and got some great shots with Nikon 70-300 VR.

I often had to look where he was going into a vertical at the end of the run. The D80 and 700-300 simply aren't that great for this but it's all the budget allows. I didn't use the Bigma because it is simply too big to hold.

Oct 11, 2008 at 10:40 PM

hoghunter
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p.2 #15 · Shooting the Blue Angels

Okay, I give up. After looking at these pics, I am seriously considering selling my gear and taking up a hobby in basket weaving. At least that way I won't be faced with seeing multiple examples of photos that make my work look like it is a result of a three year old with a 64 color box of crayons!

Seriously, you guys are amazing! I am impressed with the quality of your shots.

Oct 12, 2008 at 03:42 AM

danmitchell
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p.2 #16 · Shooting the Blue Angels

I shot them today at ISO 400 and f/8 and mostly at 400mm, though it was handy to have the 100-400 on my FF body when they came across at low altitude right overhead.

Practice following some of the other planes that come over earlier. If you haven't done this before, that can be the biggest trick. The idea is to move the camera smoothly and think about the position of the plane(s) inside the frame.

As you pan, sometimes you can be a bit patient and watch for interesting lighting as the planes climb and roll and so forth. It is interesting how different the shot can be when the planes rotate enough to pick up some sunlight.

I shot from a bit west of the exact center of the show today, and I think this was a good position. If nothing else, it meant that the planes had good lighting more often than not. Arrive quite early and spend some time looking for a good shooting position, and plan to have that decision made perhaps an hour before the Blue Angels fly.

Dan

Oct 12, 2008 at 05:05 AM

hfillmore
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p.2 #17 · Shooting the Blue Angels

freaklikeme wrote:
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.

I'm with you. This is a GREAT image BECAUSE the plane in back is blured. It changes the whole dynamic of theshot by implying speed. Think of the guys that shoot race cars........they try to use a shutter speed slow enough to allow for some blur in the wheels, to indicate that the cars are in motion.

If I ever shoot an airshow, this is exactly the type of shot I'll try for.

Harvey

Oct 12, 2008 at 07:30 AM

Rusty1
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p.2 #18 · Shooting the Blue Angels

FLORIDAG8R wrote:
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

Good advise Adam

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Vance
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Oct 12, 2008 at 10:35 AM

Alistair Watson
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p.2 #19 · Shooting the Blue Angels

Some good advice here!

For complete group shots you may find 400mm on a 1.6x cropper a bit long so you will need to work around that, for the crossing shots that focal length is more than enough. The only other thing I would mention for crossing shots is try to work out which aircraft is the closer to you and track that rather than the aircraft crossing behind.

Or, timing the cross shot so both aircraft are directly in front of you at the same time.

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Oct 12, 2008 at 12:33 PM

wing tong
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p.2 #20 · Shooting the Blue Angels

A couple shots from Sunday...

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Oct 13, 2008 at 04:10 AM

norbs007
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p.2 #21 · Shooting the Blue Angels

Wing, those are killer shots...love them. I was out Saturday with a rental 100-400, haven't had a chance to look at them; but reviewing them on the camera it looks like only 10-15% keepers. Will post when able.

Oct 13, 2008 at 04:28 PM

Tim Adams
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p.2 #22 · Shooting the Blue Angels

Going against the grain here, but don't even think about bumping the ISO up, I leave it on 100 all the time, unless it's pitch black. If you can't stop a jet with 1/500-1/800 shutter speeds, you need more practice. 1/1000 or higher is not needed. Click to my website if you don't believe me. I rarely go over 1/800 for the jets, there may be some at 1/1000 on my site, but that's just the safety shift enabled in the camera. ISO 100=the cleanest, sharpest RAW file possible, which should be your goal, not a sharp jet, and grain, (even if it's just the slightest) amount in the file.

Oct 13, 2008 at 05:04 PM

danmitchell
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p.2 #23 · Shooting the Blue Angels

Tim Adams wrote:
Going against the grain here, but don't even think about bumping the ISO up, I leave it on 100 all the time, unless it's pitch black. If you can't stop a jet with 1/500-1/800 shutter speeds, you need more practice. 1/1000 or higher is not needed. Click to my website if you don't believe me. I rarely go over 1/800 for the jets, there may be some at 1/1000 on my site, but that's just the safety shift enabled in the camera. ISO 100=the cleanest, sharpest RAW file possible, which should be your goal, not a sharp jet, and grain, (even if it's just the slightest) amount in the file.

But... 400 doesn't really degrade the IQ in any significant way on most modern DSLRs, so why use a lower shutter speed and (more critical) a larger aperture? Not saying you can't do it at ISO100*, but you don't gain anything over ISO 200 and, IMHO, very little over 400.

Dan

*... as your fine work demonstrates.

Oct 13, 2008 at 07:04 PM

Tim Adams
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p.2 #24 · Shooting the Blue Angels

danmitchell wrote:
Tim Adams wrote:
Going against the grain here, but don't even think about bumping the ISO up, I leave it on 100 all the time, unless it's pitch black. If you can't stop a jet with 1/500-1/800 shutter speeds, you need more practice. 1/1000 or higher is not needed. Click to my website if you don't believe me. I rarely go over 1/800 for the jets, there may be some at 1/1000 on my site, but that's just the safety shift enabled in the camera. ISO 100=the cleanest, sharpest RAW file possible, which should be your goal, not a sharp jet, and grain, (even if it's just the slightest) amount in the file.

But... 400 doesn't really degrade the IQ in any significant way on most modern DSLRs, so why use a lower shutter speed and (more critical) a larger aperture? Not saying you can't do it at ISO100*, but you don't gain anything over ISO 200 and, IMHO, very little over 400.

Dan

*... as your fine work demonstrates.

No problem, everybody shoots differently. Back in the film days I would never dream of shooting ISO 400 film on sunny days, and even though I know digital ISO does not equate directly, I still can't see a reason to not shoot ISO 100 if there is enough light.

Oct 13, 2008 at 07:26 PM

wing tong
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p.2 #25 · Shooting the Blue Angels

norbs007 wrote:
Wing, those are killer shots...love them. I was out Saturday with a rental 100-400, haven't had a chance to look at them; but reviewing them on the camera it looks like only 10-15% keepers. Will post when able.

Thanks. Kept it safe. Used Tv 1/2000th, ISO400, and bumped up EC as much as 1 stop. The 400mm f/5.6 was a joy to handle, much better balance than the Tamron 200-500 I used last year.

I did however miss probably the best composed shot of the day (from my vantage point). It was about 4:00pm and the Blue Angels seemed to have completed their show and no Angels in site for about 5-10 minutes. We were packing up like everyone else and then out of the blue, all 6 Blue Angels came through the Golden Gate bridge. I think at best during the day, only 4 of the 6 Blue Angels came through the GG bridge at the same time. Oh well, wait 'til next year.

Oct 13, 2008 at 07:54 PM


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