Rodolfo Paiz wrote:
Are you using Lightroom, by any chance? If so, I have news for you so let me know... I won't get into that issue right now to save space and time.
First, definitely shoot RAW. You're going to need that highlight-recovery headroom that a JPG won't give you, and you're also going to need the robustness of the RAW because the lighting and DR are just too extreme in many cases. Then, I generally use center-weighted metering because "normal" is a colored airplane against a much brighter sky. Each camera is different, but I can tell you that most of the shots I've shown here still needed a small boost in exposure. I'd have done better with +0.7 or +1.0 EC. Exposing to the right is important
Often a little boost to contrast will recover much of the vivid color. Setting your white and black points is another big deal, but even then you'll find that you often need to bring the sky down a full stop or more to get near-white back to nice blue. A tool often used in LR is the targeted adjustment brush, to increase saturation (gently!) and reduce luminance on the sky. A soft touch of vibrance on the image also helps sometimes.
Do you think it would help people if I went through a typical editing exercise with details? Or would explanations using LR2 simply be too tool-specific?...Show more →
Thanks for the detailed explaination. Speaking for myself, I use Photoshop so a discourse in Lightroom wouldn't mean much. I've had a fair amount of experience shooting aircraft, most of which was in the film days so you either got it right when you shot it, or you didn't have anything. The digital transition has been interesting to say the least. I tend to shoot in matrix and find I usually need some minus exp comp to keep the brights from blowing out. If you are using centerweight metering, the + exp comp makes sense, thus the question. My D2x and D300 handle things a little differently, so I don't have settings common to both.
Reading your reply to another poster, try shooting a rotary engine sometime. In flight, you'll need no more than 1/90 sec to get prop blur. Most of my aircraft shooting experience was with WW1 a/c (they did have and fly pioneer thru the 30's) and the prop speeds are much slower than the WW2 birds even at full throttle. The air to air shoots were the most fun....ahh the good old days. (I don't miss that 12 lb gyro stabilizer though )
fantastic pictures and technique Rodolfo. My favorites are the F-22 pics, really magnificent. They are all great and a study in how to do airshow pics, I liked the panning and oof backgrounds
I was wondering why most of the shots have very low shutter speeds? Did you use a tripod?
No tripod is needed. It limits your movement too much, and you end up missing more shots than anyone would care to. Handheld is the way to go, as then you have complete control of your movements. As Rodolfo pointed out, there is a high failure rate, even for those that have been doing this for a while. Best thing is to shoot more than you think, then weed out those that do not meet your standards.
The main thing in shooting handheld is to develop your technique in panning with the aircraft as it flies past.
Rodolfo this is simply put an awesome thread, and I'm glad you posted so many images. While the F22 is always fantastic to see, there's just something about a P51 that says "COOL" and I doubt it will EVER get 'old'. Great series in every way.
NightOwl Cat wrote:
Nice Job Rodolfo, don't forget that Dayton is 17-18 Jul 2010, and on the way as well. Get your warm-up shots here
Had a look at at the 2009 line-up and WOW! that was a great show. Wish to God I'd been able to make it, but this year was so crazy that I even had to cut down my week at Oshkosh to just three days... and you can imagine what it takes for me to do that.
I'm going to take a serious look at it for 2010. When do they post the 2010 lineup, and when can one sign up for the Photo Pit? More importantly: if a couple of Merlins show up in Dayton, are you going to join us for shooting and food?
Real Oshkosh attendees have slowly managed to worm their way into favorite accommodations over time, because at most hotels within 50 miles of OSH, you fill out a room-request form for the next year while you're still there! I like the Marriott Fairfield Inn at Appleton, because you're only about 20 minutes away by car but you have a lot more shopping, eating, and other options available than you do inside Oshkosh itself -- and Oshkosh is mobbed anyway.
@ Louis (louisfusco), John (jmcfadden), Tony (tony1), and Trustbran: Thanks for the compliments, guys! Glad you liked 'em. Remember you're welcome to join us at any time, too... airshows are fun even if you don't bring a camera (not that you would do such a thing, of course!).
@ Roger: Thank you! "Stealth" (#29) has a special place in my heart, because it's one of the few images I actually created instead of simply captured. That shot was taken at 3 PM in blindingly-bright sunlight.
ishootsports3 wrote:
killer shots, far too many to go through and make individual comments(not that they would be much more that "x" is killer)
Thanks for the compliments. But please, a few individual comments! Stuff you liked or stuff you didn't, ways to improve, questions or things that don't "feel" right... anything. To paraphrase Monty Python... "every comment's good, every comment's needed, in your neighborhood!"
, I've been to airshows for the open houses at the bases I've lived on, but none of the shows here, I just hear the noise at the house. I know the lineup keeps getting tweaked till about a month before with additions. Stuff it into your favorites and give another look in April. You have some lost shooting to make up for
If you do decide to show up, shoot me a PM. Celtic Festival's the weekend after that airshow so I'm set. IIRR, the Oracle gang is usually here before they head up to Oshkosh. I've never seen Oshkosh either, but that runs into my must attend event.
My favorite open house though, was out at Edwards AFB when the SR-71 made its only appearance, was on static display for the weekend, till it left to leave, didn't take it long to disappear when they left to go home.
Rodolfo Paiz wrote:
Had a look at at the 2009 line-up and WOW! that was a great show. Wish to God I'd been able to make it, but this year was so crazy that I even had to cut down my week at Oshkosh to just three days... and you can imagine what it takes for me to do that.
I'm going to take a serious look at it for 2010. When do they post the 2010 lineup, and when can one sign up for the Photo Pit? More importantly: if a couple of Merlins show up in Dayton, are you going to join us for shooting and food?
Way ahead of 'em...
Real Oshkosh attendees have slowly managed to worm their way into favorite accommodations over time, because at most hotels within 50 miles of OSH, you fill out a room-request form for the next year while you're still there! I like the Marriott Fairfield Inn at Appleton, because you're only about 20 minutes away by car but you have a lot more shopping, eating, and other options available than you do inside Oshkosh itself -- and Oshkosh is mobbed anyway....Show more →
Rodolfo Paiz wrote:
Are you using Lightroom, by any chance? If so, I have news for you so let me know... I won't get into that issue right now to save space and time.
First, definitely shoot RAW. You're going to need that highlight-recovery headroom that a JPG won't give you, and you're also going to need the robustness of the RAW because the lighting and DR are just too extreme in many cases. Then, I generally use center-weighted metering because "normal" is a colored airplane against a much brighter sky. Each camera is different, but I can tell you that most of the shots I've shown here still needed a small boost in exposure. I'd have done better with +0.7 or +1.0 EC. Exposing to the right is important
Often a little boost to contrast will recover much of the vivid color. Setting your white and black points is another big deal, but even then you'll find that you often need to bring the sky down a full stop or more to get near-white back to nice blue. A tool often used in LR is the targeted adjustment brush, to increase saturation (gently!) and reduce luminance on the sky. A soft touch of vibrance on the image also helps sometimes.
Do you think it would help people if I went through a typical editing exercise with details? Or would explanations using LR2 simply be too tool-specific?...Show more →
I'd love to have a more detailed description of your workflow.
Also, how'd you manage to capture #26?
I've only seen very few of these where it shows the water vapor in the air compressing like that just as the plane reaches the sound barrier.
Very cool!!!
Rodolfo Paiz wrote:
Had a look at at the 2009 line-up and WOW! that was a great show. Wish to God I'd been able to make it, but this year was so crazy that I even had to cut down my week at Oshkosh to just three days... and you can imagine what it takes for me to do that.
I'm going to take a serious look at it for 2010. When do they post the 2010 lineup, and when can one sign up for the Photo Pit? More importantly: if a couple of Merlins show up in Dayton, are you going to join us for shooting and food? ...Show more →
)
Way to "represent" when so many are pointing Canons 
