Flying Legends 2015, 12 July 2015, Duxford

[dubaiphil]

Well my first couple of posts were of individual shots, processed quickly as low res images. I'll post full res shots on this thread as I process them. This may take some time as I shot around 2,200 images over the day, 2,000 of which were taken during the 3 hours of flying. I consciously had to slow down as well, as I was running out of storage space after 1 1/2 hours! Action was pretty constant, which meant little to no down time to do a quick review and cull of shots on the camera's LCD to free up more space.

I was shooting with a rental lens as I very rarely need the focal lengths required for wildlife/sports/aviation photography. Initially I was going to go for a fast Nikon super telephoto prime lens, but due to the nature of the airshow I wanted a little more flexibility and opted for something a little different - the Sigma 150-600mm S. As there were individual aircraft as well as formations, having the flexibility of a zoom was useful, and having 600mm at the long end meant I was able to get shots that most others couldn't. 600mm, even wide open, was pretty impressive, and after a good workout I would definitely consider this lens if I was shooting more at this focal length. Bang for buck was pretty impressive, focus was accurate and pretty quick, and even at 600mm and wide open the results were good.

When shooting aircraft, shutter speed is a priority. With propeller engined aircraft, getting a little blur into the props gives the sense of motion and speed - too fast and the aircraft just looks as if it's not moving, too slow and you won't have a high proportion of keepers due to motion blur, however good your panning. On fast aircraft at Duxford they were passing at 300mph + at low altitude and I was standing very near the threshold of the active runway so they were quite close too. The fact that the lens is relatively slow (f5 to f6.3) isn't really an issue for props as you want to be shooting at around 1/500th as a max, and with +2/3 EV dialled in you're easily shooting at that speed with f8-f11 in fair light.

Weather on Saturday was good - unfortunately I went on Sunday! Low cloud base, occasional heavy showers, variable light (and background skies as the weather blew through), made for some challenging shooting. Crowds were on the north side of the runway, meaning shooting towards the sun (or the bright part of the cloud where the sun was, anyway!). My next visit will be on the other side of the airfield in the 'naughty field' which will give better light.

So onto some higher res shots - I'll post a few at a time, with some ground shots to break things up a little:


1. Bf109 G-4 - 320mm, 1/500th, f11, +2/3EV, ISO200




2. Corsair - 600mm, 1/400th, f11, +2/3EV, ISO200




3. Bristol Blenheim - 180mm, 1/500th, f5, +2/3EV, ISO200




4. B17 and P51 - 300mm, 1/500th, f10, +2/3EV ISO200




5. Spitfire MkIa - This aircraft flew with 19 Squadron at RAF Duxford in WWII and was shot down over France on 25th May 1940, making a wheels up landing on the beach. The wreck was discovered in 1986 and the aircraft was restored, making its first flight in 2014. So It's come home. Classic Spitfire lines with wheels retracting and a dark sky in the background. 400mm, 1/500th, f6.1, , +2/3EV ISO200

[arith]

Some good tips and excellent images.

[Shadowman]

Nice series, were you in an elevated position for some of these shots?

[dubaiphil]

Thanks Steve and John. There aren't any elevated positions around, the highest being the 'tank bank' by where I was shooting from - it's only about 6ft elevated from the runway though, and the highest positions were taken up very early on in the day. Early flying was quite flat because of the cloud base but later went a little higher - as a result there were lots of low passes.

[dubaiphil]

A few more from what I've processed so far:

6. Spitfire Mk Is - 350mm, f8, 1/500th, +2/3EV, ISO720




7. Ju52 taxiing - 600mm, f6.3, 1/320th, +2/3EV, ISO200




8. P51Ds low pass - 270mm, f14, 1/500th, +2/3EV, ISO200




9. P51D starting up - 270mm, f8, 1/640th, 0EV, ISO200




10. P51Ds departing - 270mm, f8, 1/640th, +2/3EV, ISO200

[dubaiphil]

11.




12.




13.




14.




15.

[gregj1763]

Soooooo jealous Phil, wonderful images. Love the flames on the P51D starting up. #1,2,4,8,9,11 and 14 are my picks.
Great job, look forward to seeing some more mate.
Glad you like the lens, I'm a bit of a Sigma fan. As you said good bang for bucks

[dubaiphil]

Thanks Greg. The show started with 10 Spitfires and a Seafire taking off, forming into 2 x 3 ships and 1 x 4 ship formations and then buzzing in tail chases from all directions. What a start! Here's a few of the tail chases:

16.




17.




18.




19.




20.




21.




22.




23.




24.




Grey skies + rain showers = a day for black and white:

25.

[gregj1763]

Thanks Greg. The show started with 10 Spitfires and a Seafire taking off, forming into 2 x 3 ships and 1 x 4 ship formations and then buzzing in tail chases from all directions. What a start! Here's a few of the tail chases

Now you're really rubbing it in Phil
Fantastic B&W on #25

[Stagecoach]

Good set Phil and I appreciated the explanations.

[deetheturk]

Wonderful series Phil, love all the old planes, very well captured mate!

[dubaiphil]

Thanks David - here's a few more:

26. Curtiss P-38C




27. Tiger Moth




28. Corsair




29. Griffon engined PR (photo reconnaissance) Spitfire




30. Clipped wing Spitfire

[Donald]

Everyone of them an absolute winner. To come home at the end of the day/weekend with that lot safely in the bag, must be a real thrill.

But this just takes the crown for me. Stunning. Gorgeous. Masterful photography.

25.

[dubaiphil]

Thank you for your kind words, Donald. I'm around 1/3 of the way through a first set of colour pictures from the day, and only around 1/10th of the way through my B&W conversions. Despite the weather and using a rental lens that I wasn't used to, I've got a fair few keepers. I'm now sorely tempted by the Sigma 150-600S - it's a cracker of a lens for the money - maybe too slow for other peoples needs, but for flexibility and reach the output was better than expected. For airshows it's an absolute star. When you're surrounded by other photographers with a variety of gear you can tell you're going to get some unique shots as you're the first in the vicinity to be able to start shooting with the aircraft further away. I'm hooked on Airshow photography now - I've always had an interest in aviation, but it wasn't particularly accessible in the Middle East.

[deetheturk]

More cracking images Phil, looking forward to seeing more of the same!

[gregj1763]

Brilliant photo's mate, love the Tiger Moth and great captures of the pilots with their pride and joy.
Keep them coming

[John 2]

How the h..... did I miss this lot. Some stunning stuff Phil but the star for me is the mono - no. 25. It's a great conversion and the overcast makes an excellent BG. Some really nice work here. Must make the entry fee worth while.

[Dave Humphries]

Great images Phil,

My personal favourite (as things stand with 30), is probably the Bristol Blenheim (#3) because of the revealing lighting.
Of course the B&W Corsair (#25) is something special - and we don't often see the Ju-52 (#7).

I like that you haven't blown the skies - a rookie mistake I often make in this type of weather to get detail in the shadows/undersides.

I have added this thread to our list of excellent examples of the genre, not just for the pictures, but the time you took to explain the whys and wherefores - and add the EXIF data on the first 10.

The question; 'what shutter speed to shoot an air show' is perennial, so now I have a thread to refer people to with great examples.

Thanks, Dave

[rpcrowe]

Absolutely wonderful images. Great technique. Super quality. One minor thing though, I believe that Image# 29 is a Curtiss P-36 Hawk (AKA: Hawk 75/Mohawk). http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircr...ircraft_id=155

I have never seen one in real life!

We have two major airshows in the Southern California area: Marine Corps Air Station, San Diego which is held in September and Planes of Fame Museum, Chino, CA held in June. Unfortunately September tends to be one of our hottest months in the San Diego area and it is usually quite hot in Chino during June.

This not only makes it pretty uncomfortable for the photographer (90-100 degrees f or 31 to over 37 C.) but the heat waves are bad for photography. I guess that's just trying to make excuses!

Jets are so much easier to shoot because you don't need to keep props spinning...

[Barbara Ponder]

Very nice set!