Blue Angels - El Centro, California

[rpcrowe]

My photo club went to the Blue Angels practice today at the Blue Angels home base of Naval Air Station, El Centro, California.

I shot mostly with a 300mm f/4L IS lens on a Canon 7D camera. I like the fast focus and the large buffer of the 7D (although I have heard that the 7D2 is superior in those functions).

I shot in high speed burst and could do a relatively long series of RAW shots before the buffer caused me to slow down. Some folks shooting near me with other camera models and brands were complaining that their buffer was too small and that their cameras did not write fast enough. I shot using Lexar 400x CF cards that are UDMA capable.

These are just a few of the many shots that I took. Naturally shooting in high speed burst, I ended up with many duplicates.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.


Since I am 75 years old, I decided not to climb the ladder to the top of the hay bales. However, I realize that the fall doesn't hurt anyone - it's the abrupt stop at the end of the fall than can be hurtful to body and camera gear



Here is my collection of images from this day...

https://rpcrowe.smugmug.com/Blue-Angels/n-4kgqg9/

[Shadowman]

Nice capture of the action and the spectators.

[Sergio M.]

Great set of photos, Richard.


Sergio

[Mike Buckley]

Very nice, Richard! It's great to know that you had a plain blue sky at least in the area of the photos you posted.

As for the bales of hay, it seems to me that they should be at the bottom of the ladder, not the top.

[rpcrowe]

Thanks for the comments folks... It was a fun morning. I was told that the bales of hay are normally arranged in tiers so that it is relatively easy to climb onto. This time, someone brought a tall ladder...

There were about 40 photographers there but, there was plenty of room (except atop the hay bales) for everyone to have room to shoot...

Luckily, one of the club members had a box of earplugs which were certainly needed since the aircraft flew over low enough to pick up the dust in the fields and to cover my newly washed car with dust

Mike, the sky was sometimes obscured by the smoke trails of the aircraft...

[IzzieK]

All excellent shots, Richard -- I am with Mike about being at the bottom of the ladder instead as you did as you have more room to move don there than up there with all those people...

[Dave Humphries]

Richard,
Great series as usual.


Did you use a polariser on the lens?

I ask because the ones where the sun is more obviously at 90 degrees to the angle you were shooting (e.g. #1 in first set) have a more saturated blue sky than the ones where you're shooting in to the sun (e.g. the one apparently landing in second set).

That said, the sky is like that to the naked eye anyway, due to atmospheric effects, especially when it is 'polluted' by their smoke (as you note).

Cheers, Dave

PS
I'm sure I reminded you to take earplugs

[rpcrowe]

Thanks Izzie and Dave...

I did not use a polarizer since at the start, the sun was directly behind me. I decided that I did not want to lose the 2-stops or so that the polarizer would have cost me. I need to play with recovering some of the images that I shot through smoke generated by the smoke generators. I have an immense number of images to play with.

[Wavelength]

Very lovely images...

[NorthernFocus]

Looks like you had a good morning, Richard. Some awesome shots. I can see how being on top of the bails could be an advantage during an air show with crowds. But during the practice was there really any advantage to being elevated? Based on what you came away with I'd say all it added was an unnecessary element of risk to the day.

[Chayelle]

These are great...
Enjoyed the training session... glad you posted these!

[rpcrowe]

Dan,

The only time that the elevation achieved from climbing the hay bales was during the takeoff. There was a chain-link fence that spoiled the takeoff shots which could have been avoided if the images were shot from on top of the hay bales.



Actually, the planes came so close that the ground around us shook and the dust from the fields was blown up around us. The height of the hay bales would have been a detriment in that case.

[NorthernFocus]

...the planes came so close that the ground aroundus shook and the dust from the fields was blown up around us. The height of the hay bales would have been a detriment in that case.

That's kind of what I was thinking. Plus looking through the VF while shooting up at things etc. can cause one's equilibrium to be a bit wonky. Whenever I'm on top of something, near a cliff, etc, I always sit down or lean against a wall/tree for that very reason.

[bnnrcn]

Great set

[rpcrowe]

That's kind of what I was thinking. Plus looking through the VF while shooting up at things etc. can cause one's equilibrium to be a bit wonky. Whenever I'm on top of something, near a cliff, etc, I always sit down or lean against a wall/tree for that very reason.

Right on Dan... As I grow older, my balance is getting less balanced. I kind of need either something to lean against (I leaned against my car as I was shooting the planes that flew directly overhead) or at least a perpendicular object that I can refer to to keep straight.

A couple of months ago I was fishing in my son-in-law's boat when I had a tangle near the tip of my rod. I looked up at the tangle and reached for it. At the same time a particular violent swell hit the boat broadside and I was catapulted off my feet. My elbow and knee got a bit skinned in the process.

I have to be more careful and not let my guard down!

[John 2]

Every one a winner Richard. That's a cracking set of nicely presented images.

[rpcrowe]

Thank you!

[rpcrowe]

Here is another shot from that day... I do like this one!



I usually try to leave room in front of a moving subject but, I like the composition this way because it seems like it has more energy!

[Manfred M]

An excellent series, Richard. One question. How much cropping did you end up doing to refine the images down to the level we are seeing. It might be interesting to show us non-plane photographers what kind of margins / headroom is required to produce these types of shots.

Thanks.

[rpcrowe]

Manfred...

Thanks for the comment. Here are full frame views of some images. You will notice a spot of dirt on my sensor while I got rid of in the final edits...

I shot mostly with a 300mm lens on a 1.6x Canon 7D. The planes were varying distances away. Some images were so close that I couldn't get the whole plane in the frame. I then picked up my second 7D camera with a 70-200mm f/4L IS lens (which I had laying on the hood of my car next to me) but, when the planes were that close, there wasn't a lot of time to switch. I sincerely love the 300mm f/4L IS lens but, am considering the sale of both the 300mm and my 400mm f/5.6L to purchase the new 100-400 Mark-2 L Canon zoom.

"It might be interesting to show us non-plane photographers what kind of margins / headroom is required to produce these types of shots." Here are some un-edited images of the type I used. All I did was to save them as JPEG...









I have not used images with the aircraft quite small nor those obscured by great amounts of smoke. However, sometime when I am quite bored and with lots of time to spare, I will play with those type of images.





BTW: I have attended formal airshows and have never been able to get as close to the action as I did with the Blue Angels practice at El Centro...