Photographer’s Notes I am an unabashed airshow fan. The higher the performance, the happier I am. The louder the jets, the happier I am … sound you can feel. Vapor over the wings is almost an orgasm for an airshow photographer.
First weekend in August is the Seattle SeaFair airshow over Lake Washington. Every year, I take our modest ski boat out, sit under the flight lines for the greatest part of 4 days, and shoot the planes. It’s hot this summer, so I’m cooking down like bacon over a grill. I use “The Great White” (SPF about 75) sunscreen for the pasty white look of the Pacific Northwest … but it doesn’t help. I feel cooked after each day.
For the record, I shoot ‘em with a camera, not lasers or missiles and such, although that’s a worry. In this case, it’s the Blue Angels flying the FA18’s, plus the F22 Raptor, the Harrier, and some very very cool vintage aircraft, sometimes in formation with these powerful war-weapon jets. Breitling sponsors a cool demonstration using Czech trainers – fabulous show!
This year, I grab my best and favorite lens, my Nikor 70-200 f/2.8 image stabilized lens. I want to shoot fast so I adjust ISO to 200, aperture to f/7.1, and exposure compensation to +1/3 f/stop. It’s so bright I’m shooting at about 2,000th of a second. Fast enough to stop propellers on conventional aircraft. Fast enough to compensate for the motion of the boat and the planes. Why the EC – because I want to get some more detail on the jets against a bright sky. This works by the way.
I shot lots of “environmental” landscapes – after all it was a bikini rich landscape. See the rest of the photos here: Click Here
Post Processing • Convert from RAW (PSCC2015 Camera Raw)
• Filter (OnOne Perfect Effects)
• Enhance Sky Color (PSCC2015 Color Layer)
• Crop (PSCC2015)
• Resize (OnOne Perfect Resize)
• Save for Web (PSCC2015)
Camera Data • Date: 2015.08.02
• Camera: Nikon D800e
• Lens: Nikon AF Zoom-Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR DG IF-ED
• ISO: 200
• Aperture: f/7.1
• Shutter: 1/2000
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