Hints and Tips - Comments?

A few weeks back, I came and asked for tips on taking photos at an airhow,
and one of the 'hopes and dreams' was that we'de get good weather for
photos. Turns out, it was rubbish weather! The old planes cancelled the
Battle of Britain flyby, and I think the better ones took it easy (Except,
of course, The Red Arrows!).

Anyways, this is how my shots came out.

http://www.thelisters.co.uk/viewgallery.php?id=50

Used auto focus, and.. the rest of the details are on each photo. Not too
happy, as most are not sharp, but it would be great if you could 'crit' some
photos.

Not bad for a first time though, I guess. Weather was really bad. Dark and
windy and rain. Not great...

"Craig" writes:

A few weeks back, I came and asked for tips on taking photos at an airhow,
and one of the 'hopes and dreams' was that we'de get good weather for
photos. Turns out, it was rubbish weather! The old planes cancelled the
Battle of Britain flyby, and I think the better ones took it easy (Except,
of course, The Red Arrows!).

Anyways, this is how my shots came out.

http://www.thelisters.co.uk/viewgallery.php?id=50

Used auto focus, and.. the rest of the details are on each photo. Not too
happy, as most are not sharp, but it would be great if you could 'crit' some
photos.

Not bad for a first time though, I guess. Weather was really bad. Dark and
windy and rain. Not great...

But actually I find some of the shots very striking against the heavy
clouds -- especially the "Red Arrows split" (id=818).
--
David Dyer-Bennet, , http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/
RKBA: http://noguns-nomoney.com/ http://www.dd-b.net/carry/
Pics: http://dd-b.lighthunters.net/ http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/
Dragaera/Steven Brust: http://dragaera.info/

But the problem I was facing was getting nice clarrity of the objects. They
all seem out of focus, and I'm not sure how to better that next time.

"David Dyer-Bennet" wrote in message
...
"Craig" writes:

A few weeks back, I came and asked for tips on taking photos at an
airhow,
and one of the 'hopes and dreams' was that we'de get good weather for
photos. Turns out, it was rubbish weather! The old planes cancelled the
Battle of Britain flyby, and I think the better ones took it easy
(Except,
of course, The Red Arrows!).

Anyways, this is how my shots came out.

http://www.thelisters.co.uk/viewgallery.php?id=50

Used auto focus, and.. the rest of the details are on each photo. Not
too
happy, as most are not sharp, but it would be great if you could 'crit'
some
photos.

Not bad for a first time though, I guess. Weather was really bad. Dark
and
windy and rain. Not great...

But actually I find some of the shots very striking against the heavy
clouds -- especially the "Red Arrows split" (id=818).
--
David Dyer-Bennet, , http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/
RKBA: http://noguns-nomoney.com/ http://www.dd-b.net/carry/
Pics: http://dd-b.lighthunters.net/
http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/
Dragaera/Steven Brust: http://dragaera.info/

But the problem I was facing was getting nice clarrity of the objects. They
all seem out of focus, and I'm not sure how to better that next time.

"David Dyer-Bennet" wrote in message
...
"Craig" writes:

A few weeks back, I came and asked for tips on taking photos at an
airhow,
and one of the 'hopes and dreams' was that we'de get good weather for
photos. Turns out, it was rubbish weather! The old planes cancelled the
Battle of Britain flyby, and I think the better ones took it easy
(Except,
of course, The Red Arrows!).

Anyways, this is how my shots came out.

http://www.thelisters.co.uk/viewgallery.php?id=50

Used auto focus, and.. the rest of the details are on each photo. Not
too
happy, as most are not sharp, but it would be great if you could 'crit'
some
photos.

Not bad for a first time though, I guess. Weather was really bad. Dark
and
windy and rain. Not great...

But actually I find some of the shots very striking against the heavy
clouds -- especially the "Red Arrows split" (id=818).
--
David Dyer-Bennet, , http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/
RKBA: http://noguns-nomoney.com/ http://www.dd-b.net/carry/
Pics: http://dd-b.lighthunters.net/
http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/
Dragaera/Steven Brust: http://dragaera.info/

Hi Craig,

Some nice Photos. on your web page. I know the problems of trying to
photograph planes at Leuchars when the cloud level is low.

On your web page, the unidentified red plane is "The Fouga CM-170 Magister
was the first primary jet trainer to enter production, under a French Armée
de l'Air specification." Which comment I cut and pasted from
http://www.warbirdalley.com/fouga.htm

And yes, definitely a Hawker Hunter but I couldn't guess at a Mk number.

Dr. How.

"Craig" wrote in message
...
A few weeks back, I came and asked for tips on taking photos at an airhow,
and one of the 'hopes and dreams' was that we'de get good weather for
photos. Turns out, it was rubbish weather! The old planes cancelled the
Battle of Britain flyby, and I think the better ones took it easy (Except,
of course, The Red Arrows!).

Anyways, this is how my shots came out.

http://www.thelisters.co.uk/viewgallery.php?id=50

Used auto focus, and.. the rest of the details are on each photo. Not too
happy, as most are not sharp, but it would be great if you could 'crit'
some
photos.

Not bad for a first time though, I guess. Weather was really bad. Dark and
windy and rain. Not great...

Hi Craig,

Some nice Photos. on your web page. I know the problems of trying to
photograph planes at Leuchars when the cloud level is low.

On your web page, the unidentified red plane is "The Fouga CM-170 Magister
was the first primary jet trainer to enter production, under a French Armée
de l'Air specification." Which comment I cut and pasted from
http://www.warbirdalley.com/fouga.htm

And yes, definitely a Hawker Hunter but I couldn't guess at a Mk number.

Dr. How.

"Craig" wrote in message
...
A few weeks back, I came and asked for tips on taking photos at an airhow,
and one of the 'hopes and dreams' was that we'de get good weather for
photos. Turns out, it was rubbish weather! The old planes cancelled the
Battle of Britain flyby, and I think the better ones took it easy (Except,
of course, The Red Arrows!).

Anyways, this is how my shots came out.

http://www.thelisters.co.uk/viewgallery.php?id=50

Used auto focus, and.. the rest of the details are on each photo. Not too
happy, as most are not sharp, but it would be great if you could 'crit'
some
photos.

Not bad for a first time though, I guess. Weather was really bad. Dark and
windy and rain. Not great...

Always overexpose your shots by 1.5 - 2 F stops, i know sky will blow out
but it's not the sky you want!
Another tip....if plane is crossing from left to right, make sure you
position it in the frame on the left hand side,that way it gives the plane a
space to fly into.

"Craig" wrote in message
...
A few weeks back, I came and asked for tips on taking photos at an airhow,
and one of the 'hopes and dreams' was that we'de get good weather for
photos. Turns out, it was rubbish weather! The old planes cancelled the
Battle of Britain flyby, and I think the better ones took it easy (Except,
of course, The Red Arrows!).

Anyways, this is how my shots came out.

http://www.thelisters.co.uk/viewgallery.php?id=50

Used auto focus, and.. the rest of the details are on each photo. Not too
happy, as most are not sharp, but it would be great if you could 'crit'
some
photos.

Not bad for a first time though, I guess. Weather was really bad. Dark and
windy and rain. Not great...

Always overexpose your shots by 1.5 - 2 F stops, i know sky will blow out
but it's not the sky you want!
Another tip....if plane is crossing from left to right, make sure you
position it in the frame on the left hand side,that way it gives the plane a
space to fly into.

"Craig" wrote in message
...
A few weeks back, I came and asked for tips on taking photos at an airhow,
and one of the 'hopes and dreams' was that we'de get good weather for
photos. Turns out, it was rubbish weather! The old planes cancelled the
Battle of Britain flyby, and I think the better ones took it easy (Except,
of course, The Red Arrows!).

Anyways, this is how my shots came out.

http://www.thelisters.co.uk/viewgallery.php?id=50

Used auto focus, and.. the rest of the details are on each photo. Not too
happy, as most are not sharp, but it would be great if you could 'crit'
some
photos.

Not bad for a first time though, I guess. Weather was really bad. Dark and
windy and rain. Not great...

Always overexpose your shots by 1.5 - 2 F stops, i know sky will blow out
but it's not the sky you want!
Another tip....if plane is crossing from left to right, make sure you
position it in the frame on the left hand side,that way it gives the plane a
space to fly into.

"Craig" wrote in message
...
A few weeks back, I came and asked for tips on taking photos at an airhow,
and one of the 'hopes and dreams' was that we'de get good weather for
photos. Turns out, it was rubbish weather! The old planes cancelled the
Battle of Britain flyby, and I think the better ones took it easy (Except,
of course, The Red Arrows!).

Anyways, this is how my shots came out.

http://www.thelisters.co.uk/viewgallery.php?id=50

Used auto focus, and.. the rest of the details are on each photo. Not too
happy, as most are not sharp, but it would be great if you could 'crit'
some
photos.

Not bad for a first time though, I guess. Weather was really bad. Dark and
windy and rain. Not great...

Craig wrote:

But the problem I was facing was getting nice clarrity of the objects. They
all seem out of focus, and I'm not sure how to better that next time.

Interesting stuff there. On studying most of the shots, I think your
problem is not one of focus sharpness, but camera movement. On most of
the images, there are some edges sharp, and others not, which points to
panning technique, in that the camera is not keeping the aircraft
stationary in the viewfinder, but is allowing what looks like camera
shake in some direction to occur.

This can be well seen in the last shot, of the 640mph pass, where the
leading edge of the fin is sharp, but the fuselage is blurred in a
vertical direction. This implies that the camera was moving down and
left, along the line of the fin so the leading edge is sharp, but the
downward movement has blurred the fuselage.

Noting that the lens was at 200mm, and your shutter was about 1/250
IIRC, it's not surprising, and certainly not a criticism of the camera.

You need a better day, shutter speeds of 1/1000 or greater - except for
helos - and then I think you will see better results.

For interest, here's a url to some 300D shots of various aircraft, just
to perhaps dispel any doubts you might have about the 300D.

http://www.airliners.net/search/phot...&keywords=300D

Colin D.