2017 Planes of Fame Airshow

Show 2, Post 2: Holy Photographers, Batman!

The Planes of Fame airshow draws two things, warbirds and photographers. Since I been coming out to Chino, it seems there are more and more people shooting the show. Canon, Nikon, Sony, DSLR’s, point and shoot and a bunch of iPhones along with iPads, out and about shooting away. It’s a wonderful show for any type of photographer to hone their eye as well as skills shooting aircraft. From WWII reenactors to pilots and crew, and you got to love the all-day photo passes! You’re in a target rich environment,  so shoot away!

One of this year’s personal challenges was to shoot the with Canon 5DSR which is more for landscape photography and studio work. With a max frame rate of 5fps and the buffer speed, shooting the fast pace of an airshow is asking a lot from the 5DSR. But with 50.6 megapixels, along with the clarity of my 500mm F/4.5, the potential for some breathtaking images are high. I again shot slow, Sunday’s weather was perfect for some cloud blurring. I pretty much shot everything in shutter priority from 1/160^th to 1/200^th second. I wanted to show a sense of motion and not an aircraft frozen in the sky.

My other personal challenge was to photograph people of the show, reenactors, veterans, pilots as well as other photographer. It is something I shy away from and feel I’m not good at. Plus, I’m really picky when it comes to images of people. I dislike images of people looking straight into the camera, the candid snap shot with no thought or care of the scene. So, I got out of my comfort zone and started seeing other things more interesting than the warbirds buzzing around the circuit. In fact, I’m more excited about my images with people than the one without.

I think of all the images I shot that weekend, this one is my favorite. It is not as sharp as I like it but I feel it still works. The big and proud reenactor, the happiness of the little boy and the Dad (I guess) giving the “thumbs up”.

Until next post,

Steven