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189. Southend Air Show (Day 1 - Southend Airport)
2009.05.24
Mustang
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For an exhorbitant fee you can have a 10 minute helicopter ride around the town. The trouble is the interesting areas are all out of bounds as the flight space is needed for the display aircraft.
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Vampire
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Lynx
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Whatever the plural of Lynx is.
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Wing walking
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The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
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Spitfire
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The poor old Merlin engine on this Spit must be knackered; twice it backfired when coming into land.
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Hurricane
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Lancaster
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The church, the bomber and the wing walker.
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Cessna 172. Not a part of the show, but a plane owned by one of the flying clubs at the airport. I love this plane because I've had flying lessons in it.
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Hawk
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Red Bull gives you wings.
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Heron
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It is the first major Air Show of the year, the largest free show in Europe and the largest to be held over water. This is the first of two days flying. All of the pictures in this set were taken from the start of Runway 06 at Southend Airport.
Lessons:
1. Photographing planes coming into land is a great exercise for controlling your camera. You have to pan, zoom and shoot at the same time.
2. The more serious looking photographers around me had monopods, I suspect these would be very useful to anyone interested in this branch of photography.
3. It is amazing just how much the light changes during the single swoop of a plane. In this instance they were coming in almost as silhouttes but leaving with bright colours.
4. You have to be quite agile to follow them as they fly overhead. There seems to be a knack (which I haven't got) of getting the camera lined up in the right orientation.
5. It is important not to lose the autofocus on the plane, if you do it can take ages to find it again (especially with a cranky old lens like mine).
6. I had my camera set to a single point of focus, but I suspect that with a nice clear sky I might have been better using multiple focus points as the only thing that would trigger any of them would be the plane. This might be different with clouds about though.
7. If you are going to stand at the end of the runway you don't necessarily need a huge lens as the planes are comming in very close anyway.
8. With jets, there is no option but to have the shutter speed as fast as possible. With propeller planes and especially with helicopters it may be worth slowing down a little to show the movement of the props. I didn't do this today and some of the resulting photo's look a bit odd.
9. When editing, setting the picture style to "Lanscape" produces beuatiful vivid blues skies - though not necessarily a true likeness to reality.
Lessons:
1. Photographing planes coming into land is a great exercise for controlling your camera. You have to pan, zoom and shoot at the same time.
2. The more serious looking photographers around me had monopods, I suspect these would be very useful to anyone interested in this branch of photography.
3. It is amazing just how much the light changes during the single swoop of a plane. In this instance they were coming in almost as silhouttes but leaving with bright colours.
4. You have to be quite agile to follow them as they fly overhead. There seems to be a knack (which I haven't got) of getting the camera lined up in the right orientation.
5. It is important not to lose the autofocus on the plane, if you do it can take ages to find it again (especially with a cranky old lens like mine).
6. I had my camera set to a single point of focus, but I suspect that with a nice clear sky I might have been better using multiple focus points as the only thing that would trigger any of them would be the plane. This might be different with clouds about though.
7. If you are going to stand at the end of the runway you don't necessarily need a huge lens as the planes are comming in very close anyway.
8. With jets, there is no option but to have the shutter speed as fast as possible. With propeller planes and especially with helicopters it may be worth slowing down a little to show the movement of the props. I didn't do this today and some of the resulting photo's look a bit odd.
9. When editing, setting the picture style to "Lanscape" produces beuatiful vivid blues skies - though not necessarily a true likeness to reality.
17
Comments
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fantastic shots and some great planes there, but no red arrows?? i always used to enjoy going to the air show here in Koksijde, just love the smell of burnt kerosene and the noise :-) but they stopped doing it :-( And i know it isn't easy trying to get good shots, took loads before i stepped into the digital world. But i should have a sea king knocking around somewhere on my pc, which i shot last summer, i'll have a look for those for you ;-)
eternity65 · 2009-05-24: 21:09
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Very interesting! I like #21, feel like I'm zooming into the sky with them..Bet that was awesome.
NellyBly · 2009-05-24: 22:03
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Great collection of airshow shots!! Really like #s 6, 21 and 25!
lookagain · 2009-05-24: 22:57
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Great shots and good tips. I agree the motion, if even in the props helps show that they are actually moving.
smbunation · 2009-05-24: 23:16
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Oh, so nice! I used to go to those all the time. My husband was an Army helicopter pilot (Cobras and then Blackhawks).
????? · 2009-05-24: 23:41
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Very nice! 18 is my favortie!
susjustjake · 2009-05-25: 01:49
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Fantastic collection - what a show!
jet28 · 2009-05-25: 03:30
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Good set. From experience I know that some images are not easy to make. So, well done!!
Ryana · 2009-05-25: 04:27
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Greta set, Jon! I like the Hawk a lot. But most of all I like helicopters... Some day I will post the follies that French television helicopters make when they record the Dakar Rally!
????? · 2009-05-25: 10:42
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Terrific work, 8 is my favorite!!~
urmysunshine · 2009-05-25: 11:26
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Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant!!! ;-}
ittakesallsorts · 2009-05-25: 13:44
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you are such a very nice photographer! you could catch'em all :)
onlyricky · 2009-05-25: 15:48
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Fantastic collection !!!
nikito · 2009-05-25: 15:55
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Very interesting set. it was very educational especially with the tips. Thanks ! I really like the Lynx photo.
dactyl · 2009-05-25: 20:31
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it is great show! useful notes! thanks!
kif123 · 2009-05-25: 23:10
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Great job. I love WWII airplanes
dontblink · 2009-05-26: 08:38
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These are amazing pictures - I've tried to photograph planes but without any luck. There was great weather for the show too.
busybee36 · 2009-05-27: 01:04
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Views: 610
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