Recommend setting for shooting Red Arrows? It Tomorrow at Portsmouth

jollyjack

jollyjack

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Well if you are in the Portsmouth area tomorrow at about 1210 the Red Arrows are out for HMS ARK ROYALS familys day. I live in Gosport across the water.

I have never done any photography of Planes, Can our members recommend which equipment i should use, like hand held or tripod, 18-105 or 70-300. Also what settings should i use on my nikon D90.

Any advice would be welcomed.
 
Well definitely, you will want very fast shutter speeds in order to freeze the planes. You might also want medium ranged f numbers, to get a little of a soft DOF, but not too much, to still see the sky detail a bit. If it is a nice sunny day, then you wont have a problem with ISO 100, but if it is cloudy, you best go to ISO 400 or 800 even, to get those quick shutter speeds. Before the shoot (before the planes fly by), meter the sky, to see what shutter speeds are recommended, if it is slower than 1/150, then increase your iso and compensate a little at least. You should be shooting at over 1/250 to get the nice freeze. You could also try panning (tough with fast planes), to keep the subject sharp but to bllur the background, this will give you a sense of speed.

Thats all from me I think. I hope I helped.

Good Luck Tomorrow
Bart
 
I had a go at them in Bristol Balloon Fiesta. My advise would be to take both lenses. You will need on average 70-200mm, but they do some special stunts when even 18mm would be handy.
Tripod is not really needed. You will want to keep the speed above 1/400s or so, maybe f/5.6-8, and continuous shooting. I used polarizer for all shots to enhance the colours and contrast of the sky.

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bartoszwozniak said:
Before the shoot (before the planes fly by), meter the sky, to see what shutter speeds are recommended
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Interesting... I might be able to get there to shoot them from the Portsmouth side, but how come you recommend exposing for the sky rather than the planes themselves, won't that put the Red Arrows into silhouette?... or is the blowing out of the clouds a big no no?
 
Gordon Scott said:
Interesting... I might be able to get there to shoot them from the Portsmouth side, but how come you recommend exposing for the sky rather than the planes themselves, won't that put the Red Arrows into silhouette?... or is the blowing out of the clouds a big no no?
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The planes go around the sky and exposure times will vary significantly. Some frames were looking right into the sun. In some cases it is really hard to bring out the colour of the arrows (strobist approach won't work either :naughty:), and then the smoke trails are very important.
 
I'll be there today :) I'm just trying to find a good perch near Gunwarf without paying to get into the Docks, if anyone hasn't left yet PM me :).
 
high speed first
aperture second
asa last

and pan your shots and allow for shutter lag

like shooting a shotgun keep just ahead and dont fill the frame too much
 
Hi guys/gals i will be along sea wall tomorrow taking pics of the red arrows should get a great shot from there as its directly in line with southsea .My camera is only a hx300 sony but has a 200 times super zoom roughly 1500mm ive set my speed to 1/400 and iso 200 as its a lovely day out there not sure on the f stop number yet maybe 5 or 6 want nice clear shots without to much silhoette illpost pics later
 
Hi All, Just in case anybody is interested "The Red Arrows" kick off the Folkestone Air Show at 12 noon this coming Saturday 7th June. There's excellent unrestricted views from the lower Leas area (by the beach) and it's all free.(y)
 
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