Photography News Issue 57

Photography News | Issue 57 | photographynews.co.uk

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Feature

LEFT Using a telezoomwill help you crop out telltale signs of modernity. ABOVE Shots like this take practice and good timing as well as luck. One technique to try is to set continuous shooting and focusing on the camera, track one plane as it flies past and push the shutter button a fraction before they cross over. Have one eye to the viewfinder as usual but keep the other open to help your timing. You will also need a very fast shutter speed – at least 1/1000sec.

and thus it is important to look around your viewfinder image to see what’s appearing in your shot. A simple move to the left or right, or even crouching (or lying) down can dramatically change how the image looks and avoid some of the clutter. With live view and tilting monitors shooting low down or above head height is achievable. Look out for things that sit behind your subject such as speaker poles and aerials as that can save you cloning time if you spot them before taking the shot.

Many air shows offer a flight line walk, where you can photograph the aircraft that are due to participate in the flying display. These are generally on the airfield, and thus have a lot less clutter around them, making for nicer images. A grass airstrip offers some timeless images with vintage aircraft when you ensure nothing but grass and trees is in the background. You’ll also find that many events employ period dressed re-enactors who provide great portrait subjects against a backdrop of an aircraft. I tend to shoot ground based static images in aperture- priority exposure mode as it’s the best way to concentrate on depth-of-field whether you want to throw the background out of focus or keep a long line of aircraft sharp. Shooting the aerial displays is a bit more complicated and you need to find a place from where you get a good view. If air show shooting is new to you head towards where the people with seriously long lenses stand. These photographers might have accreditation and be standing in a cordoned- off press area, but you can still stand close by. The ends of the display line prove popular with photographers as the aircraft tend to ‘come around the bend’ which looks good with the subject presenting a good view of its upper surfaces. If the sun favours one end of the airfield for this bend, then you’ll likely discover a greater concentration of seasoned photographers in that area. But watch out for speaker poles which sit along the crowd line, as these have a habit of appearing in your shots. It’s often not avoidable, but at least

Shooting the aerial displays is a bit more complicated and you need to find a place from where you can get a good view

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