Cosford Airshow 2010 -First attempt at aviation photography

RichardC27

RichardC27

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Richard
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I went to Cosford for the airshow yesterday, and had my first serious go at aviation photography. I found it very difficult to get the exposure right, with most of my shots ending up with a very dark plane against a bright background. I tried various methods of getting around this with varying degrees of success. Can anybody give me any tips on how to shoot aircraft properly. Anyway, C&C on my shots is welcome and encouraged. These have all had a lot of exposure work in Photoshop to bring them out.

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Nothing wrong with them, i was at cosford yesterday too and out of about 1000 photos i only manage to keep 86, the conditions where absolutly awfull!!! actually, i`ll take that back, the conditions where totally f***ed up with no chace of getting a decent shot....
As to your photo`s then, well there as good as your going to get for the conditions.
Bazz.
 
I was also there and have to agree the weather was PANTS :thumbsdown:, i really struggled to be honest and didnt manage to get many keepers, as for your pic's, great effort for the conditions..........(y)

Andy
 
Thanks guys, at least I know my disappointing shots aren't entirely down to me
 
On cloudy days i don't bother going down to Coningsby as the Typhoons grey really shows up some awful shadows underside, but at an airshow it's potluck on the weather, i just hope Waddington show on 3rd/4th July is good sunny weather.
 
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Conditions look terrible and it isn't easy shooting these aircraft. They are not what you call slow :)
Good effort!
 
Why do you say the conditions were bad?

Granted it was a little overcast and until 3pm ish when the heavens opened I thought it was ok. Or is it a case or just wanting purely blue sky's?

I couldn't take any plane shots due to being stuck with a 55mm max lens.
 
Harvey_nikon said:
Why do you say the conditions were bad?

Granted it was a little overcast and until 3pm ish when the heavens opened I thought it was ok. Or is it a case or just wanting purely blue sky's?

I couldn't take any plane shots due to being stuck with a 55mm max lens.
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your saying that the conditions where acceptible? perhaps if you tried to get some photos you would see our point? :bang:
 
To be honest trying to shoot in those worsening conditions became a challenge in it's self! Once the light goes you might as well forget it, took a few shots of the Harrier then gave up, also I was a little concerned that the rain would ruin the hard earned equipment so wasn't willing to chance it! I go up to the Loop in Wales quite a lot and believe me it's got it's own micro climate, sometimes it's on your side but for the most part it isn't! Very changeable weather system!
 
ohmsie said:
your saying that the conditions where acceptible? perhaps if you tried to get some photos you would see our point? :bang:
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I did get a few distant pictures and several from around the show, however, I would of thought that a slightly overcast day would have been better than a bright sunny day, as is the case with most outdoor photography due to harsh light and shadows. From about 2:30 onwards I could understand it but earlier on I would of thought the conditions were quite good!

But instead of banging your head against a wall, why not act like a grown up and inform me why this isn't the case?
 
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Hi Harvey, as you correctly pointed out before 2.30pm the weather was pretty good for taking photo's although Cosford's flightline is not the best as the sun is pretty much in your face.
As you have pointed out your taking shots with a 55mm max lens which is going to let more light into the camera I presume, depending on the aperture.
I'm afraid longer lenses even if being F4 or F5.6 do struggle badly in poor light and I think this is what is being suggested.

Cheers
Tim
 
But instead of banging your head against a wall, why not act like a grown up and inform me why this isn't the case?

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ok fair point, perhaps i did go slightly o.t.t. but from my point of view i took about 1000 photos that day and not many turned out that good, for fast jets i needed quite a fast shutter speed which was not possible, maybe timc has hit that nail on the head with that topic, and also most of the aircraft that i wanted to photo where the ones when the sky was grey apart from the first typhoon but the sun was in my face and had to settle for some really distant shots. As far as getting some good shots of jets then the golden rule is plenty of light!!
 
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Just had a quick look at last year`s cosford airshow and found this image of a typhoon, this was taken with a canon camera with a sigma 120 -400 lens which is either very similar to the lens in this thread or the same lens, this is not a comparison between the photo`s as the 2 where taken in totally different conditions but just want to illistrate the difference between a photo with resonable light and a photo taken at this year`s cosford.

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OK, thanks for the feedback on lighting :) Always good to learn something new :)

I must say, I was sitting just left of the planesTV DVD sign and had major camera and lens envy. Kept wondering who was a TP member :(
 
Harvey_nikon said:
OK, thanks for the feedback on lighting :) Always good to learn something new :)

I must say, I was sitting just left of the planesTV DVD sign and had major camera and lens envy. Kept wondering who was a TP member :(
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Dont think you was that far from me, i was oposite the orange pyramid which marked the centre of the display, if you ever wanted to try your hand at some jets then maybe take a trip up the mach loop one day, i live about 10- 12 miles from drayton, be no problem to take a small detour?
:wave:
 
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