Mustang in flight
One of my earlier pics of a mustang in flight. He only made 2 passes. I was shooting towards the sun with a D90, Tamron 18-270 at f13, 1/640 iso 500. He was travelling at over 200mph. I tried to pan with the first pass, but that didn't work. I just focused on him and shot on the 2nd pass. What other options do you think would have worked. Thanks, Don
mustang
Panning takes practice. I was lucky I got to practice on 230 mph Indy cars. It looks like a good shot only its too far to really look at. Did you attempt to crop it? With 4-6 Fps, how about continuous frames?
Makes sense now. I was too green early on. I often forgot what I had. Opportunities for great shots would pass me by, and I was like Homer Simpson. Doh!!
Where should I start for a shutter speed while panning?
Erv
Loc: Medina Ohio
Shutter speed will depend on the light you are shooting in. Also what you want your picture to look like. When I shoot prop planes I like to see just a little prop blur. You just have to play and see what works for you. I go up to Cleveland and shoot the Air show every fall. It took me 2-3 show before I got the shoots I liked. Panning fast planes is another whole world. Birds are easier!
:D
Erv
I have been shooting Race Cars ( F1 / Porsche / Ferrari ) for two summers now. High speed shutter is critical.While in no way an expert,a tip that has worked for me is to focus the camera on the backround spot where you want to frame the subject before it is there. Then when it comes around to that spot the next time, you will be prety close to where you need the focus at to shoot.Pan the motion all the way along and release the shutter when it gets to the point you want. A little focus tweeking may be necessary, but you might be close enough for that Perfect shot.
COLEY
Loc: HOUSTON, TEXAS
I love to shoot planes. Depending on the light which will set my shutter speed this shot was taken at f/10 for the depth of field and ISO 400 at 1/800 sec.. You may chose to slow the shutter speed down a little if you want to blur the prop a little more. Enjoy.I also chose to shoot with my canon camera in AV mode.
As a retired pilot, take my advice - you want to see some blur in the prop. It does not look like the airplane is flying if the prop is frozen. Do not use a shutter speed faster than 1/250th for prop driven aircraft. You will have to pan with the subject to kill image motion but the prop will look real. Shoot in shutter priority, try 1/250th of a second to start with, pan with subject and then check your LCD screen for the results. The attached picture was shot at 1/250th, f-10 and ISO 200. The lens was a Canon 35-350L zoomed to 350mm. Hope this helps.
P-51 Mustang
Shaun wrote:
As a retired pilot, take my advice - you want to see some blur in the prop. It does not look like the airplane is flying if the prop is frozen. Do not use a shutter speed faster than 1/250th for prop driven aircraft. You will have to pan with the subject to kill image motion but the prop will look real. Shoot in shutter priority, try 1/250th of a second to start with, pan with subject and then check your LCD screen for the results. The attached picture was shot at 1/250th, f-10 and ISO 200. The lens was a Canon 35-350L zoomed to 350mm. Hope this helps.
As a retired pilot, take my advice - you want to s... (
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I agree with Shaun...a prop driven aircraft with the prop frozen looks like an aircraft falling out of the sky declaring an emergency. I focus on the aircraft some distance out from where I'll actually take the photo and pan with it releasing the shutter at a pre-determined spot. Doing this with my shutter release button 1/2 way depressed keeps the a/c focused during the pan. A couple of my photos can be seen on a previous posting entitled "Reno Air Races" where I had a press pass to the outer pylons. By the way, Shaun's mustang photo is an excellent example of prop movement and a flying mustang. Coley's photo, while an excellent shot of a mustang, is an example of what to avoid with the prop frozen thereby rendering a really good photo of a flying a/c to that of being just a good representative photo of a P-51.
I did notice that helicopters looked much better with a blurred rotor when they're flying.
If you love this plane do not miss Red Tails. A movie due out January 20th.
Your shutter speed looks OK - he was VERY close - that makes panning a Lot harder - i practice on cars going by, bikes, whatever - just keep panning after you squeeze the shot.
Did you only take one shot as you were panning ? I would have started clicking as soon as he was in sight and keep shooting as many as I could get in as he passed. You just never know what kind of shot you will get. Might surprise yourself. It's all digital so won't cost you any more to keep shooting.
I really don't remember whether this was the result of one lucky shot or a burst of shots. I have progressed since I took this picture and now use back-button focusing and could probably produce a much better image now.
Oh yes ! My favorite plane. Did a great job for us in WW II.
The pics are great also.
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