One can always practice panning by photographing cars on a freeway from an elevation.
I know your post was about "getting it right next time" but if you want to trick out your existing photos in PS, you can make a selection of the prop and put a "Motion Blur" on it, and draw an oval around the prop tips, fill with pale gray, mask, decrease the transparency to 5%, and "scrub" away from the plane. I shoot a lot at static aircraft museums and sometimes make a B-25 or P-40 "fly" again this way. Of course, the crazy-making part is removing all the ground and landing gear, and substituting a sky through the glass.
joecichjr
Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA
zacksoccer wrote:
This may be the simplest question ever asked. I recently attended the Oshkosh EAA and photographed several propeller driven aircraft during the air show. I wanted to get the sharpest images possible. I was using a Nikon D500 with a Sigma 150-600 lens. I was shooting at 1/4000, 6.3, 160 iso. At this shutter all the propellers are frozen. Obviously, they are turning slower than 4000 per second. How do I achieve max sharpness with the propellers moving? That would probably have to be at no more than 1/1000.
This may be the simplest question ever asked. I re... (
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A red dazzler, perfectly captured
❤️💞❤️
CHG_CANON wrote:
For a prop plane, try 1/200 to 1/400, or just default to 1/320 sec. There's no need to be at 1/4000 sec, even for the high-speed pass of the fighter jets. Below is an example at 1/320 sec. I go as slow as 1/100 sec for the helicopters. The Skyhawk jet was captured at 1/2000. Both from Oshkosh in 2019. In the full resolution version, you can read all to visible lettering on the A4. These are both hand-held from the flightline, with the Canon IS active, both with a 2x extender.
Bill Stein by
Paul Sager, on Flickr
A-4 Skyhawk by
Paul Sager, on Flickr
For a prop plane, try 1/200 to 1/400, or just defa... (
show quote)
I worked on A-4s for five or six years back in Marine Corps reserve days. Cool little planes. Nice shot you captured. That paint scheme is the same as the ones we flew. Later they changed them to the gray on gray scheme. I was never a fan.
Here is a calculator I found for subject motion that works great for this problem.
https://www.scantips.com/lights/shake.htmlJust for fun I calculated the motion using the shutter speeds Max recommended.
For a prop plane traveling say 250mph at 100 yards away, D500, 1/350, 600mm, the distance traveled by the plane is 1 foot. On the sensor that is 2mm or 525 pixels.
For a 700mph Blue Angel sneak pass at 100 yards away, 1/3200, 600mm (good luck), the subject moves 4 inches. At the sensor 0.6mm or 160 pixels.
Edit: Panning will greatly improve these numbers except for crossing planes as Chg_Canon pointed out.
CHG_CANON wrote:
For a prop plane, try 1/200 to 1/400, or just default to 1/320 sec. There's no need to be at 1/4000 sec, even for the high-speed pass of the fighter jets. Below is an example at 1/320 sec. I go as slow as 1/100 sec for the helicopters. The Skyhawk jet was captured at 1/2000. Both from Oshkosh in 2019. In the full resolution version, you can read all to visible lettering on the A4. These are both hand-held from the flightline, with the Canon IS active, both with a 2x extender.
Bill Stein by
Paul Sager, on Flickr
A-4 Skyhawk by
Paul Sager, on Flickr
For a prop plane, try 1/200 to 1/400, or just defa... (
show quote)
Your air show images are really impressive.
Motion is what you want pan with the plane
But slow shutter for that blur
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