Got the heads up regarding some low level military action through the Mach Loop in Wales last week so set the alarm for an early start. Up on the hill watching F15's & F35's flying through the valleys by 8:30 in the morning.
This image was taken at 2000th sec @ f4 and pretty much filled the frame at 200mm zoom, I wanted to use a slower shutter speed to blur the background but wanted a few in the bag beforehand. What I like about these exercises is that you get to see the aircrafts fully kitted out for action and with more interesting backdrops, although this particular day was a tad hazy and the photos did suffer so had to be tweaked slightly in Lightroom.
Not sure how this particular subject will do in front of judges in either open or action subject rounds, be interested in hearing your thoughts.
Cheers
Rob
Dynamic action shot, a judge would likely say the highlights were blown but I don't mind because the sunlight often catches the finish on those planes and is quite bright anyway. It successfully conveys the excitement that you probably felt seeing a plane that close. The background is in keeping, seems to work ok overall as far as I can see.
Not worth worrying about judges. It is true that this type of image is not popular in competitions. I used to enjoy trying to get above these jets which is not always easy but you clearly went to the righ place at the right time. I suspect that half a stop reduction in exposure all round will help. You could reduce the Whites slider then reduce the highlights slider a little then the just see if the shadows slider needs to be increased a little. Once you regularly use these sliders, you will able to make these type of adjustments easily. I would usually hold such images back for a suitable set subject such as speed.
To be fair to judges, they and most of us, tend to relate more readily to images with human interest so a racing motorcycle which shows the eyes of the rider will always fare better in a competition than those which are more mechanical.
Comments
Got the heads up regarding some low level military action through the Mach Loop in Wales last week so set the alarm for an early start. Up on the hill watching F15's & F35's flying through the valleys by 8:30 in the morning.
This image was taken at 2000th sec @ f4 and pretty much filled the frame at 200mm zoom, I wanted to use a slower shutter speed to blur the background but wanted a few in the bag beforehand. What I like about these exercises is that you get to see the aircrafts fully kitted out for action and with more interesting backdrops, although this particular day was a tad hazy and the photos did suffer so had to be tweaked slightly in Lightroom.
Not sure how this particular subject will do in front of judges in either open or action subject rounds, be interested in hearing your thoughts.
Cheers
Rob
Dynamic action shot, a judge would likely say the highlights were blown but I don't mind because the sunlight often catches the finish on those planes and is quite bright anyway. It successfully conveys the excitement that you probably felt seeing a plane that close. The background is in keeping, seems to work ok overall as far as I can see.
Not worth worrying about judges. It is true that this type of image is not popular in competitions. I used to enjoy trying to get above these jets which is not always easy but you clearly went to the righ place at the right time. I suspect that half a stop reduction in exposure all round will help. You could reduce the Whites slider then reduce the highlights slider a little then the just see if the shadows slider needs to be increased a little. Once you regularly use these sliders, you will able to make these type of adjustments easily. I would usually hold such images back for a suitable set subject such as speed.
To be fair to judges, they and most of us, tend to relate more readily to images with human interest so a racing motorcycle which shows the eyes of the rider will always fare better in a competition than those which are more mechanical.
Dave