How to Photograph an Air ShowRob Hall explains how he captures high-speed aircraft action with his Tamron 18-270mm VC lens. |
Article By Jennifer Gidman Images by Rob Hall |
Rob Hall and his work buddies had a free lunch riding on whose photo made it up onto the Gizmodo website - and it looks like Hall is choosing the restaurant. The Utah photographer's image of a retro MiG-17F, taken at the Warriors Over the Wasatch air show at Hill Air Force Base in May, went viral soon after it was posted on the popular gadget blog. Hall captured the old-time aircraft with the Tamron 18-270mm VC lens fully extended at 270mm. |
"We set up a photo group at work, and our photo challenge for the week was to show the rule of thirds," he says. "I took this shot at the air show, which usually takes place every three years here in Utah. The show features the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, as well as other groups, including the MiG-Fury Fighters out of Idaho." |
Hall was initially hesitant to send the shot to Gizmodo, but his colleagues convinced him it was an eye-catching image. "Six hours after it was posted, it had more than 18,000 views," he says. |
The Tamron 18-270 allowed Hall to capture not only that plane but also the other sights and sounds of the show. "I really like how versatile that lens is," he says. "I hate switching lenses, especially when I'm outdoors, so the 18-270 really helped out in that regard. Plus, the Vibration Compensation was handy because the planes were flying by so quickly that I often had to handhold - a tripod was unusable." |
Hall explains how he captured this attention-getting airplane shot and offers tips on how to maximize your own air-show photo ops. |
Don't bring a lot of gear. |
Seek out a prime spot before the crowds get there. |
You want to bring a folding or camping chair, too. When the action starts, everyone typically stands up, but there's a lot of downtime between planes. |
Make sure your camera's set for high-speed action. |
Prepare for fickle weather (and plenty of exposure experimentation). |
Because the skies were so grey when I took this shot, exposing for it was a lot of trial and error. I did a white balance check before shooting, but even that was hard, because clouds kept rolling in and changing everything up. Luckily, I was able to take lots of shots until I got it right, because the plane made plenty of passes overhead and I had time in between the passes to adjust. For the final image, I didn't have to do anything in Photoshop afterward. What you see is pretty accurate. |
Prefocus, then make like a human tripod to pan. |
To pan with the plane, you have to become a human tripod. My wife makes fun of me because of the way I look when I'm doing this, but it works. You keep your feet as steady as you can and your arms locked at your sides, then turn your upper body to follow the plane as it flies by. |
Take advantage of repeated maneuvers to take plenty of shots. |
However, they usually tell you over the loudspeakers, "OK, we're going to do this type of turn now," so you're able to prepare. Plus, if you keep shooting, you might capture the wingtip vortices that you see in this image. My neighbor happens to be a commercial pilot and explained to me that they're not smoke trails, like many people think, but actual airstreams coming off of the wings when the planes turn. |
Take advantage of the lens hood. |
Don't forget to get some candids. |