Airshows are an adrenaline rush for photographers! There are so many targets of opportunity, that it can be hard to get every shot. I’m here to tell, don’t try! At the end of the day, how many photographs do you need to share with your friends, family, IG, or blog to show you had a great time? At the end of the day, one, maybe two. Of course, we want and often get hundreds but having that one, that single one that folks just say, sweet, that’s the one we want to go for. Doesn’t mean we’ll get it, but we’ll put our best foot forward. An example …

The Northrop N-9M was a one-third scale test bed for what became the Flying Wing that today we know as the B2 Bomber. If I remember correctly, only five were built and up to two years ago, only one survived and it was airworthy. Sadly, it crashed a couple of years back killing the pilot and pretty much destroying the only remaining example of a N-9M. There is so much going on in the skies at an airshow that trying to get it all, I tend to not come back with that “one” image. So I look for that rare aircraft, not necessary as in “rare” as much as one missing in my image library. This particular weekend I focused in on the N-9M. That’s one strategy I think of when I’m at an airshow in getting the shot. I save myself, prioritize my time, focus in on that one bird. I check the show schedule and make sure I’m in place right place to give it my best shot. Nine out of ten times the strategy works and I get that one shot I wanted. Just food for thought.

“The Squeeze” is a simple technique I like to use to make a starburst out of the sun. You’ll see it a lot in my landscape photographs. I use it with aircraft whenever I can like you see here from a week back. A lot of the time, just closing the aperture down to its smallest opening will create a starburst out of the sun. I often combine that with “squeezing” the sun more through branches or off the edge of a rock. The makes the sun a smaller point light source and a better starburst. In this case, I didn’t want more depth of focus so I just bent down to squeeze the sun permitting a tad to peak over the top creating the starburst. It’s a really simple technique but can add some drama if you’re looking for it. You can use many landscape photography techniques with aircraft, you can squeeze with a plane too.

It’s actually really simple, just doesn’t happen all the time. So when it does, make the most of it. When you can, add the human touch. In this case, he’s gotta nice sidelight and is again a shadow so he pops though he blends. He’s small in the frame but can be seen. Gives scale and a touch to the story. As I said, it’s simple adding the human touch.

One should heed one’s own advice! Took the Z 9 / 180-400VR out shooting this past weekend and my panning was not quite there! I was averaging just over 60% keeper rates, ouch! Now I could blame that extra megapower of the Z 9 for the drop but that isn’t it. I can’t blame the Z 9 autofocus, far from it. That pup on 3D Eye-detection Mechanical nailed the focus, saw it clearly lock-on and stay sharp. Nope, the drop in keeper rate is all on me! I simply didn’t practice my panning enough and effectively, consistently! Argh!!! Well, back at it everyday … I hate missing one photo, four out of ten … ouch!

It’s airshow season, time to get out and participate in our passion for all things that fly. Many airshows for a small charge offer photographer / sunrise / early bird passes to enter the airshow at dawn. DO IT!!! I highly recommend doing it not to secure what might be perceived as “the” spot on the flight line, but rather, for amazing static shooting. You will have it to yourself, the light you won’t have for the rest of the day and a ton of fun. And don’t do it by yourself! I’ve always don’t it with either Brent and/or Jake or my good friend Richard. It’s more fun, you can find the true treasures easier with two sets of eyes and there is someone to watch your gear while you make a run to deposit all the coffee. If you’re looking for more airshows ideas, be sure to check out my KelbyOne Class on Airshow Photography!

January 2010 was my first air-to-air photo mission and it’s one I’ll never forget. I went up a clean slate, with no clue as there were no resources to read up on what to do and more importantly, what not to do during an air-to-air back then. I was tasked to produce some exciting content for Nikon and my mind when to aircraft. I asked a couple of folks and I was directed toward Dennis up in Carson City. After a phone call, we had a date on the calendar for an hour flight over Lake Tahoe. Jake would be in Dennis’ yellow T6 he called his “Taxi” and I would be in one of his other T6s Dennis was getting ready for the Reno Air Races that year. I would be shooting with the brand new D3s and relatively new 70-200f2.8. Dennis has won the Reno Air Race, T6 class, a number of times so we were in good hands and very excited to get in the skies!

We took off and man, we weren’t more than ten feet off the ground and I was hooked! We rose above Carson Valley and the view was incredible! As we started to get where was the target area for the photographs (I did know to go for the great backgrounds at least), Dennis’ warning kept going through my mind. Don’t stick any body part like an arm outside the cabin. The slipstream would snap my arm and break it! While that was in the forefront of my mind, I didn’t think beyond my arms. I slowly spun in the seat so I can shoot and raising up a tad. Woosh … my headset went flying off my head and was doing an “Arnold” banging against the back fuselage. I slowly pulled it back in via the cable hoping I didn’t damage the headset or the T6. Once I had it back in, I put it on my head to hear it working as Dennis said, “ready to get back to photography now?”

I shot lots of stills and videos during that hour. My muscles were so sore afterward holding that gear still in the space of the cabin. The first lesson, I needed to stretch prior to heading up. Next, lesson, that darn dust! You don’t see it in the stills as it was dealt with in post. Yeah, not so much in the video where it’s everywhere. All great lessons I still think of first thing when I’m getting ready for a flight today. While Nikon never really used any of the content I created, Dennis and I went on to do many shoots from statics to air-to-airs as recently as last fall. I learned sooooo many lessons from that first air-to-air photo mission that I still use and share to this day. Simply put, I’ll never forget the first!