Creating Airshow Magic

Airshows are just … fun! We photographers like to bring that fun home via our photographs. Keeping it fun while producing takes a little more than planes in the sky. It requires you to go beyond sharp (so practice your handholding and panning at least a week prior) and be creative and passionate about the story you want to share, from the day, weekend, or, in the case of Osh, the week. What follows are some of the creative threads I carry in my head to help arrange the elements and make the planned chaos in the sky translate to a photograph I enjoy. When it comes to gear, I like to keep it simple, which translates to carrying a whole lot less. This year, it’s the Z 9 and Z180-600. Hope to see you on the flight line sometime. If we do meet, don’t hesitate to say hi, and if I can be of assistance, it would be my pleasure. Enjoy!

Think Patterns

Whether it’s a single plane or an amazing group like the Snowbirds, patterns are a great way to bring the action home with passion! This obvious thread requires a bit of preplanning, taking the form of knowing the performer’s routine to some extent. This permits you to be ready for it. Like with this example, the telephoto zoom was zoomed back to 200mm to take in all the aircraft. To make the symmetry come together requires looking through the entire frame, challenging while panning, so the space top and bottom is equal, while leaving space for the formation to proceed mentally in the frame. I love the pattern on the bottom of the Tutors as well, which is why I shot the formation going away. The fact that the middle three ships a are puffing is the finishing touch. Think patterns.

Think History

Knowing something about the aircraft you are going to photograph prior to them taking to the skies can pay dividends! Walking the airshow grounds or, better yet, picking up a show guide, you can learn about the individual planes. Take this Interstate Cadet, for example, a plain looking blue and yellow plane. You might not throw your lens up to take its shot, let alone plan to get it with smoke. Well, this Cadet is THE one flown by Cornelia Fort the morning Pearl Harbor was attacked! This plane saw those Zeros coming in. Wow!!! That’s why you wanna know a little about the aircraft cause this is a rare moment. Think history!

Think Smoke On

It’s hard to believe, but there are times when smoke at an airshow can be your friend! It takes some planning, but it’s worth it. You first need to know that the performers are using smoke. The show guide will often tell you that, as well as watching the performers on YouTube prior to the airshow. You next need to look at the wind direction; you want the wind to take the smoke away from where you’re at. This means you can’t sit in a chair the whole day if you want to make THE shots. You gotta move! Lastly, go long, go tight, and find patterns and details to grab the eye amongst the smoke. Color doesn’t hurt either. Think smoke on.

Think Color Contrast

We’re not talking exposure contrast, but color contrast. This is a classic example you will experience at an airshow, a red plane against a blue sky. That’s nice, but when you have overcast to clouds, it takes on a whole new definition, you have color contrast! The blurred clouds, along with blurred prop (1/60), bring out the speed. The texture in the clouds adds visual depth. But that saturated light created by the clouds makes that color pop between the red and the blue in the clouds. Classic example reminding us to think color contrast.

Think Story

This is one of the easiest to see and do, but then, it’s not. OK, the KC-10 is a tanker; it does midair refueling. By itself, though, it just looks like a passenger plane in primer. But when you connect a plane to the boom, now you’re telling a story. You’re taking the viewer up in the sky to the operation. Here’s the deal: the F-22 isn’t actually connected to the boom, it can’t go so low to the ground with a crowd underneath. Using 600mm and shooting the pair prior to coming down the flight line, the angle makes the F-22 appear connected. And that connects the dots for the viewer. Think story

Think Drama

One of the hardest threads to introduce and incorporate into your airshow images is drama. It requires, as a starting point, light. Light is a shaker in the drama department, and if you are blessed with it, use it until it screams no more! Many, including myself, love it when jets like this F-22, are wrapped in vapor. To see that vapor, you first need a dark background, be it the aircraft or the sky or both. The drama appears when the lighter vapor pops out its greatest. To have the vapor in the first place, you need a high dew point, and that, for the most part, is luck. Learn how to calculate dew point, keep track of it during an airshow, and you’re on your way to capturing it. Think drama.

Think Polished

One of the biggest challenges at an airshow is to say a shiny plane is shiny. Look at photos carefully, and I’ll bet when you look at a shiny plane with photographer eyes, you’ll see that are more blue than silver. But polished planes are silver, so where’s that blue coming from? The sky, the shiny is simply reflecting the blue, replacing the silver with blue. But we want shiny silver! The solution is simple, clouds! If the shiny plane like the B-29 “Doc” is here, clouds wrap that shiny in white, and that translates in the photograph as, silver. Think polished.

Think One-of-a-kind

Most airshows will have that one, only aircraft. You want to zero in on them! In this case, there were two Mars still around, but only one was flying (since then, the two have been flown and permanently parked at museums). This was the first in a very long time that Mars has been at an airshow AND demonstrated being a fire bomber. And as it turned out, it was the last time. We are very fortunate to be present to record history at times. Think one-of-a-kind!