If there is one better reason than common sense why to constantly practice your panning, it has to be the unexpected opportunities. This past weekend is a prime example. There we were in the midst of our K&M AirAdventure when there was a need for a maintenance flight for the FG-1D Corsair. We were offered the opportunity for the whole gang to head to what’s called “Moose Stump Hill” to photograph the Corsair at evelevel and lower. Well, with such an opportunity, off we went!
Showing the speed of the Corsair is REAL easy when you use a slow shutter speed. Blurring the prop to show motion is real easy with a slow shutter speed. Getting a real sharp image at a slow shutter speed when you panning while composing the moving subject is really, really hard. Hard if you don’t practice your panning all the time. Because when you have an opportunity like this is not the time to practice. Unless you want to hate yourself in the morning. So shooting with the D4s/ 80-400VR3 which I shoot with quite often, this was a stroll in the park, and a ton of fun!
Oh, and flying dirty, that’s an aviation term. It refers to lowering flaps to cut your airspeed, and if you need to drop more speed, dropping the landing gear. The top photo, that’s what a Corsair looks like just prior to slamming on a carrier deck. So everything is down, from flaps to landing hook and canopy is open in case of a bad landing, the pilot can get out faster. This is text book carrier landing at its finest flown by my dear friend, Warren Pietsch. This photo now is the wallpaper on his computer, one damn fine reason to never let the panning get rusty!