AirshowStuff Forums

I've found for the flippy/aerobatic performers, you can cheat the prop blur a bit when they're up in the air as the prop is so small and spins at such a fast RPM. You may stil get some blur around 1/600-800 where with a warbird you're gonna get a full stopped prop at that level.

So I've been slowing my shutter speed down to around 1/60, but my images are coming out "soft". At first I thought it was my technique, but now I'm pretty sure it's because I'm at f/20. Even the ones that are in focus seem soft. At f/11 all images are sharp. I've attached an example. I've seen recommendations online to add a 2 or 3 stop ND filter, but just wanted some advice on other options or any feedback on what I may be doing wrong. Most shots will be taken at 200-400mm range.

Equipment: Nikon D500, NIKKOR AF-S 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G

I've considered an ND filter myself but to date haven't really felt the need because I can use my polariser for a bit of the ND effect. My best advice (which I was handing out yesterday at our event where the PdF appeared). I'm pretty sure there are lots of ways people do it but I'll tell you what works for me.

How I shoot & try to teach those new to this is to set the camera for AI Servo, use Tv or SS & let the camera pick the appropriate aperture BUT expect to use Exposure Compensation as the light changes, Point the camera at the sky & find an ISO that gets the camera to pick around f8 to f11. It doesn't always work on super bright days but it's a good starting point. If you plan on shooting a take off / low pass etc with a background expect to need quick changes to the EC in advance of the pass & right after the sequence go back to the open sky setting. Exposing for the aircraft rather than the general scene avoids a lot of silhouettes. especially on dull days.

IMG_0327 by Andy Backowski, on Flickr

This was shot at 1/80 f16

Thanks Larry I. I have a local fly-in on Sunday and will experiment with different settings.

Dan

Happy to try to help. Wish I had the weather you did for that shot. Here it is landing yesterday at our event.

That is the landing to my taxi shot. They went from 85 and sunny in Virginia to whatever it was up there. I watched it on teh stream and it looked cold.

My friend & I arrived just before 9:00 which was when the gates opened. Took our place on the fence line right where I always do at about 10:00 & not long after getting settled we sat through ice pellets falling for roughly 1 hour. It may have made it to 5 Degrees C but it was COLD & wet. Luckily we were toughened up from winter but had this been a fall event I think we may have gone home early. Considering the weather it drew & held a pretty good crowd.

A great topic and I appreciate the insights already given.
Imagine my chagrin when I took my first DSLR shots of The Collings Foundations' Nine 0 Nine, Witchcraft and Betty Jane at full auto last June...frozen props.

For my next event [CAF Fifi and Gunfighter]I promised that I would work hard to determine the best shutter speed for prop blur.
Shutter Priority and bracketed a bunch of photos changing shutter speed and letting the camera choose aperture. The results were much better. 1/60 proved to be best at warmup speeds on Gunfighter Here's a proof sheet of my trials: This April I attended Sun N Fun in Lakeland FL for the P-51 event.
My best shots were even lower. 1/40 gave me good results: I'm still not satisfied and will probably go with Programmed mode on my D3300 to allow for exposure control when B-17 Madras Maiden comes to town on the 21st.

Why will you choose P over SS. 1/200 or 1/250 will give enough prop blur to know the engines are working (as in it's flying under power) and although not every shot will be perfectly sharp I'm sure you can nail a few. (this assumes you were talking about in flight photos rather than when it's doing run up's or taxiing around.