The Blue Angels (from the Sun n' Fun Fly-in)
Above: It was pitch dark when we got there, and we were all in position just before sunrise.
Hi Gang: Right before I headed up to Photoshop World in Atlanta earlier this month, I got a chance to shoot the US Navy’s famous Blue Angels parked on the flight line at dawn (I was speaking the following day the annual ISAP Summit (the International Society of Aviation Photographers and they took a group of their members along with Pete Collins and me, out to shoot the jets at dawn).
Above: Once the sun came up, I got down low and hid the sun behind the tail wings.
I shared a couple of these on Facebook and Twitter, etc., but I realized last night I had never shared them here, so here ya go. These were all shot with a Canon 1Dx using either a 24-70mm lens, a 16-35mm or a 70-200mm lens f/2.8 lens. This was a pre-dawn shoot and so I shot on a tripod the whole time. As usual, I forgot my cable release, so I wound up using my camera’s self timer to take the shots. No filters or anything fancy.
Above: Once the sun was pretty high, I got in closer with a 16-35mm at 16mm to get this super wide-angle shot with the sun hidden behind the jet. It was my last shot of the day, because once the sun got above the jet, things looked really harsh, really fast.
We got lucky — it was a beautiful morning, great sky and contrails, plus the weather was just perfect. Had a blast â” special thanks to Larry Grace and the great folks at the ISAP — what a great organization (if you’re into photographing airplanes of any kind, you definitely need to check them out. Their annual summit is a blast and it’s amazingly affordable, too! Plus, they always get great access to stuff like this for their members). Highly recommend.
Above: This is the one-and-only time I’ll be showing this shot. I love the straight on shot of the jet, but the mess of planes and construction fence and tailors, and all made the background so busy I blurred it out using the Lens Blur filter. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve done this, and this reminded me why â” I’m not sure which I hate worse â” a really busy background or fake depth of field effects. LOL!
Well, that’s it to kick off this Monday. I’m working from home today as I’m on the home stretch on my new book. We’ll see ya’ll back here tomorrow. Hope yours is a good one. :)
-Scott