My first Red Arrows photos - critique welcome

[Ari]

So these are my first "proper" Red Arrows photos.

They don't blow me away to be honest. All critique and improvement suggestions welcome...

[_rubinho_]

I did a set of airshow photos where the sky was very inconsistent. At the right angle, and when I had time to twizzle it, the CPL made it look very nice and deep. When panning I often got to a point where I was happy with the shot of the aircraft but the angle of the polariser was such that the sky looked washed out. They're a difficult subject I think, especially with no ground in shot to give things some context. 5's my favourite composition and 4's got the best colours.

[tenohfive]

I think the first one has some potential but I the colours are a bit flat. Would whacking the saturation up a bit or something bring the red out perhaps?

[Famous Graham]

Shooting an air display is a nightmare in terms of exposure.

You end up either well over- or under-exposed.

I've had a works do tonight so I'm in no state to elaborate or give suggestions right now, but hopefully the mighty DamienB will be along to give you some tips.

None finer, imo - even if he is a curmudgeonly old git

Although, I will say that it's all about position.

ETA - actually, LloydH is damn handy too.

Edited by Famous Graham on Friday 31st August 02:53

Edited by Famous Graham on Friday 31st August 02:55

[Ari]

Thanks chaps.

I don't have a CPL on my lens, just a UV filter.

[markmullen]

Ari said:

Thanks chaps.

I don't have a CPL on my lens, just a UV filter.

It is a long running debate but I'd lose the UV, they tend to cut down on contrast and make everything look a little mushy, your lens hood will adequately protect the lens from damage.

The only time I use a UV is when shooting rallying close up where there is a lot of muck and stones flying about.

I reckon with some work in PP you could get these looking better, they're certainly a good start at what, as FG says, is a difficult thing to shoot. I reckon some contrast and saturation and you could improve these a lot.

[Ari]

Thanks Mark. I've fiddled with the lighting in those, but not the contrast.

[LongQ]

The Planes they mock me ....

Tricky blighters - the Arrows. Especially when the sky has a lot of very white cloud, the sun is low and they (the Arrows) adopt the favourite Fighter Pilot tactic of appearing out of the sun .... and from behind a tree or two in this case.

Unfortunately I could not see an obvious way to get between them and the sun before the display ended - in part because I had no idea where they would be passing for the low level stuff and there was no chance of moving the 5 or 10 miles I might need for the high level stuff.

Oh well, such is life.




Fortunately the frame before this is a little more typical - if I can work out how to compress about 20 stops of DR into something a screen can handle.


Good work Ari. The Arrows are quite small planes with little to aim at for focus and, in variable conditions, exposure measurement.

I really needed to have 400mm to hand (1.3 crop sensor) but would have had to compromise the 70-200 to do so (2x extender). Might just have got away with that having a 24-105 on another body (1.6 crop sensor) but that would have a compromised frame rate.

14mm (1.6 crop body) on the third camera proved to be a bit optimistic ...

[NJH]

Well I quite like them. Was this set from Bournemouth at the weekend? I was there and looking back through my images the sky was hugely inconsistent, bta this is what the weather was like warm with some sun but the clouds were very patchy.

Could try a bit of black and white conversion on the first image just to see how it turns out. I really like the shot and a B&W conversion with a bit of experimentation with colour filtering may darken the sky a bit and bring out that nice tonality on the undercarriage of the plains.

[Ari]

Bournemouth Air Festival a few days later. Bit better I think.

[Ari]

NJH said:

Well I quite like them. Was this set from Bournemouth at the weekend? I was there and looking back through my images the sky was hugely inconsistent, bta this is what the weather was like warm with some sun but the clouds were very patchy.

Could try a bit of black and white conversion on the first image just to see how it turns out. I really like the shot and a B&W conversion with a bit of experimentation with colour filtering may darken the sky a bit and bring out that nice tonality on the undercarriage of the plains.

Sorry, posted and then saw your reply.

No, it was Torquay.

[DamienB]

Famous Graham said:

None finer, imo - even if he is a curmudgeonly old git

Well thanks and er... thanks

Ari - not much you can realistically do when conditions aren't conducive e.g. backlighting or no sun at all and your position/equipment doesn't allow you to go for serious close-ups.

Personally, and you know what they say about opinions, but I don't like 'going away' shots much and far prefer shots with coming them towards you and topsides versus bellies. Of your first post, 4 and 5 have some potential though 5 needs some work on the colours and a less tight crop would be good. Of the second bunch the dull light really kills them all. Better to blow the sky to white than have a silhouetted subject on a cluttered dark background I think.

[Ari]

Thaks Damien, good advice as ever.

[LongQ]

A few Arrows captures from Chatsworth. A fairly random selection from the quite a few taken.