My Whenuapai Open Day Photos (Finally!)

[FlyingKiwi]

Hey all, I've finally had the time to sort out all the photos I took at the Whenuapai Air Force Open Day; here are a few of my favourites.

Thorp S-18.

Socata TB-10.

UH-1 display.

Tiger Moth.

Chipmunk.

Avia Stroitel motor glider.

757.


757 cockpit.

Nord 1002/Me-108.

Red Checkers.

Casa 235 cockpit.

Air force Harvard.


Sea Sprite.

Orion.


P-51 Mustang.

F-111.


Yak-52 formation aerobatics.




Hope those were enjoyable, some of the better ones are gradually making there way to Airliners.net and Jetphotos.net but I've got such a huge backlog of photos to upload it may be a long time before some of them are on.

[Charl]

Some of these are best in class, 757, Moth, Huey.
Well worth the wait I thought.
Thanks for sharing.

[Zöltuger]

Those photos are immense! That close up of the 757 in flight is brilliant!

You must have a massive lens on that camera

[Ian Warren]

Gorgeous Pics ! Thanx KIWI .. that Havard

[ZK-KAG]

Far out you have some stunning photos there!!!

What camera are you using by the way?

~ZK-KAG~

[ZK-Brock]

Awesome! BTW that first panel there looks very microlight-y...but what's"Norm's Hole"???

[Alex]

Great photos there, definately worth the wait.

Alex

[kiwiflyboy]

Awesome! BTW that first panel there looks very microlight-y...but what's"Norm's Hole"???

Lets just say, its how norm entertains himself on long cross countries.......

[ardypilot]

Brilliant photos, you must have an awesome camera to get those zoomed in shots captured in such good quality!

I can't believe the show was only a month ago, it feels like ages since I trekked up to Whenuapi on the 3rd March- thanks for reminding me of a great day out

[HardCorePawn]

Awesome! BTW that first panel there looks very microlight-y...but what's"Norm's Hole"???

I get the feeling someone cut one too many holes in the panel

[FlyingKiwi]

Thanks for all the positive feedback guys. I was wondering what "Norm's Hole" is as well; sounds a bit sketchy...

My camera is a Canon 300D, nothing spectacular but it does the job more than adequately and I was using a 90-300mm lens for most of those shots bar the closeups which were with the stock 18-55mm lens.

monkeybdg - Here's an external view of the Thorp S-18, looks like quite a nice little plane. This one's done the Trans-Tasman crossing a couple of times too apparently.

[ZK-Brock]

Wow- that is a nice aeroplane, but it looks sorta hard to get in to! (mind you I usually just end up flopping myself into aeroplanes as best as I can anyway)

[mailman]

FlyingK,

Those are nice shots BUT they could have been great shots with a slower shutter speed (and an equally higher Fstop) dialled in to your camera so the blades of the helo and prop planes dont look like they are standing still.

Ill post some examples later tonight (morning your time) to show you what Im talking about.

Otherwise, some very VERY nice shots

Regards

Mailman

[mailman]

Actually, you have got it in your first few shots (blurred blades) but for some reason missed them in the others.

I think the holey grail is a full disk, but Im not that skillful

Here is one I got last week while at the Avalon Airshow in Australia.



Regards

Mailman

[FlyingKiwi]

I realise that having the props stopped doesn't do much for the quality, but it's almost impossible getting a photo of a rapidly moving airraft in flight on a slow enough shutter setting to blur the prop without blurring the rest of the aircraft. At the end of the day I've found that having a stationary prop is the lesser of two evils, given that this won't affect a photo being accepted to A.net, whereas having a slightly blurry fuselage definitely will. You'll notice for example that both the P-51 and Me-108 shots are quite blurry (especially the 108).

Edit - If you know of a good intermediate setting that will avoid blurring the aircraft but capture the prop blur please do share.

[toprob]

I realise that having the props stopped doesn't do much for the quality, but it's almost impossible getting a photo of a rapidly moving airraft in flight on a slow enough shutter setting to blur the prop without blurring the rest of the aircraft. At the end of the day I've found that having a stationary prop is the lesser of two evils, given that this won't affect a photo being accepted to A.net, whereas having a slightly blurry fuselage definitely will. You'll notice for example that both the P-51 and Me-108 shots are quite blurry (especially the 108).

Edit - If you know of a good intermediate setting that will avoid blurring the aircraft but capture the prop blur please do share.

I actually thought you did well -- a good compromise between prop blur and image sharpness. I think you are a natural at this -- some of the best local shots I've seen.
I'm praying for blue sky at Omaka this weekend so I can have a proper go at some photography -- every airshow I've ever gone to has had terrible light due to cloud cover.

[Charl]

Nice to see top-quality shots, all round.
Here's a challenge for Omaka: see how many not pictures you can frame.
Mailman's last shot is an example of a not picture - the Pilatus(?) is the supposed subject, but really we are looking at the Herk.
Back on topic, I accidently took this P51 at Whenuapai:



You can't not look at it B)

[mailman]

Edit - If you know of a good intermediate setting that will avoid blurring the aircraft but capture the prop blur please do share. 

Its one of those things that you have to play around with and all depends on the conditions on the day.

Usually something around or less than 1/250 will do the trick with an fstop of around 20 odd...but then just have a play. take a shot then check it out on your lcd screen.

If its too dark then change the fstop setting to something lower so more light hits the sensor. If the prop looks static drop the shutter speed

I mean...you got a thousand dollar camera...might as well move it off Auto and on to a more manly MANUAL setting

But yes, you will get a lot of blurry images when you start out BUT the results are worth it once you got the technique nailed.

But anyway, this is what a prop looks like when your shutter speed is too fast




Then there is the scientific way or determining what setting to use, ala;

"Anyway, I used to shoot a fair number of air shows and seem to remember 1/ 60 working quite well. You should be able to shoot and check the results on your D70 right. 1/60 is plenty fast for shooting airplanes. They are not going to be very close, so just pan along and shoot two or three frames at a time. Your results will be fine." (found somewhere on the net).

But the thing is, practice grasshopper. You have a state of the art camera, might as well use it to its full potential.

I generally dial in 1/250 and f25 and go from there either dropping or raising either setting depending on the results I see in the screen. With practice you can get pin sharp images.

Regards

Mailman

[mailman]

Nice to see top-quality shots, all round.
Here's a challenge for Omaka: see how many not pictures you can frame.
Mailman's last shot is an example of a not picture - the Pilatus(?) is the supposed subject, but really we are looking at the Herk.

I call that an "accident" or just "plain good luck" shot

Mailman

[toprob]

Nice to see top-quality shots, all round.
Here's a challenge for Omaka: see how many not pictures you can frame.
Mailman's last shot is an example of a not picture - the Pilatus(?) is the supposed subject, but really we are looking at the Herk.
Back on topic, I accidently took this P51 at Whenuapai:

You can't not look at it  B)

I've always been pleased with this shot, with the Warbirds DC3 as a comfy vantage point...