The NAS JAX Air Show (Naval Air Station Jacksonville) featuring the Blue Angels is on the horizon! Air shows are always exciting and fast-paced; blink and you’re guaranteed to miss something. The NAS JAX Air Show is no exception and will take place October 19 & 20, 2024.
What It Takes
Even if you are a seasoned photographer, photographing air shows isn’t particularly easy. It takes a little patience, a lot of skill, some luck and finesse, and of course, the right equipment. In this short article I’ll share some tips, tricks and what equipment I use to capture these birds in flight!
The Camera
Let’s start off with the camera. A good photographer can get good shots with any camera, even a phone camera. But let’s be honest here – with fast moving action like this, the better the camera, the better the shots. I have seen folks at air shows with nothing but their cameras, but they were just taking video. If that is all you have then go for it! But I don’t recommend it.
I’ve also seen folks with their point-and-shoot cameras. These work, but restrictions such as shots per second, smaller sensors, and long buffers on these cameras could frustrate you and limit your keeper rate. However, if you know these limitation going in and are comfortable with your camera, then you’ll get some decent shots.
The best cameras, naturally, are the DSLRs or mirrorless cameras. Full frame or crop-sensor, DSLRs and mirrorless cameras are faster, have virtually no buffer (slowing down) and much larger sensors (letting in more light), and give you frame rates of seven to 30 shots per second in RAW format (some cameras go even higher!). I personally shoot with a Nikon Z9, Nikon D850 and a Nikon D500.
The Lenses
You can have a $4000 camera body, but if you have a crappy lens attached to it, guess what? Yep, your photos are going to suffer for it. Good glass produces good photos once you master your camera and lens. For an air show I always have my Tamron 150-600mm G2. With this lens attached to my Z9 (a full frame), I have plenty of versatility. I can be in full frame mode and have a nice range of shots; I switch to crop mode when I need to reach out a little farther at 600mm. On my other cameras I have a wide-angle lens (15-30mm) and medium range lens (28-300). If you only have one camera body, then I recommend a good all-purpose medium range lens like a 28-300mm. If your kit consists of just one camera with one lens (like the kit lens that may have come with the camera) don’t worry! Use it! You may not get the tight, in-flight shots, but the experience you’ll get will teach you about what you’ll need for future air shows and you’ll most likely get several “wow” shots.
Settings
Air shows aren’t just about jets. There will probably be planes with propellers and some helicopters as well! While using fast shutter speeds is recommended for the jets, you’ll want to slow down your shutter for prop-planes and choppers or else they’ll look like they’re just hanging by a string in the air.
As you see from my photos, I keep the shutter around 1/2500. You can go faster or slower, but it depends on the light. At 1/2500 for these photos, it was fast enough to catch the jet and slow enough to keep my ISO down.
Let’s break it down:
Jets:
Experiment. Put your camera in Auto ISO. Start with your shutter at around 1/1000 and have your aperture wide open (smallest number). Since air shows are during the day, even on cloudy days there should be plenty of light for your camera to set lower ISOs. Better cameras can handle higher ISO numbers, so you’ll need to know your camera’s limitations in this regard.
Props:
This includes airplanes with propellers and helicopters.
Again, with the ISO in Auto, I fluctuate between 1/250 and 1/320 for the shutter speed (see helicopter pic below). Anything over 1/320 will stop the blade movement as you see in the photo above of the Chinook.
This is where it gets tricky though. When you slow down your shutter speed you let more light into the camera. You also risk blurry photos due to the slower shutter. For the light, you’ll need to close your aperture enough to where your photo isn’t blown out. Depending on the light, I close my aperture to f/14 to f/18 or so. This compensates for the slower shutter.
To keep my photos sharp, I have a little trick. Prop-planes like the P-51 Mustang and others are going pretty fast! It takes practice to be able to get tack-sharp photos of the plane with a shutter slow enough to blur the propeller. When the planes are coming at you, then it’s easier to get sharp photos because you aren’t moving your camera as much. When they are panning, though, you have to pan with them and that’s where it gets tricky! Now here’s the trick: Don’t pan with them! Zoom in just enough to get the plane in your viewfinder, but not too much to where the plane fills it up completely. Once the plane comes into your view finder, hold still and start shooting as it flies through your viewfinder. If at first you have a hard time with this, then zoom out a little more then try again. You will get it; it just takes a little practice.
Turnin’ and Burnin’
If you shoot wildlife and birds, then you know the shot is the eye. You always want an eye and that’s what you focus on unless it is a unique situation.
Not so with air shows and aircraft photography. The afterburner is very much part of the awesome experience of an air show. When they’re turnin’ and burnin’, so are you! Grab those shots! Many times the afterburners don’t kick in until a few seconds after the aircraft passes you, so keep shooting! Putting your camera down too early could mean missed “wow” shots.
Sound Barrier Shots
Ok, let’s be honest. Yes the contrails are cool, the loop-de-loos are fun, and the arial maneuvers and crosses are hair-raising, no doubt about it. It is that moment, though, when the jet reaches the sound barrier and aircraft becomes a ball of cotton. That is the shot most every photographer is out to get. This takes timing, persistence, good target acquisition skills and a fast shutter speed. When you get those shots, though, you feel good about your day at the air show.
The NAS JAX will be a two-day event and it is free! So if it is possible, you may want to attend both days. Call the first day practice. The second day you’ll know what to expect and your shots will show it. If you can’t make both days, just relax and enjoy yourself. You will have fun just taking pictures! And who knows, you may see me there. If you do, be sure to come on up to me and say hi!
Feel free to comment below and include any tips or tricks you may have for capturing these fast-movers. Share a photo as well!
