Air Show Pictures & Photography Tips thumbnails only

At the beginning of each year, I browse the US Air Force Thunderbirds and US Navy Blue Angels airshow schedules, adding the most-local events to my calendar. More often than not, the timing and distance prevent my attendance. Those two factors aligned optimally this year, and I was privileged to photograph the recent Pocono Raceway Airshow.

The same awesome factors of the auto racing typically featured at this venue, including speed and precision, align nicely with those of the airshow events, and the Blue Angels performing on this day never disappoint. Though lacking a runway, Pocono Raceway's massive grandstand, combined with clear air space and the sun positioned behind the show, is an ideal setup.

What is the best airshow lens? I opted for the Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM Lens for this event.

I also had a Canon RF 600mm F4 L IS USM Lens with me for the single jet performances. This lens provided more reach, and the f/4 aperture enabled lower ISO settings.

The size and weight of the 600 made handheld tracking of the fast planes challenging and tiring. Thus, the RF 100-500 got primary use.

While the 100-500 required a higher ISO setting with the f/7.1 aperture in use, the bright day kept the f/7.1 ISO settings reasonable. In addition, planes are not super detailed (and the sky lacks detail), allowing noise reduction to be applied without much loss of detail.

With the light levels staying rather consistent this afternoon, a fully manual exposure was selected. The exposure consistency of images captured on each pass (or many passes) made mass brightness adjustments, if needed, easy.

While there were many times when 500mm was not long enough in front of a full-frame Canon EOS R5, there were times when the formation was too close for even 100mm, as illustrated here (well, 118mm to be specific).

Let's talk about getting the right shutter speed for airshow photography. This discussion is largely seeking or avoiding motion blur.

Seeking opposites for the same event may seem strange, but moving parts on an airborne aircraft should be blurred to illustrate movement, to avoid the parked-in-the-sky-appearance. Primarily, helicopter and airplane rotor and propeller blades appear best when blurred, while non-moving parts look best sharp.

Blur is created when subject details move across pixels on the imaging sensor during the exposure. The movement can be from the subject, the camera, or both, and the movement relationship between the two is what determines the amount of blur.

Higher-density imaging sensors essentially magnify blur, but the final output size equalizes this difference.

Motion rendered large in the frame, close or magnified with a longer focal length, will be stronger than that of the same motion rendered small in the frame. So, subject distance and focal length play into the decision.

When there are multiple movements in the frame, blur differences occur. Turning the zoom ring affects change in all directions, and focal length zooming during the exposure can create a blur that panning cannot mitigate.

With so many factors coming into play, and with those factors changing constantly, airshow shutter speed rules are imperfect. Still, especially for those not regularly photographing airshows (or not having the ability or interest to change shutter speeds constantly during a pass), rules are helpful.

Let's start with capturing the motion blur. Try starting with 1/400 or 1/500 second exposures to blur airplane and helicopter props and rotors. While this speed is a good starting point for motion blur, unfortunately, it is not easy to keep fast aircraft sharp at these exposure durations, and you can expect a high blurry aircraft ratio in the results.

Jets do not show moving parts on the exterior, and they typically move faster. Thus, there is no need to blur any portion of the subject (though a blurred ground background may be desired), and fast shutter speeds are the best choice to stop the motion. Figure 1/1600 or faster.

When jets are flying in multiple directions, as illustrated in this image, the speed and direction of all aircraft in relation to the camera's panning direction must be accounted for, and stopping all the action requires a faster shutter speed than when panning with a single jet or with a formation of jets flying in the same direction. Freezing both planes in the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds opposing pass routines requires an extremely fast shutter speed, considerably faster than the 1/2500 exposure used for this image.

Obtaining fast shutter speeds means higher ISO settings for adequately bright results. As mentioned in the last Blue Angels image I shared, aircraft are not super detailed and the sky lacks detail. This means that noise reduction can be applied without much loss of detail, smoothing the high ISO noise.

Use the rules for insurance level settings and check the results between passes. If you are getting consistently sharp prop aircraft at 1/400, try longer exposures for greater blur (and perhaps pan-blur the ground-based background when such avails itself). If all your jets are sharp at 1/1600, consider trying a longer exposure.

While I'm talking about airshow photography here, the concepts are transferable to other photographic pursuits.

A Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor stealth fighter plane races across the sky over the main viewing area at this air show.
 
A plain white sky is not my favorite background, but I like how contrasting/menancing the plane looks in this shot. Waper vapor forming over the wings and trailing the plane along with the orange glow behind the engines give this shot the something extra I was looking for.

The United States Navy's aerobatic flight demonstration team, the Blue Angels, performs the Diamond 360 at the Andrews Airforce Base Joint Services Open House. In this formation, the wing tips are 18" from the canopies.
 
Air show photography tip: Because of the distance air show craft are typically performing at, even the widest apertures on most handholdable telephoto lenses will provide enough DOF to deliver an all-in-focus subject. More important may be to stop down the aperture enough to eliminate any vignetting that will be noticeable on an evenly-colored sky.

The US Army Sky Soldiers Cobra Demonstration Team shows incredible synchronization in this picture. The bottom-most pilot will lose points for the slightly-off rear rotor position.
 
Important air show photography tip: Helicopters and prop planes in the air with their blades frozen sharp look unnatural to me - like they are going to fall from the sky. Use a shutter speed longer than 1/500 to give the blades some motion blur. The 1/250 shutter speed I was using with this 400mm lens resulted in a lot of motion-blurred shots, but I would rather have a few really good shots than a lot of OK shots.

Stunt Pilot Greg Poe performs for the crowd.
 
Air show photography tip: Use the show smoke as part of your picture design. In this case, the smoke trail forms the entire top of the frame and then curves to a point 1/3 of the frame from the left and the bottom. The smoke trail leads the viewer's eye to the strongly contrasting plane.
 
Also note the motion-blurred prop. A 1/500 shutter speed was adequate for this shot.

This B-17 Flying Fortress was part of the ground display at this particular air show.
 
Air show photography tip: Don't forget the ground displays. But with 100,000 people attending this air show, avoiding spectators in the pictures is challenging. As I was framing shots of this plane, a small kid reached up and put his finger into one of the gun barrels. Unfortunately, I was not quick enough with the shutter.
 
Shooting over the bystander's heads with telephoto focal lengths is one technique for shooting the ground displays. Add a little motion blur to the prop and it would look like the plane was in the air.

The GEICO Skytypers Airshow Team flies 6 of the 11 SNJ-2 planes still in existence at this time.
 
Air show photography tip: Because there is no indication of horizon-level in many air show performance pictures, rotate your camera to best-frame the action.
 
This tip is especially helpful when shooting a group of planes at distances too close for level framing.

A pair of Blue Angels perform the spectacular Knife-Edge Pass in their F/A-18 Hornets.
 
Air show photography tip: The Blue Angel's and Thunderbird's opposing passes are really impressive to watch and very difficult to photograph. With a closing speed in the many hundreds of MPH, the exact moment of crossing is nearly impossible to predict if you are using a reasonably long telephoto lens.
 
A camera with a fast frame rate is a good solution to this problem. The Canon EOS-1D Mark IV shooting at 10 frames per second makes the hit rate about 75% for these shots.
 
Here I am tracking one jet and catching the other jet blurring past.

A member of the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team descends during a show.
 
Air show photography tip: When the sky is boring, fill the frame with your subject.

The US Army Sky Soldiers Cobra Demonstration Team performs at Andrews AFB.
 
Air show photography tip: I like the S curve into the frame made by the smoke from the right-most Cobra helicopter and how it is balanced by the other three smoke paths. I also like how the Cobras strongly-contrast the white smoke.

A significant amount of water vapor appears over this F-22 Raptor as the pilot lifts the nose upward.
 
Air show photography tip: Watch for water vapor forming when a pilot lifts the nose of a high speed aircraft upward .

Two upside down, two right side up. Impressive precision flying by the US Navy's Blue Angels.
 
Air show photography tip: Because many of these passes are made at low elevation, it is extremely helpful to have a front row (against the fence) shooting position. In this location, you will not have heads in your way as you swing with the action.

An F-22 Raptor shows heat as it screams away.
 
Air show photography tip: I regard the Canon EF 100-400 L USM Lens as the ideal Canon air show lens. On this day, I was using the Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L Lens and the new-at-this-time Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS II USM Lens with a 1.4x Extender in place - just to continuously evaluate them.
 
For single planes, it is hard to have too much focal length. But, if the lens becomes too large, it becomes hard to follow the fast action with - and probably requires a tripod. Using a tripod in the tight crowds also does not work well.
 
The other issue with long telephoto lenses relates to air clarity. This shot apears blurry from the heat generated by the f-22's engine, but examples this point.
 
Using the 400 worked great until the teams began flying out of formation at closer distances. A zoom lens works much better in these situations.
 
Photos from a fixed focal length lens will likely require more cropping in post processing than from a zoon lens.
 
The 70-200 + 1.4x were a good combination, but AF is degraded somewhat by the 1.4x and I had a couple of focus hunting issues. The 280mm resulting focal length on a 1.3x APS-H sensor DSLR was a bit short.
 
Image quality from any of these lenses combinations is great.

The US Navy Blue Angels fly in a tight diamond formation over Andrews AFB.
 
Air show photography tip: Jets fly fast and have no fast-moving visible parts (such as a propeller), so use a fast shutter speed to get sharp shots. Try to shoot at 1/1000 sec or faster and always pan with the aircraft.
 
Or get creative - try a panning motion-blur shot to show speed.
 
Notice the clouds framing the diamond formation.

The Blue Angels fly in delta formation over Andrews AFB.
 
Air show photography tip: I usually want my subjects to be moving/looking into the frame - often from 1/3 of the way into the frame. When shooting aircraft with smoke on, I like the subject leaving the frame to capture the trails.

A F-117A Stealth Fighter flying in the puffy white clouds.

Four US Army Cobra helicopters fly in tight formation.
 
Air show photography tip: Consider taking backup gear.
 
I spent about 10 hours traveling to/from this particular air show. I took two complete camera and lens setups. Though I intended to use both throughout the event (one telephoto zoom lens and one long prime telephoto lens), one of my high-mileage 1Ds III bodies was DOA. Fortunately, I still got most of the shots I wanted.
 
Take lots of memory card capacity as well.

Sean Tucker rolls the one-of-a-kind Oracle Challenger Bi-plane high up into the sky.
 
Air show photography tip: Getting the right exposure for air show pictures is tough.
 
The primary subject can be black, white or any other color. And show aircraft are typically shiny. The sky can be deep blue, dark gray or bright white - and can be several of these or anything in between at the same time. And the aircraft can fly from sun to shade in a fraction of a second. The size of your subject in the frame can also change rapidly. These brightness variations can send auto exposures all over the place.
 
If the lighting conditions are constant, determine the correct exposure variables and lock these into a manual exposure setting. Then monitor the histogram to insure your setting holds throughout the event.
 
If lighting conditions are varying, you are going to want Av or Tv modes. Since the sky is likely a big influence on your exposure, some +EV correction will likely need to be dialed in. Again, monitor your results in the histogram and adjust your parameters for the next flight pass.

An F-22 Raptor heads-to-the-hanger so-to-speak.
 
Air show photography tip: Determine the air show shooting position so that aircraft are approaching you. The front of an aircraft often makes a better picture than the rear.

F/A-18 Hornets flying toward each other have an extremely fast closing speed.
 
Air show photography tip: Simply tracking one of these planes with a telephoto lens is challenging. Shooting a crossing in one-shot mode is much more difficult. Using a high-frame-rate DSLR in high speed burst mode and focusing on tracking one aircraft makes this challenge more easily accomplishable.
 
I also use AI Servo focus mode with all AF points active if the sky is the only background. If the planes are flying in front of other objects, a specific focus point may be needed to prevent the background from catching AF's attention. Using a specific AF point (or single AF with AF point expansion turned on) makes accurate tracking of the planes more critical.
 
In this example, I should have been tracking the front-most plane to have more sharp image.

An F-16 Falcon flies straight up, leaving photogenic vapor trails from its wing tips.
 
Air show photography tip: None of us have figured out how to control the weather. And most of us do not have the opportunity to attend multiple large air shows annually without traveling a significant distance. So, make the most of the weather you are given.
 
If conditions are too poor, the flight portion of most air shows is canceled. So, if the aircraft are flying, you are not likely dealing with rain. But flat, cloudy skies are probably my least favorite background for air show pictures. Crop the action tight in these situations. Or use the flat background to make your subject pop.
 
If you attend your local show often enough, you should get great sky conditions eventually.

A low-flying F-22 Raptor shows a payload-just-delivered status.
 
Air show photography tip: I like the bottom view of aircraft, but I only want a good picture or two of this view - unless there is something unique about the shots. Water vapor forming, bomb doors opening, interesting sky in the background ...

A tight formation of Blue Angels begins a break routine.
 
Air show photography tip: Know the show. If you know the show routine, you will know what shots to be attempting. In this case, a tight formation of F-18s is breaking out - be ready to zoom out to keep all planes in the frame. Then focus on one particular plane for additional shots. Show routines can sometimes be found on the Internet (try Wikipedia for the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds air show demonstration routines).

The US F-117A Stealth Fighter looks awesome in flight.

Two Lockheed Martin F-16C Fighting Falcons pass each other during a performance.

The US Air Force Thunderbirds flying in formation.

A tight formation of US Army Sky Soldiers Cobra helicopters begins a breakout maneuver.
 
Air show photography tip: The "Rule of Thirds" can work for air show pictures. In this example, the clouds cover approximately the bottom and top 1/3 areas of the frame. The clump of Cobras are 1/3 of the frame from the top and left sides. The breakaway helicopter is moving into the balance of the frame.

The United States Navy's aerobatic flight demonstration team, the Blue Angels, systematically breaks formation.

Air show photography tip: Unless you are printing to a specific format, crop your air show images for composition. In this case, I removed the uninteresting sky above the crossing planes.

Air show photography tip: Look for clean lines flowing through the frame. Tighten the image framing (or cropping) to remove un-needed details. Reduce the quantity of lines intersecting the frame borders.

A Blue Angel pilots his F-18 Hornet - seemingly above the clouds.
 
Air show photography tip: Most of us are not presented the opportunity to photograph elite aircraft demonstration teams from the air, but ... pressing the shutter release at the right time can create the illusion of having done so.
 
When the planes bank toward you, your position suddenly appears to be above them. Add the right cloud formations into the composition (and no earth-attached objects) and you have a shot that appears to have been taken from the air - above the aircraft.

Four Blue Angels pilot their F-18 Hornets only inches apart.
 
Air show photography tip: Clean your sensor before the show. Sky is notorious for making dust on your sensor apparent and there will be lots of sky in your air show pictures. You will save a lot of post processing time by cleaning your sensor before leaving for the air show.

Against a bright white sky, there are no distractions from the subject in this air show photo.
 
Air show photography tip: If you are an aircraft enthusiast, shoot a close portrait of each type of aircraft you see in the air.

Four Blue Angel F-18 Hornets fly in the classic diamond pattern.
 
Air show photography tip: Some of the air show action will come from behind you. Parking a lawn chair against the front fence will keep a small area clear behind you. When you turn around, you will not hit someone in the head with your long lens. Buddies can block a small area for you as well, but you may appreciate the chair after standing a long time. Buddies are more fun to hang with. Take both.

Portrait of a Blue Angels F-18 Hornet.
 
Air show photography tip: For shooting single aircraft, a lens with a focal length of about 500-600mm full-frame-equivalent angle of view is about ideal. When multiple aircraft are flying, a zoom quickly becomes more useful.
 
Canon's EF 100-400mm L Lens is the best air show lens for most people. This focal length range will be short on a full frame body, but longer lenses become very heavy and are harder to follow the action with. Full frame users may also want to consider the Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L Lens as it has less vignetting and you can plan on shooting at 400 most of the time anyway - and doing a lot of cropping.