What I missed most about airshows cancelling last year was being around the total environment of military aircraft. And the support people. There is the noise. Not only of aircraft inflight, but the spooling of engines, the support carts and the APUs. Although this particular event did not allow for much close contact, I'll gladly accept the flight noise.
After a year without jet sound, Friday's show in Battle Creek with the Raptor taxiing down the taxiway in front of the crowd took me back to days on Okinawa where we'd have a J57 engine on the test cell bed - just bringing it to life after in shop re-build or maintenance. After the idle checks were completed, we'd take it up to MRT and let it cook in for a while. All the time, my partner and I were close enough to inspect for defects. And maybe 20 yards from the blast wall - where the noise would reflect back. Lots of ear protection required. And when MRT checks were completed, then we'd add the water. If you weren't ready, it would take you off your feet. How it didn't depart the test bed is beyond me.
It's all about the jet noise. And the F22 in Demo mode doesn't disappoint.
I went to the show on Friday and returned on Saturday. Two hours each way. Eight hours total. And would do it again. Friday, I stayed for most of the show. Saturday - just to see the demo again. Both days presented challenges. And opportunities.
Friday was nice blue skies with puffys. Saturday was high light overcast. Friday, I had what I would consider a Airshow camera kit. Saturday was experimental. And all that showed.
This first shot is from Saturday. The F22 afterburner to me is one of the most interesting subjects of Raptor flight. This might be the best angle to catch it from. If you catch it from directly behind, the exhaust really makes for a different, diffused photo. The sky is incredibly flat here. My bad luck to be up against a cloud. Even Photomatix can't help, and that is a first. At my first F22 Demo show, MCAS Beaufort in 2019, the show was a bit closer to the crowd. The Raptor flew down the show line and made a quick turn away from the crowd. We were close enough to feel the heat from the burners at the turn. That was just great. And I was hooked.
The next two shots are from Saturday. Saturday's goals were to catch as much vapor on the wings as possible and see if the D850 and the 70-200 lens was a good airshow combo. With a 200 mm reach I knew I could only catch the closest of opportunities, such as rapid flight path changes. I thought the two goals would work together. And they did. These shots are tightly cropped. I wanted to test how much crop I could get away with on a D850 shot. And at what point the lens just didn't pick up any detail. And, when did I need some help from Gigapixel?
This is a good shot of the aircraft initiating a climb from level flight. There is some vapor coming off the wings. And a nice afterburner glow. This was a pretty good crop that came out well. The focus is pretty much dead on. The ISO 64 leaves a very clean image. One other really good aspect, no sun reflection on the canopy to deal with.
This next shot is another going vertical from a different side. But what is clearly different here is the pilot silhouette. The direct sunlight on the top of the aircraft produces some interesting colors. No AB glow, but you can't have everything.
This last shot is from Friday. Again, the F22 is in a nose up attitude. I sense a pattern here. Anyway, I got caught in an effect that has happened to everyone. I locked the exposure in the shade, and the subject moved to the sunlight. Doh! I usually hate when that happens. But not this time. The effect is flying into doom. The greys. But, I had trouble choosing between a dark themed shot, or something more realistic. I decided to go with both. I went primarily dark, but lit up the underside of the aircraft. It was work, and there were many iterations before I could get the exact look. But it is a Sunday. I have the time to experiment.
And another mistake that came out OK. Screen saver stuff for sure. Definitely a look I like, but will have to be very careful to not force it elsewhere!
As to the experiment of the D850 and 70-200 lens. On its own, 200 mm won't do. If you can crop and enlarge you can clearly get by. Emergency use only. I ran into another Nikon user with a 200-500. I think he had the right setup. But seeing how large it is... One of the things I have to think about is mobility. Since I'm there alone, I don't really have the option to set up a base and work out of one location. So lugging the monster lens around is not an appealing choice. Lugging two cameras around is not an appealing choice. As of now, my go-to would be the D500 with the 70-300. Gives me a 450 mm reach. The 70-300 is comparatively light and smaller. On a sunny day, prime time air show hours, works great. But you really have to like the D850's ISO 64 look. Pixel peeping at its finest. Just another step on the journey.
