For something new, I added horse events to my 'likes'. What a neat world. Lots of room to get more involved in 2020. I now know some equine events and sites to look for dates of activity. I also had a few shots of animals in captivity for the first time. We'll see what happens in 2020 for these subjects.
For subjects missed in 2019, no lighthouses and no freighters. Not sure what happened. There needs to be more day trips in 2020.
On the improvement side, two words - prop blur. That was the improvement goal for 2019, and it worked. The prop driven aircraft pictures were so much better each subsequent time out, at least to me, than last year. There were fewer shots overall, but much better quality. Still lots of room to improve. This 'art' is going to take time and practice. The 2020 airshow schedule is coming together nicely.
The 2019 airshow schedule included MCAS Beaufort, Wings over Northern Michigan, Traverse City Air Show and the Reno Air Races. The 2020 schedule will include the Charleston (SC) airshow, MCAS Cherry Point, Traverse City, Thunder over Michigan, London (Ontario) Airshow and the Reno shows. That's a lot. Fun. The Thunder over Michigan event will include a Photographer's Package for the weekend.
I didn't get out to the Nature Reserve as much in 2019. But the times I did get out I didn't leave empty handed. I did get a few good photos of an Osprey on two trips. That was fun. I added some photos of local Pelicans this year, which was new. And a few good Eagle shots. The growing year for the Reserve was 2018. However, I have a new ally to help with far off shots in 2020 - and that may change the perspective.
Although I added the D500 camera at the end of 2018 to the kit, I consider 2019 was the first year of use. It did not disappoint. The camera would handle a wider range of light that the D7200 or D90. I used the 10 FPS at Reno. Awesome performance. The D7200 was still put to great use in most outings. My usual day set up was the D500 with the 70-300 lens and the D7200 with the 18-200 lens. For 2020 I added Nikon's 200-500 f/5/6 lens to the kit. For air shows, there will be an additional challenge with this new lens. At a fixed f/5.6 I will have to use light (ND) filtering to get the slow prop shots I want. A three stop ND filter is on it's way. For the jets though, this should be a lot of fun. And the big lens will really help out at the Refuge.
And now: The year in review, 2019: The envelopes please.... (A lot of the judging is based on how it looks on PC 27 inch monitors.)
In no particular order other than the best of the year will be last, of course.
Aircraft:
Best Prop in flight: This came from the Wings over Northern Michigan show, the Michigan based Yankee Lady B17.
The sky plays a big part on this shot. It is not flat blue. And to me that helps with an aluminum skin. And the prop blur. I'd like to have more blur, but the props might disappear all together? The yellow tips are too far away to be seen on a consistent basis and the shutter speed would be so slow. So the blur is where the blur is. And I'm OK with that. And the B17 outline is my favorite WWII bomber, not that this played a factor in my choice. Sorry B24s.
Best Prop Blur: This might be cheating, as the aircraft is on the ground so a much lower shutter speed can be used. So the bar for blur is much higher on this category.
To me the prop blur is almost perfectly symmetrical. You can see it has four props and the yellow tip. This photo had some work done, as there were a few people here who didn't belong. As an extra bonus, one blur shot that didn't make a post was a close up of Dreadnought. At some point I'll write the story, but here is a pre-view:
Very cool tip colors.
Best Jet: There were lots of good jet shots. Just up the shutter speed and you have a good shot. So, for this category there had to be something extra. A sense of timing. Sure, this one was luck. Didn't know I had a good shot until I got home. Yes, there was audible noise when I saw this one.
This was at the Wings over Northern Michigan show. As much as a jet can, it snuck up from behind the stands. Didn't hear it until it was right at my 10:00. Camera up, hit the shutter and hoped for the best. I didn't see the sonic cone until I got home. The cone is a lot more visible when you're not perpendicular, but I wasn't going to throw it away for that small detail. Plus, room to improve.
Best Thunderbird Shot: This is from the Reno Air Races. I got to see the T-Birds twice in 2019, Once at Traverse City and once at Reno. I got some awesome shots at Traverse City, but a lot were too far away. And while they were good enough for screen savers, they didn't make it for the Best of series. At Reno the show was much closer. And again, many of the maneuvers were 'common', so I needed something to be unique. And this is it. Our seats at Reno are so good, show center as high as you can get and still be in the stands. So this maneuver is coming right at us. Only place you can get this shot.
This is right on and squares up neatly. I like a bit more subject detail in my shots, but on the monitor this shows up nicely.
Best Blue Angles Shot: No offense to the Air Force Paint scheme, but the colors of the Blue Angles are my favorite. There actually is a name for this maneuver, the Fortus maneuver.
The blues, yellows, whites and even the tires are all good for me here. The wings, tail and the landing gear all make this a favorite of mine.
Best Air Race:
Right place, right time. This pass was right in front of our seats. The #8 Dreadnought moving at just over 400 MPH and is lapping Speedball Alice by over 150 MPH difference. Most passing in a bank doesn't happen near the stands - this was very cool moment.
Best Helicopter:
The most difficult subject to photograph at an air show - or out in the aero-wild is a helicopter. The blades move so slow. The aircraft moves. Coming at you it is OK, but going directly across your field of view is tough. I came away with two good, not technically excellent helicopter shots this year. One is of two USCG units flying in formation. Looks good on the small screen savers, but only OK on the big screen. But the one I'm going with here has a bit more action.
This was coming in for a landing as part of a Marine Corps demonstration. Fun to watch and just enough blur on the main and tail rotors to be believable. And the lettering is sharp. And it look good on the big monitors.
One last honorable mention - the most visited page. I average maybe ten hits per post. This post got over 200 hits, and on the UHH over 1700 visits. The hits were for the subject, not the photos. And I wish I didn't have to post my thoughts. Earlier this year, the B17 Nine 'O Nine crashed with loss of life. There were some survivors. The aircraft was a total loss. Very sad story. I've been on the Nine 'O Nine when it visited Flint a few years ago, and this was the nose art.
A tragic loss all around.
Trains:
Best Model Train:
I was a bit off my game this year at the Detroit Model Railroad Club shoot. I walked away with a few good shots, but not like numbers in previous years. But this is a screen saver to me. First, I like just about anything orange. And orange and Black. And a little yellow for detail. This shot has some work in it, mostly layers to bring out the lights correctly, Most of my shots at the DMRRC are focus stacked. I don't have many with a depth of field element. And for this the DOF is OK. Good separation.
Best Train:
This choice was easy. I was only out once to chase the #1225 this year, We rode it twice! But the day I was able to chase, there was a little snow on the ground. I had to wait for the right moment on this one, had to get the steam release just prior to a move. There is some electrical wires and poles that need 'relocation'. Gone. There is a full parking lot to the left and building on the right. The steam release covers it all. This morning shot features a blue sky. Wonder what it would look like with total cloud cover. Enhance the steam cloud a bit, eh?
Now for a bit of a break to the not so serious. The best fun photo.
This was taken at the Genesee County Fair. This was a traveling wrestling group. What fun it was to watch. It certainly helps to know the move is coming. All those years of watching pro wrestling on TV was not wasted. These guys, and gals, put on a great show.
I do need to get out more often.
Best Wildlife:
Bird (Eagle): I have two favorites from the year, one a juvenile and one a mature. So, I can post two here. My Awards.....
Juvenile Eagle. Again, lucky. This was far away and aggressively cropped. Lucky it survived. I like the angle of the bank and the background. The off color under wings is pretty good as well. I like the feathers at the tip of the wing, and the odd symmetry they portray. As a screen saver, this one is hard to beat.
Again, something different sets this apart. This is aggressively cropped and shot at 1.3. This was 45 minutes of watching this play out. And wasn't easy to get to this place. But it came out OK. This one was squawking to its mate. Probably discussing what was for dinner, fresh fish or fresh fish.
Best Bird Local (Non-Eagle)
This was an early morning sunrise shot. And that's what makes this one good to me. The sunlight angle on the birds and the mist off the wetlands. This was tough choice as I have one shot of an Osprey in flight that I really like. But good Osprey photos involve some predatory action - and this one ain't it. And this is about as exciting as Pelicans get. This got the nod.
Best Bird (Non-Local):
This is a brown pelican from the Carolina coast. I like this shot because the bird in the foreground is very sharp and DOF takes care of the rest. Picture is easy to follow.
Best Critter:
This was a tough choice, I had a few shots from the WNCNC to choose from. The gray wolfs and the red pandas gave this one a run. But in the end, this fox got me. It was the clarity of the eye and the yellow an green background. If the far eye was not covered by the fence, would be a 10. Sharp.
Horse:
What fun I had with the horses this year. This was a tough one to choose. In the end, many of the my favorites were of a horse and rider doing the same thing. Having fun. Going back to what makes a shot unique. With that filter applied, the choice was easy. This shot tells the story.
The shots this day were challenging. Low light, fast action, high ISO. In the end, this picture tells more of a story than the others without the event banner. Yea, I'd like the main subject to occupy more of the image, but the banner helps sell the image.
Best Paint Job:
I didn't do/post too many paint images this year. I do like the paint program and effect, and if I were selling images I do believe there is a good market out there for genre. My usual criteria is a good view, but for some reason the focus was't right (happens more than you would think) or it just isn't working. neither was the case here, I saw this in paint when I took it. Farmland. Yellows and greens. Trees. Character sky.
We're down to the best photo of the year. This was a tough decision. I had one shot that was a favorite from early April, then had a late entry at the end of the year. These are two completely different subjects. Since this is my award show, I say it is a tie. The order was decided by a completely neutral coin flip.
This shot blew me away. If I had more appreciation for the horses, this might be a clear cut Best of the Year winner. But I'm new to this subject. I know I'll have a better appreciation with more time. But not only the horse drew my attention here, but the light from the window on the horse and in the stall.
For me, there is a lot going on here. Get the right prop blur, lots of white lettering that might show any out of focus errors. But it all worked. And the clincher for me is the yellow prop blur coming across the top of the cowling. Yea, I planned it.
