Two Racing T-6s

The racing week in Reno is almost over.  I've been here for four days already.  Today was somewhat abbreviated as the high winds cancelled many of the heat races.  By the afternoon, even the heavier classes of Jets and Unlimited heats were cancelled for the day.  Tomorrow, the last day of the event, promises be only breezy ensuring a full day to the final races for each class.

This year, I focused on getting only shots I can get.  Sounds like a defeatist attitude, but it is not.  The distances involved, the speeds and size of the aircraft and the exposure considerations present a limit to what I can reasonably do with the equipment I brought.

My area of comfortable targets was lessened to almost what is directly in front of me.  And much closer.  But to counter that, I am also going for a much better image.  And for 80% of the action, that means working on the prop part of the image.

For the shutter speed, that means getting comfortable with 1/80th of a second.  That a good place to start for the prop classes.  That means sticking with the setting even though most of the shots are so blurry that 80% will be tossed on the first pass.  Again, that's OK because when one hits, it is very well worth the aggravation.

I'm also working with using Auto ISO when necessary.  Being necessary is to get shutter speeds over 1/2,000 th of a second for the Thunderbird's Demo program.  Will be very interested how much that cuts down on post work.

I've been getting to the field very early each day.  The rising sun is playing a lot of havoc on my static shots.  I may have to take three or four shots trying to get the blown sky to play with the undercarriage shadows.  

It's a been a great four days so far, and I got a lot of practice with manual exposure settings.

This following shot is at 1/80th of a second.  Great prop action, 360 degrees.  And I had to throw away the seven shots before it.  But that's OK, as this one is worth it.

Racing Two T-6s

NIKON D500 Ver.1.30/NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED

202 mm, 1/80th Sec, f/14, ISO 100

EV 0, MANUAL Mode, Size DX

When I started coming to Reno for the National Air Races, I had no idea how to get a shot like this.  This is the culmination of 3 years of work.  And a lot of thought.  And a lot of planning.  And not screwing up when the time comes.  My first year here I had over 3k shots.  Not one of them is this good.  Not that I have arrived, but this to me is clear progress.