CF-18 Demo Team - In the Rain

The 2022 version of Wild Wednesday was anything but.  As planned, the show would have been pretty good for a mid-week break.  Mother Nature had other plans.

Says it all.

The show was scheduled for two hours.  In the end, there was 45 minutes of flight time.  And one deceased bird.

And truth be told, I'd do it again.

You can't fight Mother Nature.

I did get some photos of the local B-17, Yankee Lady.  I also got a few shots of a PBY Catalina.  Along with the CF-18 photos, I consider this outing a success.

I am by choice a fair weather outdoor photographer.  This was so far outside of my comfort zone, I needed a rain coat.

Yep, that is a plastic bag over the D850.  In the morning I searched/watched Youtube on how to protect your camera equipment from the elements.  There was one video that said, you don't need to do anything.  I passed that one by and kept searching.  I landed on a video that suggested a mid-sized garbage bag with two holes cut in for the lens and eye-piece.  In my budget and I had time and scissors.  By the end of the show, the camera was the driest thing in the car.  I can live with that.

A little rain will not stop the all-weather fighter.  The CF-18 for me was the top liner of the show.  I saw the new Top Gun movie last weekend, ready for the noise.  If they queue the music just right....  And they did.

There are many challenges to shooting an airshow is less than perfect light.  For me, I would be shooting jets a a lower shutter speed - going from my preferred 1/1250 to 1/800.  And ISO setting from 64 to 1600.  Get the photo first, let the software do the rest.  For now I'm posting the final products, but may do a before and after post processing.

I originally thought that none of the shots would clean up enough for a Flickr posting, but I was wrong.  I'm really happy with how these turned out.

Being dark, thank you Mother Nature, allowed this shot to really grab me.  Afterburner.  Very rarely seen before sunset.  And the front gear landing light.

CF-18 Off the Deck

NIKON D850 Ver.1.20/80.0-400.0 mm f/4.5-5.6

400 mm, 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600 (Auto)

EV +0.67, Shutter Priority, Size FX

Due to a local bird violating the TFR for the show, and not getting proper clearance, a collision with one of the CF-18's engines was inevitable.  The aircraft did recover without further issue.  But it was really dark now, as the weather was really dropping.

CF-18 Dark Taxi

NIKON D850 Ver.1.20/80.0-400.0 mm f/4.5-5.6

400 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600 (Auto)

EV +0.67, Shutter Priority, Size FX

I could add some exposure, but this is pretty realistic of the lighting for the time.

Hope to see the Canadians fly in the future.  In better lighting.