Blue sky

This is the type of shot that can be a nightmare for a photographer. Taken during an aerobatics demonstration, where there is a lot happening very quickly, we have a bright sunny day and a clear sky with a plane travelling through your frame at great speed. Metering is the first issue - how do we measure exposure to make sure that the planes are lit OK and the sky isn't blown out? A spot reading on the plane helped there.

Then we need to have the plane sharp and yet leave the impression of motion. Fortunately, there is a propeller on this plane, and the shutter speed was able to freeze the motion of the plane but still illustrate the spinning propeller. A further issue is composition. I was able to wait for the stunt plane to be climbing vertically, and compose the image so that the trailling smoke was stretched diagonally across the frame.


I resisted the temptation to use a longer lens, because I wanted to show the vastness of the sky. A longer lens would give a bigger plane in the image, but I didn't want to lose the feeling of space.

TFF