Spring is right around the corner, you can feel it in the air! I was able to go out and enjoy some of this nicer weather the other day and photograph something new to me, airplanes. These planes were big remote controlled planes doing all kinds of stunts in the air. Sometimes they had the plane just hovering! Don’t ask me how that works, but it was pretty sweet. Plane racing is becoming more popular with events such as Red Bull Air Racing, so it was nice to have a chance at photographing something like that.
How did I shoot these? I was able to stop the propeller by standing in between the sun and the plane. By doing this, the sun would light the plane and I would be able to use a very fast shutter speed. I was able to put my shutter speed at the fastest speed possible, 1/8000, on my D700. I then had to raise my ISO speed to compensate, but I did not have to raise it too much, only to 400.
Regarding the focus, I had it in continuous mode. This makes the camera constantly focus on whatever the focusing point is on. All I had to do was keep the focusing point on the plane (See picture below). I did not use 3D tracking because it was getting caught up and focusing on trees, light poles, and clouds.
By having the plane in between me and the sun I was able to get the picture at the top of this page and the picture below.
– Tim