Here are the rest of my airshow pics.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

Last edited Sun Oct 3, 2021, 11:45 PM - Edit history (1)

I shot more than six thousand frames, but I'm worn out from editing pics. These will have to do for a while.

The teams are the U.S.A.F. Thunderbirds, the R.C.A.F. Snowbirds, and the U.S.N. Blue Angels.

Thank you all for your support. Enjoy!

Grumpy

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I'm sure you're tired, my dear Grumpy! Editing photos is WORK. These are amazing captures.

Thank you so much for all your efforts. They are stunning and great to look at.

Take a bow, and a rest! You have more than earned both.

[brer cat]

2. Great shots, Grumpy Old Guy!

Their close formations put my heart in my stomach. You have captured it very well.

[OneBlueDotS-Carolina]

3. Great shots...

The Royal Canadian Air Force, RCAF, flies the Canadair Tutor, a jet trainer from the 1960s.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

4. Thanks for the correction.

Their aircraft are slower, which allows for larger teams and more intricate routines.

[OneBlueDotS-Carolina]

12. They were going to replace them...

Now it appears they will modernize them with glass avionics, reinforce the wings, thus they can remain in service with the Snowbirds for another decade or more. Of note, it wasn't a correction, just thinking of my late Dad, a WWII RCAF pilot, who hated that the Canadian Government dropped the RCAF name and changed it to air arm, Canadian Forces. They returned to the former RCAF a few years ago.

Again, thank you for the great pics.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

16. It was my pleasure.

I should point out that the Canadian flyers are one of the most popular parts of the show.

[FuzzyRabbit]

5. More nice pics. Thanks.

I noticed yesterday that the propellers on the prop planes were quite sharp. So I wonder what shutter speed did you use to get such clear shots?

Of the thousands of photos of the Blue Angels in Seattle that I printed at the photo lab, nearly all were of black F-18s backlit against a bright blue sky. How do you get such good photos of the planes against such a bright sky -- editing software for brightness and contrast?

Anyway, great photos!

[Grumpy Old Guy]

7. Thanks FuzzyRabbit.

I shot these at 1/2000th of a second. I was actually going to go faster, but the pro photographers I was shooting with talked me out of it. I'm still wondering if I did the right thing.

You are absolutely right about the Blue Angels. Those pics were by far the hardest to get right. I would say the planes were a bit lighter than Navy blue but not quite royal blue. The exposures were further complicated by the fact that they were the last event of the day, starting their routine about 3:30 P.M. The sun was getting lower and they were harshly backlit.

I generally prefer shooting RAW and adjusting the colors myself in Adobe Camera Raw. In this case I went a step further. I selected the jets in Photoshop using luminance masking. Then I brought the exposure and saturation up on them, leaving the rest of the image alone. If you look at the shot of the two jets over the lifeguard tower you'll see that the saturation is too hot.

I really enjoy the editing. I created some custom presets with the first few shots, which I could use for the rest of the images. However, they didn't help much with the Blue Angels shots. I had to do each one of those individually.

Grumpy

[FuzzyRabbit]

10. Thanks, Grumpy.

[groundloop]

24. You might try going even slower for prop planes.

I've attended several talks by professional aviation photographers and they pointed out that prop planes just flat out look wrong if the prop is totally stopped in a photograph.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

25. That is a very good point.

Thanks!

[burrowowl]

6. Some really good shots!

[czarjak]

8. What a difference a day makes. Ecological disasters aren't worth it unless they are?

[Grumpy Old Guy]

9. It's tragic!

That section of the coastline has a lot of wetlands. This is a real tragedy.

[Irish_Dem]

11. Great pictures! I feel like I was actually there watching all of it!

Thank you for taking the pics and posting them!

[Grumpy Old Guy]

13. Thanks all for the kind words.

[housecat]

14. The pilots are beyond amazing

[Retired Engineer Bob]

15. Excellent photos

Thank you for posting

[Grumpy Old Guy]

21. Thank you!

[AndyS]

17. Ya' did good, My Friend.

It was good to see the vintage Blue Angels. They made some beautiful airplanes back when.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

23. Thanks Andy!

[BigmanPigman]

18. The Miramar Base in San Diego has an airshow

every year and they would practice overhead of my 1st grade classroom. We couldn't hear and it was distracting so every year I would take my class outside to play for 30 minutes so we could all watch. I also made it into a mini Science lesson about how sound and light travels in waves (the roar of the plane could be heard after the plane had already flown out of sight). I wanted to see them as much as the kids.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

19. How cool!

I bet the kids loved it. That's something they'll remember the rest of their lives.

[Beacool]

20. Beautiful photos.

Lovely composition.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

22. Thank you!

[Duppers]

26. WOWZER!

What great shots!

Sorry to just now respond, Grumpy.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

27. Thanks Duppers! ❤

[Duppers]

28. Back at ya, my friend.

[Demovictory9]

29. Very nice

[SunSeeker]

30. Beautiful, and bittersweet, knowing oil was fouling the ocean there as the air show went on.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

31. Those were my thoughts as well..