Warbird Information Exchange

As Neal says, practice, practice and then practice some more. Find out what settings work best, how to use the available light to best advantage, and practice your panning technique on moving objects. Find the limitations of your equipment, and learn to work within them. Learn the image manipulation software that you're going to be using, as an average image can always be improved in Photoshop (or whatever you're using) and a good one made really great. And when you're done doing that, go out with your camera and practice some more.

Talk to other photographers at airshows, most are friendly (they don't often bite!) and are only too willing to share tips and advice. Look at web forums, especially those specialising in your chosen equipment. There is also at least one that specialises in aviation photography. Buy the occasional photo magazine (there are well over a dozen on sale in most Borders or Barnes & Nobles) and read some of the technique articles, again, always something new to learn.

And buy some more memory cards and a spare battery (and keep it charged) - you can NEVER have too much memory, and your battery will ALWAYS die at the most inconvenient moment.

Chris,

One of the previous posters referred to UV and Skylite filters as "cheap pieces of glass". I would definitely not consider a filter by HOYA or B&W a cheap piece of glass. They are optical-quality glass and are coated to reduce reflections with the same material as used on lenses.

In buying lenses, they're what get the light to the sensor, so you need to buy the best lens you can afford. Investing another $50-60 to protect this lens is just good insurance.

Walt

Always be aware of where the sun is. This can make or break a good shot, plus, if you pan across to the sun at 300mm, that hurts!

I shoot with a D50 (over 23,000 shots so far). Set your AF to continuous, ISO auto. If shooting props in the air, 1/400 shutter speed will give you some reasonable prop blur with good focus. Once you get it down, you can reduce the shutter speed for more prop blur.

You have the center "ring" in the viewfinder. If the airplane doesn't at least fill that circle, then don't bother. At 6.1 megapixels, your crop factor will leave you little to play with if the airplane is not even close to filling that circle. For panning shots, plan where you will be the stablest and most comfortable and try to shoot the pan shot there. This will reduce camera shake.

For static and taxiing aircraft, I did a little write up on my website that you are welcome to read.

http://www.vg-photo.com/articles/apt1.html

Any questions, feel free to ask.

P51Mstg,

PM Sent.

John