Bennygman

Knew you'd come around mate

Yeah I agree, for what it's worth I think it was a great show and a lot of fun. Saturday I watched from the crowd-line as the light was better for the display, Sunday I camped out by the T-Birds pan and watched the whole thing from start-up to shut down (also got the B-1 doing (presumably) a botched approach and knife-edge pass directly over my head. Sadly the camera was in the bag as I watched him streaming vapour in what would have been the shot of the weekend :shithappens: ). Sadly I also had to listen to a couple of 'experts' yelling at the ground crew to "stop F'ing about and get them in the air", as well a commenting on the female pilots' lack of flying skills. Needless to say this from two guys who could lose ten stone each and still not fit into an F-16. I was so tempted to ask how many fast jet formation hours their opinions were based on...but why spoil a great day out? The worst I could say about the ground routine is that it was quite funny in places, like when they march towards the planes with boarding ladders held in outstretched arms. I've heard a lot of crap talked about them leading up to the weekend, "they won't fly in less than perfect conditions", "they take over the airfield and make everything else wait while they do the ground show", etc. All man-vegetables, frankly. They couldn't have been visual with the field at all times on Sunday, and most of the USAF displays took place during their ground run and taxi. That said, they were one of the few acts to do a rolling display on Sat', though Sun was understandable. Sunday's display may also have been shorter by a couple of passes, that was my impression but I could be wrong. At the end of the day they are a 'precision flight demonstration team', not an 'Aerobatic team'. What they did, they did very well I thought. Oh, and the team photographer is a real babe , but that has no bearing on my comments above (honest). Steve. Number Six is a girl, Steve

Well, somebody had to say it (make mine a cheese feast pizza with extra cheese). If you're lucky this will be my last set from RIAT... Steve.

'Fraid not Scott - damn. Are you looking for crew names etc? If so then I have about 60 shots of '951 / '701 (interestingly the latter didn't have any) that were at Waddington including crew details for '951. If you're thinking 1/48 scale for the Hobby Boss kit I'll be your best friend for life Yes - A Brit clamoring for 1/48 decals, whatever next . Edit - just remembered this one, it's a bit of a crop but you can see he wasn't carrying any either. Edit 2 - so many pics, so little time - here's a better one (PM me for a bigger version). (Apologies for posting pics in Phil's thread) Steve.

Should be even more fun masking it in model form Steve.

Thanks guys, it was a great day especially after soggy Sunday. Phil, help yourself mate, PM me if you'd like a bigger version or my A-10 walk around from Waddo (including the rear-end). Gary, I like to think of P&V West as the 'gentleman's end' (so to speak). It's a lot less hectic than East. When I arrived at about 06:30 there were more queuing for East than I saw in West by mid-afternoon. The only downside as you say is that some of the flash buggers (RAF Typhoon, Mirages and Sadly the Indians) go off like rockets opposite the FRIAT stand (over to you Andy). Thankfully some of the others realise that low and fast is just as spectacular and you get a few wing-waves too. What say we make a day of it next year? Steve.

One of my objectives for this years RIAT was to shoot the Nighthawk before it's imminent retirement. Thankfully the sun played ball on Saturday and a series of overshoots while they rigged the arrestor gear provided plenty of opportunities. We got multiple passes rather than the take-off, circuit and land that I've seen before. Really quite chuffed with this set... I think I have a new model project forming. Steve.

Nice shooting Andy - and thanks for confirming that was Bruce in the Bulldog. I thought it was, but at my age the eyes sometimes play tricks Steve.

What a superb selection - so many different finishes and all nicely reproduced. Favorite for me has to be the 'Stang though. Steve.

Nice catch on the Frecce Mike - did you hear their commentator? "and here they go; up into-ah the sky!" One of the truly great teams. Steve.

Wow! you guys have been busy with the photo posts, while I was stuck at Sunny/Rainy Fairford I won't duplicate the fine static coverage, and I haven't looked at my cards from the show days, so here's a few from Monday in P&V West... What a monster... Great seeing this powering up in front of me ... Some exotic visitors... I do like a head-on taxi shot... Always think this might be my last chance to photograph a 'Spook' ... Awesome (Sorry, been reading the Thunderbird's brochure) sight and sound from the Pave-low Now, if you were driving the truck, wouldn't you be just a teeny bit nervous? This was one of those "he isn't is he? oh sh*t, yes he is!" moments ... A good day for big choppers ... RAF's new toy... The day's second best departure - fast and low by the Italians... And the best, low, slow and with multiple wing-overs by the boys from th 81st. Have to say these guys are the most crowd-friendly aircrew I've come across. They've been a credit to the USAF during their summer in the UK... (note the 'hang loose' gesture by the pilot)... All in all, a cracking day, and at £16 still the best value for money to be had over the Fairford weekend. Hopefully I can sort out a few from the show days tomorrow. Steve.

Ah yes, I was behind the portacabin you describe. I had a guy on a ladder doing the same thing - just amazes me really. You did well under the circumstances. Steve.

Some nice pics there Ted, you can't have been positioned too far away from me judging by those approach shots. I'm a bit jealous of the wildcat pics - for some reason I get the wobbles whenever that comes past, I haven't got a decent shot of it in the air in about twelve attempts now Steve.

Thanks Guys. Kyrre, the P-51 was taken at 1/60th. I have one at 1/50th where the prop was actually a complete circle, but unfortunately it was badly blurred by camera shake. I have a particular problem with that and without the Image Stabilization there's no way I could hand-hold at those speeds. Just packing for Fairford now - see you in a few days. Steve.

Then you sir, are a jammy git! (my dream kit, but no way I could justify the cost to myself, never mind the girlfriend). Steve.

Yep, but bear in mind that the over exposure will again apply to the whole image so you could completley blow out the sky depending on the light conditions (the plane will generally come out better though). I have several shots of nicely exposed planes on an almost pure white background. Gundy, would I be right in saying that the method described only applies with the camera in manual? In any of the semi-Automatic modes the camera will have decided what the exposure is going to be, so adjusting the aperture will cause an automatic change in shutter speed to compensate. The only difference with going from F11 to F8 should be a small decrease in depth of field. In manual mode an aperture change will indeed have the effect you describe, but in semi-auto (eg Shutter or Aperture priority) you would need to use the exposure compensation button to override the camera's decision(on the Canon at least). Fair point? or am I talking cobblers ? Steve.

Nice pic Bob -like it. Just to add to what's been said above. The danger of using shadow/highlight is that it effects the whole picture and can radically alter the colour of the background too if you're not careful. What I've begun doing is to use the lassoo / selection tool to select an area (eg the underside of the plane in this shot) and apply the shadow adjustment (or better still a levels adjustment) to just that area. Can't honestly say I always do it that way, but I think it's the best option. I sometimes find its worth adding a touch of contrast after adjusting shadows as otherwise you can get a bit of a washed out look. The most important bit is in your title though - you're pleased with it, so that makes it a good shot in my book. Re the prop blur. I personally don't think it's too much of a problem from directly side on like this, though the point is definitely valid. The amount of blur visible varies with the viewing angle. From directly in front you get a lot, but from the side, not so much so the lack of it here is less of a problem than head on where you'd see what would look like a stationary prop. All down to personal preference though, in this case the speed used has guaranteed a nice sharp plane. For reference, I use 1/250 for airborne props as I find that gives a good compromise between a bit of prop blur and not having to bin loads of unsharp pics (slower on the ground - I found that 1/50 gave me an almost full arc on a taxiing P-51, but it's a bugger to hold steady). Steve.

If you're going Sunday it might be worth checking the shelves for a waterproof housing too. Hopefully that'll change in the next few days though. Steve.

I'm very well acquainted with that technique myself . Bugger about the cancellations, but I must get down one year if only to see the commando assault. Steve.

Nice, were these shot on digital? Some (like the hunter) have a very 'filmy' look about them as if they've been scanned. if they're digital then it's a neat trick I considered Yeovilton this year but it clashed with Legends. At one point I had the crazy plan of flying down with Classic wings from Coventry, but in a rare moment of common sense I abandoned the idea. Did the Greek A-7s make it down? Steve.

Thanks guys, glad you like them Mike; if you've not been then it's well worth it. If you've ever heard a Spitfire on full throttle, then the first time you hear up to nine of them simultaneously (or four or more Mustangs) it'll blow you away. If you're standing in a particular spot at the Western end then the prop-wash could do likewise - I'm not complaining, but I think the rules on overflying the crowd get a bit flexed at times. I remember last year that a couple of Spits came over extremely low on take-off, the first thing I saw was lots of people instinctively ducking, the second was lots of people looking at each other with big stupid grins on their faces - I know, I was one of them This was one of the 'offenders'... Darius; I'm using a 300mm lens at the moment, which on a Canon 20D is equivalent to 480mm. Some of these also have a crop in Photoshop to tidy up the composition, but some like the Skyraider are more or less full frame. Although as you say I was back from the crowd line, I was in the spot where they bank around to line up onto the display axis, so they are often closer to you at that point and with the added advantage of being banked towards you and in full sunlight. I think its a great spot to shoot from. An added advantage is that if you're not bothered with taxiing shots then it doesn't matter about being at the front as you're looking up and over people's heads a lot of the time anyway. Steve.

Here's my favorites from Flying Legends last Saturday. All taken from behind the Portacabin that was serving as a terminal out side the Airspace hangar. Popular opinion has it that the Land warfare end is best for photography, and that has its merits, but the M11 end offers some nice views as they pull around onto the display line from over the motorway. This was the best I could do with the Heritage flight - be nice to see it in the sun at RIAT, hopefully with Glacier Girl included this time! Legends is about warbirds though and there were plenty about! it's not obvious from the shot, but this was a knife-edge pass directly overhead... I don't know if it's just the perspective, but I hadn't realised just how big mustang's actually were... Love 'em or loath 'em the re-enactors certainly give you a few different photo options... real shame we didn't see this in the air... Really good day out in the end, and to think I nearly didn't bother. At the end of the day though if you can't be arsed to drive 17 miles to the world's best warbird show then you should really have your plane-nuts license revoked! Roll on RIAT, Steve.

Yeah maybe, but with that kind of quality who needs quantity? Really nice job Steve.

Got one at Legends Saturday and looked through the box in the car. here's my very initial impressions. Looked good to me with some nice engraved detail, though I did find the sprue layouts a bit confusing with a lot of duplications/alternate parts it seemed (good for the spares box). Rather strange construction for the two-bladed prop, but I'm sure it'll work ok. Decals look good, though the dot-matrix is visible on some items (the sky fuselage band, and the '19s' on the Duxford machine). Full-colour painting guide was unexpected but welcome. looking forward to building it, and may consider another to build the other decal option. Steve.

Nice shots Darius. I like the Balbo and the B-25 top side. Glad to see you got a decent one of the F-15E Dedication pass too, he was ripping some vapour wasn't he? I was surprised how fast he came in - much quicker than the F-15C at RIAT last year I thought. He caught me on the hop slightly - suffice to say every shot I took of that ended up in the bin! (though I did get a eye-wateringly sharp one...that cropped off just behind the canopy - Doh!!) I did at least find the Heritage stand this time, but I'd already 'blown my wad' on a Hobbyboss A-10 (Mike's fault, he more or less told me to do it!) Great to see the sun again for the first time since Biggin! Just finished editing mine - should be posting a few tomorrow. Steve.