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I saw the Thunderbirds when they performed in Waikiki in 2007 and I had just started to learn to take pictures w/ my XT so I was so excited to hear they came back and I would get another chance to take pictures of them. My friend, her niece and nephew and I was fortunate to be at Hickam for their open house and the Thunderbird air show this weekend . There were restrictions on what you can bring and I brought my 70-200mm lens but had to keep the lens and body separate so that it could fit into an 8"x8" bag..OK..it was more like 8"x9". Therefore, I was limited to close shots but I managed to take a panaoramic of the Thunderbirds just so I can get all 6 of them together.
I think I had to stand several hundred yards away to fit the entire plane into my shot. I don't know if this was old the Air Force One, but it sure looked like it. It was so hot that people found shade sitting under the airplane wings.
We visited the different planes on display where there were photo ops for kids.
It was so hot, anyone who can find some shade was very lucky.
I was surprised to find the Thunderbirds parked right on the air strip in plain site.
The show started about 5 minutes late, but it started w/ a boom and with grand maneuvers. I had such a hard time getting them in focus thru all the excitement.
After trying Av, Tv and even P settings, I was able to finally get some focused shots and settled on using Tv (Shutter priority) @ 1/1250 and ISO 200. I kept the focus point at the center because they were so fast, my camera didn't seem to be able to pick the right place to focus.
They were so noisy with their fly by the kids had to cover their ears.
Most of the time, there were 4 Thunderbirds flying together, then the other two would do solo maneuvers.
I think they called this the "mirror formation".
Here's a crop of the planes. It looks like I photoshopped them together.. but i didn't. They were THAT close..
The other two planes joined the rest and as I was just getting the hang of tracking them w/ my focus point, the show was over.
I was surprised that they came in for a landing right in front of the audience. Everyone started to leave for their cars, which gave me a chance to jockey to the front to get close up shots of the planes as they taxi back to their respective spots.
The whole deplaning process was a ceremony too.
I stayed and watched as the pilots came toward the crowd were I was standing.
They handed out booklets for the kids and the pilots signed autograph and I went totally "papparazzi " and started snapping shots of the pilots.
There was also a female pilot of the group, but I don't think she flew today.
To avoid the mass traffic jam leaving Hickam, the kids had shaved ice and we sat to watch this band play. It was a super hot day...but well worth it to wait in the hot sun to watch the magnificent Thunderbirds.
I think I had to stand several hundred yards away to fit the entire plane into my shot. I don't know if this was old the Air Force One, but it sure looked like it. It was so hot that people found shade sitting under the airplane wings.
We visited the different planes on display where there were photo ops for kids.
It was so hot, anyone who can find some shade was very lucky.
I was surprised to find the Thunderbirds parked right on the air strip in plain site.
The show started about 5 minutes late, but it started w/ a boom and with grand maneuvers. I had such a hard time getting them in focus thru all the excitement.
After trying Av, Tv and even P settings, I was able to finally get some focused shots and settled on using Tv (Shutter priority) @ 1/1250 and ISO 200. I kept the focus point at the center because they were so fast, my camera didn't seem to be able to pick the right place to focus.
They were so noisy with their fly by the kids had to cover their ears.
Most of the time, there were 4 Thunderbirds flying together, then the other two would do solo maneuvers.
I think they called this the "mirror formation".
Here's a crop of the planes. It looks like I photoshopped them together.. but i didn't. They were THAT close..
The other two planes joined the rest and as I was just getting the hang of tracking them w/ my focus point, the show was over.
I was surprised that they came in for a landing right in front of the audience. Everyone started to leave for their cars, which gave me a chance to jockey to the front to get close up shots of the planes as they taxi back to their respective spots.
The whole deplaning process was a ceremony too.
I stayed and watched as the pilots came toward the crowd were I was standing.
They handed out booklets for the kids and the pilots signed autograph and I went totally "papparazzi " and started snapping shots of the pilots.
There was also a female pilot of the group, but I don't think she flew today.
To avoid the mass traffic jam leaving Hickam, the kids had shaved ice and we sat to watch this band play. It was a super hot day...but well worth it to wait in the hot sun to watch the magnificent Thunderbirds.
2 comments:
Very, very nice, you got great shots at Hickam! I like the formation, pilot and kid shots. Great job! Much better than 07!
Very good blog. Very informative and very good shots. The kids look so cute looking up and covering their ears.
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