Saturday, June 23, 2007

California Capital Airshow '07

There's a certain energy, stress, angst, whatever associated with the end of the school year. Upon finalizing the check-out process, I'm typically overcome with an uncontrollable urge to go out and shoot something. With my camera, that is. Jeez, people!

Last year I spent some time in Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Parks. This year, I attended the California Capital Airshow. I had never shot an airshow before, so I stood to learn a thing or two.

I shot about 2000 frames with my trusty Canon EOS 10D digital SLR, most with my 100-400mm f/4L IS lens.

I winnowed that down to fewer than 200 keepers that I posted here.

I'm in the process of filtering that down to a smaller set that I'm willing to work on. The finished products are being posted here:
http://phyz.smugmug.com/gallery/3044261

Again, this is my first airshow shoot. So I make no claims about the composition, sharpness, or quality of the post-processing work. This is not where the poetic champions compose. But some of the finished images turned out OK.

I'm finished with the Thunderbirds and B-2 shots and am working backward through other aerial spectacles and static displays.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jeez, Dean. Great shots and an ancient Van Morrison reference, to boot. Great Saturday morning reading, indeed. Doug

Dean Baird said...

Thanks Doug. There are folks who do this kind of photography very well. This was my first attempt, and my aspirations here are entirely amateur. And I guess when you listen to a lot of music, the collected lyrics stand at the ready when you're looking for a quick way to provide a description.