Airspeed - The Magazine for Aviation Photographers

2023 Year in Review

NATO Tiger Meet

Field Test Sigma Lens and Much More!

WELCOME TO THE 2024 MARCH ISSUE OF AIRSPEED !

ISAP 2023 Year In Review

Ben Ullings Bob Driver Dragos Munteanu Gary Daniels

Jeff Krueger Jim Koepnick John Ford Kelley Hammond

Kevin Hong Larry Grace Marc Farb Mark Streit Moose Peterson

Robert Allen Scott Slingsby

Buckeye Air Fest

Larry Grace

Red Flag 24-1

Rob Tabor

NATO Tiger Meet

Dragos Munteanu

American Society Aviation Artists

Larry Grace

A Pilot’s Glory

Tom Pawlesh

NAS Oceana 2023 Airshow Recap

Frank Moriarty

Romanian Blackhawks

Dragos Munteanu

Star Wars Canyon

Rob Tabor

ISAP Members’ Showcase

Mark Streit Eric Mason Marc Farb

How I Got The Shot

Aviation Photo Crew Glen Bloore Steve Zimmermann

Field Test: Sigma 60-600mm Sports Lens

Jim Koepnick

Camera Basics

Mike Meyer

Meet Our Members

Chaz Teets Gary Risley

Airplane Silhouettes

John Ford

Front Cover

F-117 flying low level near Sequoia National Forest.

James Reeder

Camera: Canon 5Ds Lens: Canon 100 - 400mm f/4.5-5.6l IS II USM lens with 1.4x III teleconverter

Shutter speed: 1/800 ISO: 500 Exposure: f/8

Back Cover

L-39 flying through Star Wars Canyon

Rob Tabor

Camera: Canon Z9 Lens: NIKKOR Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR

Shutter speed: 1/3200 ISO: 640 Exposure: f/6.3

Roy Deters

Robert Eastman

Josh Hill

Donald Horn

Susan Koppel

NEW AND RETURNING ISAP MEMBERS

Greg Lund

Chris Malone

Robert Marcy

Lawrence Melby

Greg Meland

Frank Moriarty

Tom Pawlesh

Gary Risley

Glenn Riegel

Sandro Sartori

David Stein

Chaz Teets

Steven Welch

Johannes Winkelmann

Peter Yee

The goal of International Society for Aviation Photography (ISAP) is to bring together our members who share a love of aviation, and want to preserve its history through their images. Through our organization, members can seek to enhance their artistic quality, advance technical knowledge, and improve safety for all areas of aviation photography while fostering professionalism, high ethical standards, and camaraderie.

ISAP continues to help our members to better their photography skills, workflow, and set up resources to help with business questions that our members have. Updates are being made to the ISAP website and member portfolio section, and we are showcasing ISAP members’ images and accomplishments on our social media pages.

The new Airspeed magazine will highlight ISAP members and their photography, experiences, and their passion for aviation from around the world. From military and commercial aviation, you’ll be able to see it all while learning about aviation photography, post processing tips in Lightroom and Photoshop, aviation history, air show reports, aviation museums, and more. We look forward to sharing our members’ images and articles with everyone.

Enjoy this issue of Airspeed!

Sincerely,

Larry Grace, ISAP President

Kevin Hong, Airspeed Editor

International Society for Aviation Photography www.aviationphoto.org • www.facebook.com/ISAPorg

Airspeed is a periodic publication of the International Society for Aviation Photography and is used to communicate news, functions, convention information, and other information of interest on the local, regional, and national scenes. The views and opinions expressed in this magazine are those of the authors and should not be construed as the views or opinions of the International Society for Aviation Photography.

Steve Zimmermann

International Society

2023 YEAR IN REVIEW

Every year our ISAP members travel around the world to capture civilian and military aviation. Our organization consists of members that are beginners up to professional photographers. In this section of the magazine, the photos were taken last year to highlight some of our members greatest experiences of 2023. We hope you enjoy the issue and many more years of great photography.

-Kevin Hong, Airspeed Editor

Aviation Photography©

Jim Koepnick

Travel Air 4000 NC4257, based in the UK, pictured near Schaffen-Diest in Belgium, where it attended the annual fly-in.

Camera: Nikon Z7 II Lens: NIKKOR Z 24-120mm f/4 S ISO: 200

Shutter speed: 1/250 Exposure: f/7.1

Camera: Nikon Z7 II Lens: NIKKOR Z 24-120mm f/4 S ISO: 200

Shutter speed: 1/250 Exposure: f/7.1

Scottish Aviation Bulldog PH-BLD in Swedish Army colors Over IJssel river, The Netherlands.

Camera: Nikon Z7 II Lens: NIKKOR Z 24-120mm f/4 S ISO: 200

Shutter speed: 1/250 Exposure: f/13

Beechcraft Bonanza N25FP with Palace Het Loo near Apeldoorn, The Netherlands as a background.

Camera: Nikon Z7 II Lens: NIKKOR Z 24-120mm f/4 S ISO: 250

Shutter speed: 1/80 Exposure: f/13

Grumman Gulfstream 550 Japanese Coast Guard with a temporary Dutch registration, joined during a test flight over the province of Zeeland, The Netherlands, following extensive conversions performed by Fokker Techniek at Woensdrecht.

Camera: Nikon Z8 Lens: NIKKOR Z 14-24mm ISO: 100

Shutter speed: 1/8 Exposure: f/11

P-51 Wee Willy II photographed just as the sun rises at the Apple Valley Air Show. This P-51 is from the Planes of Fame collection based in Chino, CA. Thank you to Susie Harrison and the team that comes together to put on and promote this show. Apple Valley is one of those intimate shows that gets too often overlooked.

Lone Thunderbird in flight during the last day of winter practice at Edwards AFB, CA. The haze in the sky, the smoke trail from the other jets and the light all came together to add some additional interest in the background, setting it apart from the other “Blue-sky” images captured for the most part that day.

Camera: Nikon Z9 Lens: Nikkor Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 with TC-1.4x @420mm ISO: 720

Shutter speed: 1/4000 Exposure: f/7.6

Bob Driver

Sammy Mason putting his Pitts S2-C through its paces in the afternoon session after performing in his Edge 540 earlier in the morning, dueling with Edan Shalev in his GameBird. This all took place at the Wings Over Camarillo Air Show on Saturday. The Sunday event was rained out when a tropical storm made its appearance known late Saturday afternoon.

Camera: Nikon Z8 Lens: Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-5.6 ISO: 64

Shutter speed: 1/125 Exposure: f/11

Bob Driver

Bob

Thunderbird crewman’s routine before the canopy closes previous to getting ready for flight. The image was less than exciting in color, so a monochrome approach was explored. Personally, I think it adds more drama and places the emphasis on the crew member. The rim light completes the look. Image taken at the Thunderbirds last day of Winter Practice at Edwards AFB, CA.

Camera: Nikon Z9 Lens: Nikkor 100-400mm with TC-1.4x @560mm ISO: 200

Shutter speed: 1/640 Exposure: f/8

Three jet legends in the sky - A unique formation at Air Legend 2023 - an annual event close to Paris, France, Aerodrome Melun Villaroche. Me-262, MiG-15 and F-86 Sabre.

Camera: Nikon D500 Lens: Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3 S ISO: 160

Shutter speed: 1/1000 Exposure: f/6.3

E-3F AWACS of the French Air Force at its home base - Avord Airbase in central France. In September 2023 an airshow was organized at this airbase where the 4 AWACS French fleet is based.

Camera: Nikon D500 Lens: Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3 S ISO: 160

Shutter speed: 1/1000 Exposure: f/5

B-52 USAF Picture taken at the Royal International Air Tattoo 2023 when the mighty bomber was present on static and flying display.

Camera: Nikon D500 Lens: Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3 S ISO: 400 Shutter speed: 1/1200 Exposure: f/6.3

Dragos Munteanu

F-104 Starfighter - My personal highlight for 2023? There were many bucket lists achievements in 2023 but the Starfighter was just amazing. And seeing one flying in Europe was unique. It happened on the Centenary Airshow of the Italian Air Force (Aeronautica Militare) in Gioia del Colle airbase, close to Rome. The F-104 was the backbone fighter type of the Italian Air Force for decades so for its 100 years celebration a huge logistical operation was mounted. The Starfighter was brought from the US in an Italian C-130J Hercules. Seeing it flying was so rewarding!

Camera: Nikon D500 Lens: Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3 S ISO: 125

Shutter speed: 1/1600 Exposure: f/6.3

Job Savage rounds Outer Pylon 2 at the Reno Air Races Final Flag 2023.

Camera: Nikon 850 Lens: Nikon 28-300mm ISO: 100

Shutter speed: 1/400 Exposure: f/13

U.S. Navy Blue Angels ready for their performance at the Tinker Air Force Base Airshow in July.

Camera: Nikon 850 Lens: Nikon 200-500mm ISO: 100

Shutter speed: 1/1000 Exposure: f/6.3

Airborne

Camera: Nikon 850 Lens: Nikon 24-120mm ISO: 800

Shutter speed: 3 sec Exposure: f/13

WWII

Demonstration Team C-49 WildKat (closest) and C-47 Boogie Baby night engine run.

Gary Daniels

Classic Jet Aircraft Association Formation Clinic multi-ship formation flight.

Camera: Nikon 850 Lens: Nikon 24-120mm ISO: 200 Shutter speed: 1/320 Exposure: f/16

JEFF KRUEGER

As in years past, except during COVID, 2023 offered a lot of great airshow photo opportunities. Again, this year, I found myself focusing on warbirds and military demo teams as well as highlighting those images in posts, articles and my website.

When I was told about the Airspeed magazine call for images on “2023 Year in Review” I started looking at my work from the past year and decided that it would be interesting to show some of the other fantastic aircraft and skilled flying of the aerobatic and civilian pilots that entertain airshow crowds everywhere.

It was fun to actually go through and pay more attention to these images. My pledge for 2024 is to expand my horizons at airshows and pay more attention to these great performers and spend more time on commercial and civil aircraft.

Camera: Canon R5 Lens: Canon RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM ISO: 160

Shutter speed: 1/200 Exposure: f/16

Kyle Franklin Flying Circus.

Kevin Coleman flying the Red Bull Extra 300s.

Camera: Canon R5 Lens: Canon RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM ISO: 200

Shutter speed: 1/320 Exposure: f/18

L IS USM ISO: 200

Patty Wagstaff flying the Extra 300s.

Camera: Canon R5 Lens: Canon RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1

Shutter speed: 1/500 Exposure: f/11

Stearman aerobatics by Vicki Benzing.

Camera: Canon R5 Lens: Canon RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM ISO: 200

Shutter speed: 1/500 Exposure: f/11

Canon R5 Lens: Canon RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM ISO: 200

Shutter speed: 1/640 Exposure: f/10

Skip Stewart knife edge pass.

Camera:

Camera: Sony A7R5 Lens: Sigma 24-70mm DGDN Art

ISO: 100 Shutter speed: 1/80 Exposure: f/8

Two Cirrus 2024 G7 aircraft in formation over the Gulf of Mexico.

Cirrus 2024 G7 takes off from Plant City, FL airport.

Camera: Sony A1 Lens: Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 DGDN Sports

ISO: 160 Shutter speed: 1/60 Exposure: f/13

China Southern landing at Los Angeles International Airport.

Camera: Leica SL2S Lens: Sigma 500mm f/5.6 DGDN

ISO: 200 Shutter speed: 1/1600 Exposure: f/5.6

Jim Koepnick

A few days before Thanksgiving I rolled into Tucson, AZ., near the end of a 6 and a half month long road trip around the country. This trip meandered through 26 states and covered more than 22,000 miles. I was looking forward to visiting with John Sepp and his wife Nancy for a few days before ending my trip in San Diego, CA. John and I planned two days of shooting at Pima Air & Space Museum, and we did spend two late afternoons walking amongst the aircraft while the winter sun slowly set.

As we aimlessly worked our way through the ever changing composition in front of us, John telling me in detail about many of the aircraft, I would disappear having spotted what I thought was a cool shot. I would hear “where the hell did he go?” It seems that I have the attention span of a gnat much of the time. He would find me under the wing of some aircraft shooting something a couple of hundred yards away, or backing up trying to get just the right composition. A lot of my time is spent just trying to find the right vantage point for the image developing in my mind. When we were done we would spend some time looking at the results. Then it was off to dinner and a well earned beer in great company. These four shots are my favorites.

John Ford

John Ford

It was a photo mission eighteen months in the making. Pemberton & Sons acquired a N3N that had never been flown by a civilian. A “back of the barn” find ended up in Spokane where it was brought back to how it last flew in Penscola, FL in 1946. It was 24 August when the N3N-3 on floats first flew. I was “stuffed” into the back of a cub on floats and launched off the Spokane River following the N3N-3. The next hour was a magical photo mission after which we both landed on a lake to finish photographing the N3N-3 in action.

Camera: Nikon Z9 Lens: NIKKOR Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S Z TC-1.4x

ISO: 100 Shutter speed: 1/100 Exposure: f/14

N3N-3 landing on water.

Camera: Nikon Z9 Lens: NIKKOR Z 400mm f/4.5 VR S Z TC-1.4x

ISO: 100 Shutter speed: 1/60 Exposure: f/16

Moose Peterson

A Horizon Air Embraer 175 (branded as Alaska Airlines) prepares for a late evening clear sky departure at BOI. The pilots are transitioning from taxiway Alpha onto the active 28R runway and ATC immediately clears them for their takeoff role.

Camera: Nikon Z9 Lens: Nikkor VR 200-500mm f/5.6E

ISO: 64 Shutter speed: 1/1000 Exposure: f/5.6

Like any other area within outdoor photography, it’s about waiting for the good light. Aviation is no different. A blue hour final approach of an Alaska Airlines Embraer 175 onto RW 10R at BOI. The orange streak is the sunset reflecting off the fuselage.

Camera: Nikon Z6 Lens: NIKKOR Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR

ISO: 12800 Shutter speed: 1/250 Exposure: f/6.3

Robert Allen

Camera: Nikon Z9 Lens: NIKKOR VR 200-500mm f/5.6E

ISO: 64 Shutter speed: 1/80 Exposure: f/14

Brad Wursten performs at the 2023 Gowen Thunder Airshow in Boise, Idaho. At the bottom of a loop, he throttles his MXS, powered by a Lycon Lycoming IO540 385 HP engine with a Hartzell Claw propeller.

Robert Allen

Mark Peterson fly’s his P-51 Mustang Diamondback at the 2023 Gowen Thunder Airshow in Boise, Idaho.

Camera: Nikon Z9 Lens: NIKKOR VR 200-500mm f/5.6E

ISO: 64 Shutter speed: 1/125 Exposure: f/16

Robert Allen

Airspray Lockheed Electra

Last summer, in the midst of the Canadian wildfires, we were dispatched to Fort McMurry, Alberta, Canada to pick up some passengers and bring them back to the states. While waiting for the people to arrive this 1967 Lockheed Electra, operated by Air Spray, spooled up at the other end of the field. As it taxied down the ramp I grabbed the camera and walked to the wing tip to grab a few shots.

Camera: Nikon Z6 II Lens: Nikkor VR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G

ISO: 400 Shutter speed: 1/80 Exposure: f/11

Minute Man F-86 Sabre

We arrived in Bozeman, Montana and parked in front of this beautifully restored F-86 Sabre one afternoon. I had previously seen the airplane in the owners hangar a few years ago, but this was the first time I had seen it parked in the open. The airplane is painted in the colors of The Minutemen Colorado ANG 1950s demo team. Unfortunately the owner lost his hangar space and now the jet sits outside now along with his two F-100s and a T-33.

Camera: Nikon Z6 II Lens: Nikkor VR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ISO: 100 Shutter speed: 1/200 Exposure: f/5.6

Scott Slingsby

TWA Connie

Sometimes a picture just falls into your lap. That’s how I got the TWA Connie. I had just flown down to JFK on a JetBlue flight and made my way out to the curb to a find ride to Teterboro when this appeared in front of me. The Connie was one the ones that Lufthansa had in Lewiston, Maine. When their Connie project was scuttled, this one made its way to New York City to be parked infant of the old TWA terminal, now restored as a hotel.

Camera: Nikon Z6 II Lens: Nikkor VR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ISO: 640 Shutter speed: 1/400 Exposure: f/16

Scott Slingsby

MV-22 Ospreys

Arriving for an early morning flight out of Amarillo, Texas I spotted four MV-22 Ospreys parked behind us. When my preflight was complete I went behind the plane to grab a few shots as the summer Texas sun started over the horizon. These Ospreys are attached to Marine Helicopter Squadron (HMX) 1. They are tasked with carrying presidential support staff and news media representatives traveling with the president. The HMX-1 Osprey does not include carrying the President of the United States.

Camera: Nikon Z6 II Lens: Nikkor VR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G

ISO: 100 Shutter speed: 4 sec Exposure: f/14

KELLEY HAMMOND

Nathan Hammond of GhostWriter Airshows & Rob Hollandshot over Batavia, NY before the Wings Over Batavia Airshow in September 2023.

Camera: Canon RP Lens: Canon RF 24-105mm F4 L IS USM

ISO: 100 Shutter speed: 1/100 Exposure: f/14

Camera: Canon RP Lens: Canon RF 24-105mm F4 L IS USM

ISO: 100 Shutter speed: 1/125 Exposure: f/5.6

Nathan Hammond of GhostWriter Airshows in his 1956 DeHavilland DHC-1 Chipmunk. Shot over Stanford, KY in July 2023.

Kelly Hammond

Nathan Hammond of GhostWriter Airshows in his 1956 DeHavilland DHC-1 Chipmunk. Shot over Stanford, KY in July 2023.

Camera: Canon RP Lens: Canon RF 24-105mm F4 L IS USM ISO: 100 Shutter speed: 1/125 Exposure: f/4

Nick Coleman in his Waco Taperwing, affectionately known as Kong. Shot over Springfield, KY following a practice at the Springfield Airport in April 2023.

Camera: Canon RP Lens: Canon RF 100-400mm f/5.6-8 IS USM

ISO: 250 Shutter speed: 1/125 Exposure: f/18

Kelly Hammond

RT Dickson in his P-51 Swamp Fox in Madisonville, KY in October.

Cold temps at altitude, but worth every second!

Camera: Canon RP Lens: Canon RF 24-105mm F4 L IS USM

ISO: 100 Shutter speed: 1/125 Exposure: f/11

Kelly Hammond

Camera: Nikon Z6 Lens: 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports

ISO: 1250 Shutter speed: 1/200 Exposure: f/5

Pilot helmet on P-51 wing at Republic Airport in Long Island, NY.

Camera: Nikon Z6 Lens: Sigma 56mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary

ISO: 450 Shutter speed: 1/3200 Exposure: f/6.3

Folds of Honor aerobatic pilot, Ed “Hamster” Hamill.

Ladies for Liberty performing at EAA AirVenture.

Camera: Sony A9II Lens: Sigma 65mm f/2 DG DN Contemporary

ISO: 100 Shutter speed: 1/250 Exposure: f/4

Camera: Sony A9 II Lens: Sigma 14mm f/1.4 DG DN Art

ISO: 100 Shutter speed: 1/250 Exposure: f/11

Jim Tobul’s Corsair basking in the sun at EAA AirVenture.

Dakota Territory Air Museum’s razorback P-47D photo pass at EAA AirVenture.

Camera: Nikon Z9 Lens: Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports

ISO: 180 Shutter speed: 1/500 Exposure: f/10

Shooting air to air with Kevin Coleman and the Red Bull Air Force out of Commemorative Air Force C-47 That’s All Brother.

Camera: Canon R6 Lens: Canon RF 24-105mm F4 L IS USM

ISO: 160 Shutter speed: 1/80 Exposure: f/20

The next generation of aviators can be found at airshows across the country. While the Blue Angels were performing I always take the time to shoot photos of people watching the show. It’s part of the airshow experience when I can see kids get excited about flying. This was at Defenders of Liberty Airshow at Barksdale AFB.

Camera: Canon R6 Lens: Canon RF RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM

ISO: 1000 Shutter speed: 1/1250 Exposure: f/6.3

Capt. Samuel “RaZZ” Larson going ballistic in the F-22 Raptor during the twilight show demo at EAA Airventure 2023 at Oshkosh, WI.

Camera: Canon R6 Mk II Lens: Canon RF RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM

ISO: 12800 Shutter speed: 1/200 Exposure: f/6.3

ISO:

Major Kristin “Beo” Wolfe creates the vapor cloud with the F-35A Lightning II at sunset during the Wings Over Houston 2023 airshow. Last year was her final year with the USAF F-35 Demo team.

Camera: Canon R6 Mk II Lens: Canon RF RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM

12800 Shutter speed: 1/200 Exposure: f/6.3

Nathan Hammond of Ghostwriter Airshows does a knife edge pass by Hayden Proffitt II in Hot Streak II Jet truck at Chennault International Airshow.

Camera: Canon R6 Lens: Canon RF RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM

ISO: 160 Shutter speed: 1/2000 Exposure: f/5

F4.5-7.1 L IS USM

ISO: 200 Shutter speed: 1/2000 Exposure: f/6.3

US Navy Blue Angels at the Wings Over Wayne Airshow.

Camera: Canon R6 Mk II Lens: Canon RF RF100-500mm

Camera: Canon R6 Mk II Lens: Canon RF RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM

ISO: 400 Shutter speed: 1/320 Exposure: f/7.25

P-51 Swamp Fox at the Wings Over Wayne Airshow.

Lcdr Julius “Whiskers” Bratton getting seated before Blue Angels demo flight.

Camera: Canon R6 Mk II Lens: Canon RF RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM

ISO: 400 Shutter speed: 1/320 Exposure: f/7.25

Blue Angels delta formation.

Camera: Canon R6 Mk II Lens: Canon RF RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM

ISO: 125 Shutter speed: 1/2000 Exposure: f/7.1

F-22 burners and vapor.

Camera: Canon R6 Mk II

Lens: Canon RF RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM

ISO: 125 Shutter speed: 1/2000 Exposure: f/7.1

At rest during the sunset hour at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base the F-5 Tiger II ready for the next day of flying at USAF Heritage Flight Training for the 2023 airshow season.

Camera: Nikon D850 Lens: AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR

ISO: 250 Shutter speed: 1/50 Exposure: f/8

One of two MD Helicopters MH-6 Little Bird getting ready for take of at the 2023 Sun ‘n Fun event.

Camera: Nikon D850 Lens: AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR ISO: 64 Shutter speed: 1/125 Exposure: f/13

Larry Grace

Teaching aerodynamics using a glider.

Camera: Nikon D850 Lens: AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G

ISO: 64 Shutter speed: 1/500 Exposure: f/5.6

Larry Grace

Gravity Industries showcase in flight their jet suits during the twilight airshow at EAA AirVenture.

Camera: Nikon Z9 Lens: NIKKOR 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3E

ISO: 2000 Shutter speed: 1/1600 Exposure: f/5

Larry Grace

Air to air with CAF Grumman F6F Hellcat and Mitsubishi A6M3 Zero over the Arizona landscape during a flight with the Aviation Photo Crew.

Camera: Nikon Z9 Lens: Nikon VR 28-300mm f/3-5.6G ISO: 90 Shutter speed: 1/250 Exposure: f/8

Larry Grace

ISO:

Air to air with the US Navy EA-18G Growler en route to the Davis-Monthan AFB airshow working with the Aviation Photo Crew during their test missions in Arizona.

Camera: Nikon Z9 Lens: Nikon VR 28-300mm f/3-5.6G

220 Shutter speed: 1/2500 Exposure: f/5.3

Larry Grace

The first airshow for 2024 season was at the Buckeye Air Fest in Arizona and in partnership with AOPA was a success with a great turnout. Over the weekend the airshow held both a sunset and night airshow with fireworks. The Buckeye Air Fest saw over 30,000 attendees with 340 aircraft flying in for the weekend.

The following airshow performers and support team for the airshow featured: Jon Melby Airshow, GhostWriter Airshows, A10 Demo Team, Red Thunder Airshows, NextGen Eagles Aerobatic, Franklin’s Flying Circus, Aerial Extreme Skydiving Team, Jeff Overby Announcer, FROST Safety Team, Continental Air Show Productions

Article and photos by Larry Grace/ISAP President

Larry Grace

Larry Grace

Larry Grace

Larry Grace

Larry Grace

Larry Grace

Larry Grace

Larry Grace

Larry Grace

Larry Grace

Larry Grace

Larry Grace

There is an old saying in baseball that goes, “You win some, you lose some, and some you get rained on”, and I can’t think of a better way to encapsulate week two of Red Flag 24-1.

First, the win. With life being what it is sometimes, just being able to carve out seven days to make the trip to Vegas is a victory in and of itself. Then you couple that with seeing good friends again (and meeting some new ones) and five solid days of pointing a camera at the variety of aircraft that Nellis AFB and Red Flag has to offer, well, I can’t see how that’s anything but a win.

As for the loss. As good as the flying activity was, there was one player that remained elusive. The one that I would venture to say was the impetus for many, to make the trek to the meadows in the first place. It’s that multi-billion dollar, radar evading, black bat from Knob Noster. You guessed it, the B-2. For me, the B-2 has been on my “to shoot” list for some time and like it’s knack for eluding radar, it’s been quite successful at evading my lens well.

After seeing numerous social media posts confirming it’s presence at the first week of 24-1, I arrived for the second week with high hopes of ending my B-2 drought. Arriving at the speedway early Monday, we confirmed that there were indeed three on the ramp. Things were looking good, but mother nature had other plans. The weather

conditions on Monday rapidly deteriorated and the Flag was eventually scrubbed. A fourth B-2 made a surprise arrival right after dusk on Tuesday and no amount of de-noise was going to render acceptable results. No worries I thought, four more days to bag that slippery beast. Well, to make a long story nauseating, it just wasn’t in the cards this trip. The B-2’s never flew the remainder of the week.

So, the slump continues. As the old saying goes “Into every life a little rain must fall” and as was alluded to earlier, we did indeed get rained on. Now normally, one would consider that a bad thing and generally for the purposes of outdoor photography it is. However, I have found that interesting skies often accompany inclement weather. Too often, Vegas tends to be the purveyor of cloudless blue expanses and I for one, am more than willing to accept a little precipitation in exchange for more interesting backgrounds. We even had the brief appearance of a rainbow during the Thursday recoveries. Unfortunately, I couldn’t quite get the timing right to get “that shot.”

Overall, despite losing a day of Red Flag activity due to weather and getting shut out by the B-2, again, I’m still glad I made the trip and to keep beating this baseball theme to death, I’m going to put Red Flag 24-1 firmly in the “W” column.

RED FLAG 24-1

Article and photos by Rob Tabor

Rob Tabor

The NATO Tiger Meet (NTM) is an annual exercise involving a large number of NATO squadrons. The aim of the NTM is to exercise the combined large operations of a considerable number of aircraft.

The exercise rotates between the airbases of the squadrons which are Members in the NATO Tiger Association. The traditions of the NATO Tiger units started in the early 60’s and those have evolved into an exercise that is dearly cherished by spotters all around the world. For many years, the Tiger Meet involves a Spotters day in which a limited number of photographers are allowed inside the base to witness firsthand the day’s flying activity. What makes the NTM very interesting is the unique chance to see and photograph the Tiger liveries most squadrons apply on at least one aircraft. Typically, the units change this Tiger livery every year, in an attempt to win the Best Tiger Livery prize.

The 2023 NATO Tiger Meet was organized in October 2023 in Italy, at the Gioia del Colle airbase. Gioia del Colle is located in southern Italy,

in the Puglia Region. 2023 was also the centenary year for the Italian Air Force and many aviation events were organized in Italy to mark the occasion. The participation in this edition of NTM was very strong with 12 countries sending a total of more than 80 aircraft, some countries having even more than one unit participating. During the Spotters day we could see a massive wave launch in the morning and the subsequent recoveries of all aircraft.

In the afternoon, an elephant walk was organized so the Spotters were able to see the aircraft positioning on the runway. As usual it was a great Spotters day - the beautiful weather helped a lot. The best painted aircraft was voted the German Eurofighter from JG74 - the Bavarian Tigers. The 2024 edition of the NTM will take place in Germany in June, organized by the 51 Squadron from Schleswig - operating the Panavia Tornado. Most likely a Spotters day will be organized.

American Society Aviation Artists

35th Annual International Aerospace Art Exhibition

Closing Ceremony Celebration

Article by Michelle Rouch (ASAA) and photos by Larry Grace/ISAP President

Tucson is an Aviation paradise with fair blue skies and a vast collection of aircrafts at the Pima Air & Space Museum, which played host to the 35th Annual American Society of Aviation Artist (ASAA) International Aerospace Art Exhibition, October 9, 2023 – January 31, 2024. Pima Air & Space Museum is the largest privately owned collection of airplanes world-wide and a perfect place for this venerable aviation art society, who selected Tucson for their annual international exhibition.

Under the cinematic black ceiling of the Dorothy H. Finley Aerospace Gallery, 45 works of art created by 31 artists each tell a story of a moment in aerospace history.

When opportunity knocked, the ASAA Western Regional seized the moment and culminated a Closing Ceremony Celebration on Tuesday January 30, 2024 for an exclusive audience. Adjacent to the Aerospace Gallery stands the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame, where the portrait of one of the five illustrious founders of ASAA, long time Arizonan, Robert T. McCall graces the wall.

Six (6) ASAA Artist members from Arizona, California, Idaho, Michigan, and Oklahoma orchestrated the Closing Ceremony, and shared their inspirations throughout the event.

Mimi Stuart is known as the “Artist of Energy,” Mimi’ s signature style EOS - Energy of Subject - explodes with color and 24k gold, copper and silver leaf.

Mark A. Werkema, Associate member and Pilot, is an impressionistic oil painter, writer, and Airline Pilot for a major U.S. carrier, flying the Airbus A-330 as an international Captain.

Justin Carroll has extensive ties to southern Arizona as he was stationed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base as an Electronic Warfare Officer with the 43rd Electronic Combat Squadron from 2002 to 2006.

Michelle Rouch, Artist, Illustrator, and Engineer is recognized for her Award-Winning children’s book with author Apollo 15 Astronaut Al Worden in creating Astronaut Al Travels to the Moon.

Darby Perrin’s love for aviation began in 1986 when he joined the United States Air Force. Already an accomplished artist, the military fed his creativity and afforded many opportunities to paint and design.

Mark Pestana, Colonel, USAF (ret), is an aerospace consultant and adjunct faculty at University of Southern California’s Aviation Safety and Security Program.

The ASAA was formed in 1986 to bring together, in one professional body, artists who are acknowledged leaders in the field for the purpose of recognizing and promoting interest in aviation art as a fine art form. Membership currently numbers over 200 artists and associate members representing all corners of the United States and internationally.

Larry Grace

Larry Grace

Larry Grace

Larry Grace

Larry Grace

Larry Grace

Larry Grace

A “glory” is an optical phenomenon that is mostly seen by mountain climbers and pilots when looking down on clouds or mist. A “pilot’s glory,” also called “the glory of the pilot,” or “pilot’s halo,” can sometimes be observed while flying. A glory is not limited to the pilot but can be viewed by passengers as well.

The glory will be centered around the portion of the aircraft where the observer is seated. Differing from a rainbow, which is caused by refraction, dispersion and internal reflection of light on water droplets. Glories are caused when sunlight hits tiny water droplets and is deflected or backscattered, resulting in a series of concentric rings of colored light.

The observer must be directly between the light source and the water droplets, which is why the glory appears to be centered around the observers shadow. If a few people are standing on a mountain looking down on some clouds with the sun at their backs their shadow will have a glory. Interestingly, the observer will see the glory around their own shadow but not their companions. My images were taken from the flight deck so the glory is centered at the front of the aircraft. The closer the aircraft is to the cloud the more defined the shadow will be.

Article and photos by Tom Pawlesh

A Pilot’s Glory

Tom Pawlesh

Last year’s NAS Oceana Air Show saw the show season closing on the East Coast with a lineup of traveling air show performers including the Blue Angels as well as hometown F-18s based at Oceana. Though it remained far off the coast of Virginia, Hurricane Lee made its presence felt during practices and familiarization flights scheduled for Friday, September 15.

Rapidly evolving clouds and high winds disrupted the planned schedule, and some aircraft – including the E-2 Hawkeye and the F-22 – did not participate. However, the unsettled skies made for an excellent backdrop for photography. And the E-2 and F-22 played starring roles on Saturday, when bright sun and climbing temperatures welcomed a huge crowd to NAS Oceana. These photographs were all taken with a Nikon D850 and AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR lens. The show’s theme was “50 Years of Women in Naval Aviation” and I was particularly happy to capture Lt. Paige Westoby – aka “Piglet” – generating a Schlieren shock wave in her F-18.

NAS OCEANA 2023 AIRSHOW RECAP

Frank Moriarty

Frank Moriarty

Frank Moriarty

Frank Moriarty

Frank Moriarty

Frank Moriarty

ROMANIAN BLACKHAWKS

Article and photos by Dragos Munteanu

Romania has recently become one of the latest operators of the Blackhawk Helicopter. The Blackhawk is truly a famous helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky, part of Lockheed Martin. A contract was signed in 2021 by the Romanian Interior Ministry to acquire up to 12 S-70M multi mission helicopters to be operated by the General Inspectorate of Aviation (IGAV) for MEDEVAC / SAR and Police missions. The first deliveries started in November 2023 and already 7 airframes were

delivered from the Sikorsky PZL factory in Poland. Part of the financing for the helicopters comes from European Union funds. In early February 2024 I had the chance to visit the IGAv facilities located at Baneasa airport, just outside Bucharest. It was a sunny day and the Blackhawks looked amazing. Six of them are in the MEDEVAC/ SAR version and one in the Police livery. The helicopters are slowly introduced into service and will commence performing missions along

the EC-135 which until now have been the backbone of the IGAV fleet. The Blackhawks are replacing the Mi-8/17 heavy helicopters that were retired some time ago, bringing a much needed larger capacity helicopter to complement the smaller EC-135. The helicopters are now based in Bucharest but later they will be spread around the country in the other IGAV bases to cover the whole territory. For sure the modern equipment of these helicopters will be a step change and evolution for the missions

in support of the population and rescue missions. The avionics suite allows all weather operations, day and night and some helicopters are equipped for operations over the sea. Special thanks to General Catalin Paul-Dache and Captain Eugen Fricosu for the opportunity to photograph these amazing machines.

S-70M Blackhawk in the MEDEVAC/SAR configuration.

Blackhawk for the Romanian Police.

S-70M Blackhawk for the Romanian Police.

Occasionally, you get a message out of the blue that you have to re-read several times because you don’t believe what you just read. I received such a message just before leaving for Red Flag 24-1. The message said that there would be numerous civilian aircraft flying through Star Wars Canyon on the last Saturday of January. Needless to say, I felt a level of excitement that I haven’t experienced for quite some time, and hotel reservations in Lone Pine were immediately made.

As many of you know, the canyon has been off limits to military traffic since the crash in July of 2019 and while there have been instances of civil traffic in the canyon, it’s a rare and mostly unpublicized event, so I felt very fortunate to be given the opportunity to shoot there once again. The decision was made to forego the last day of Red Flag trip to make the drive to Lone Pine. My plan was to get in to town early enough on Friday so that I could spend some time out at point Delta on the Sidewinder low level route in the hopes of catching something interesting.

I got into town around mid-morning, and made my way out to the Haystack, tuned the scanner to the low level common frequency and started the all too familiar waiting game. After a few hours, I spotted what turned out to be a McChord C-17 making it’s run from point Charlie over Owens Lake right to me, and as luck would have it, the C-17 decided to remain East of the Haystack, putting it in the best light with the Inyo Mountains in the background. Fortunately, I was able to get the shot and would have been extremely happy if that was all the activity for the day. I guess the C-17 wanted to give it one more shot, and came back an hour later, unfortunately not as low as the first run.

There were also six Seymour Johnson Strike Eagles that decided to come through, but never got low enough to catch the mountains in the background. After the light faded, and on the way back to town, I ran into a group of friends from the old canyon days. It was great to see them all again, it was definitely feeling like old times. After dinner and drinks with the guys, it was off to bed. I’m actually surprised I got any sleep, I was certain it would be like Christmas eve when I was a kid.

The next morning, we got an early start, we wanted to get to canyon early to get a good spot, we suspected that the word had got out and it might be a bit crowded. As the morning wore on, what we suspected turned out to be true. The word had obviously got out, and head count increased. As we all chatted to kill the time, around 9:30a, the common frequency crackled to life, the first L-39 was inbound for its runs. It was show time. Over the next three hours we were treated to multiple passes from three L-39’s, an F-5, a Cessna Citation, an old Russian AN-2 Colt and several Experimental/civil prop jobs.

As last pass was made and the little RV-8 disappeared out into Saline Valley, once again the canyon fell silent but those gathered there were anything but. My hope is that this becomes an annual event, and that all the aviation photographers out there who have yet to partake in the unique experience of shooting at the canyon will one day get the opportunity.

STAR WARS

CANYON

Article and

by Rob Tabor

photos

Rob Tabor

Rob Tabor

Rob Tabor

Rob Tabor

Rob Tabor

Rob Tabor

Rob Tabor

Rob Tabor

ISAP MEMBER’S SHOWCASE

F-22 Raptor making weather wringing out moisture from the sky over Seymour Johnson AFB while launching countermeasure flares. Camera: Canon R6 Mk II Lens: Canon RF100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM ISO: 125 Shutter speed: 1/2000 Exposure: f/7.1

RAW CR3 Processed in Adobe Lightroom CC 2023 w/ the Topaz Photo AI

Photo by Mark Streit

ISAP MEMBER’S SHOWCASE

Fleet flyby included an E-2D Hawkeye with the F/A-18 Super Hornets at NAS Oceana. Camera: Nikon Z9 Lens: Sigma 60-600mm DG OS HSM Sports Lens ISO: 500 Shutter speed: 1/320 Exposure: f/6

Photo by Eric Mason

ISAP MEMBER’S SHOWCASE

Photo by Marc Farb

Blackhawk pilot flight helmet.

Camera: Sony A9 II Lens: Sigma 56mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary ISO: 100 Shutter speed: 1/400 Exposure: f/16

HOW I GOT THE SHOT

Camera: Nikon 850 Lens: NIKKOR DX 24-120mm f/4 ISO: 100

Shutter speed: 1/640 Exposure: f/5.6

Processed in Adobe Photoshop

Jason Somes flying in his MIG-17 over the Pacific off the coast of Los Angeles.

Article and photo by Aviation Photo Crew

HOW I GOT THE SHOT

Camera: Nikon Z9 Lens: NIKKOR 180 - 600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR ISO: 180

Shutter speed: 1/2500 Exposure: f/6

Processed in Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom Classic

Canadair CF-116D CF-5D Freedom Fighter flying through Star Wars Canyon.

Article and photo by Glen Bloore

HOW I GOT THE SHOT

Article and photo by Steve Zimmermann

In March, 2023, Rich Cooper and Steven Comber of COAP (the Centre of Aviation Photography) and ISAP member Joe Copalman organized a week of air-to-air photo missions in the Phoenix area. As in all endeavors of this kind, the stars did not align for every opportunity on the planning list. Even so, we were able to fly to remote wilderness locations and shoot a modified Bell 412 from Dillon Aero; we were privileged to photograph, air-to-air, the world’s only flyable Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer; and in one remarkable, three-hour mission we photographed four air-to-air subjects in two widely separated locations: two Yak-50s from the Red Star Squadron, a pristine T-33 owned by Dillon Aero, and a Lear 35. For the latter mission seven still photographers and a videographer clustered around the open jump door of a Cessna Caravan.

Camera: Nikon Z7 Lens: NIKKOR VR 100-400mm f/5-6.3E ISO: 160

Shutter speed: 1/320 Exposure: f/14

Processed in Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom Classic

HOW I GOT THE SHOT

Article and photo by Aviation Photo Crew

The photo was taken off the California Coast at sunset. The North American PBJ and Grumman F6F Hellcat belong to the Commemorative Air Force - Southern California Wing in Camarillo, California.

Camera: Canon 5D Mk III Lens: Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM

ISO: 320 Shutter speed: 1/200 Exposure: f/11

Processed in Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom Classic

FIELD TEST

Article and photos by Jim Koepnick

Testing the Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3

DG OS

HSM Sports Lens

I fell in love with the original Sigma 60-600mm DG HSM OS Sports lens when it was introduced back in 2018. Not that my trusty Sigma 150-600 DG HSM OS Contemporary lens didn’t excel at sports and action photos, but now, with the ability to shoot as wide as 60mm, I could use one lens to cover most outdoor action assignments. And for me specifically, this became the perfect lens for air shows. I loved that lens so much it was always in the car with me because it could transform any idea I had into a great photo.

Could perfection be improved upon? Of course it could if you’re Sigma! In 2023 they introduced the new 60-600mm DGDN lens for Sony E mount and Leica L mount…not just a lens specifically designed for mirrorless cameras, but with a High-response Linear Actuator (HLA) motor, and 6-7 stops of stabilization with what is called OS2. And it is SO sharp.

I tried the lens out on a trip to photograph airliners in Los Angeles in January and was so impressed by the performance that I put all my Canon camera bodies up for sale and switched over to Sony so I could use this lens for my air show coverage.

How does the new 60-600mm DGDN actually perform at an air show? Well, I just used it daily for 9 days at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (WI) to capture the event for several clients, and can say if an aviation photographer could only carry one to photograph an air show, this is the lens.

The first thing you find impressive about this lens is that it can capture just about any subject you want to photograph with its one of a kind 10x zoom- not just air show airplanes flying past you, but portraits, detail shots with its magnification ratio of 1:2.4, and anything in-between. The versatility of this lens is unmatched. And that is why I kept running into photographers on the grounds at Oshkosh who were carrying the Sigma 60-600mm lens. And one benefit of this lens you might not think about right away is that one lens on your camera means no dust on your sensor. Want to know why I mention that :-) Because I made the mistake of changing lenses outside on my first day at AirVenture and had a few spots of dust to clone out. Air shows are often somewhat windy and dusty so not having to change a lens is one of those hidden benefits.

The first thing you think o photographing at an air show is obviously the air show. A challenge for all aviation photographers is finding the correct shutter speed to have some propeller blur while still keeping the moving airplane in focus. I personally start out in shutter priority with a speed of 1/400th of a second. I set the new OS2 switch to “2” for panning. After I get into the rhythm of panning the aircraft as it passes, I’ll start lowering my shutter speed so I can get more blur in the propeller. One thing to keep in mind is that even with great technique and a great stabilization system like OS2, you are still playing a game of percentages to get razor sharp photos. It’s not the lens or the camera, but trying to follow the erratic movement of an airplane doing aerobatic maneuvers.

Jim Koepnick

I can’t forget the obvious benefit of zooming in tight as a plane passes by you, then zooming out to capture a formation of airplanes above you. An equal challenge is when photographing jets flying by at 600mph. While you don’t have to worry about blurring because of a slow shutter speed, you do have to work at just keeping an airplane flying that fast in your viewfinder. I use a shutter speed of 1/2000th to 1/4000th of a second to make sure I freeze the action. And the weight and balance of the lens makes helps me to follow the action.

Jim Koepnick

The reason I mentioned the versatility of this lens is that an air show only lasts about four hours, and most of us will spend at least 10-12 hours there. So there are a lot of hours for you to look for other photo opportunities. Sunset for me means at least one trip to the Warbird area to look for feature photos with warm light. After photographing the side of a P-51 Mustang, I moved in closer to capture the detail and color from the exhaust heat on the side of the plane. When I realized how close the 60-600 can focus, I went looking for detail shots that would be good counterpoint to airplanes in the air. The close focus of this lens made it easy to capture something many people miss when looking at the North American T6. There is a penny wired in, which is supposed to be of the date of the last overhaul.

People are always great photo subjects at an air show. From pilots to spectators to even the daughter of a photographer friend of mine. I should also mention that backgrounds at an air show are also pretty busy, but it was easy to isolate Ella at 600mm to avoid distractions and also get a beautiful bokeh behind her.

Jessica Ambats

Jim Koepnick

Not all interesting air show photos are in the sky, but can happen on take off and landing. It’s a great time to put your panning skills to the test, which is made easy with the 60-600’s stabilization. Panning T6 aircraft taking off at 1/50th of a second produced some nice background blurring. I also tried to see how slow I could hand hold when a special P-51 started up its engine. I got a very nice propeller blur at 1/15th of a second thanks to the incredible stabilization in the 60-600.

The night air show gave me an opportunity to really put the lens to its biggest test. Could I use an f/4.5-6.3 lens to shoot in dim light…or even at night? The lens is super sharp. The stabilization super great. So I chose my Sony A9m2 camera because it’s good at high ISO, and as a sports shooter, I’m comfortable with a high ISO like that.

Jets in the evening light were easy with the ISO only going to 2500. The light and clouds were fantastic as a backdrop to the F-22 jets performing for the crowd.

The last air show act was flying in the dark with pyro lighting the airplane. I was at ISO 12,800 with a shutter speed of 1/250 second and easily captured the colorful action above me.

camera basics

Article and photos by Mike Meyer

What is ISO?

No tips. No tricks. No new techniques that only pros know. No presets. No “Use these settings for weddings”. I see these statements all the time on Social Media. And so often they are very misleading and sometimes just plain wrong! Have you ever taken a class and felt like you were in the second level because there was just something that you were missing? That’s what I call the Bare Bones Basics. It could apply to any topic.

So in this lesson I am going to talk about the very basic principles of photography. Idea’s and facts that have existed since the very first picture was recorded. If you’re interested you may have to read a lot with not too many pictures. But there isn’t too much to really get the “Bare Bones Basics”

Here’s your first lesson and homework assignment: Read your camera manual. Seriously! Even though cameras are similar, the manual will allow you to handle your camera and they usually provide very good info on basic photography.

What do all cameras have in common?

Well, all cameras work in a very basic similar way. They all have some type of shutter and aperture and the medium that they record to has an ISO setting or sensitivity.

And these three items are what is commonly referred to as the exposure triangle. To get a good exposure you adjust them. If you change one you may have to change another one. ISO in today’s cameras refers to the sensitivity of the electronic sensor. The Shutter is a device that allows the light in for a certain amount of time. The Aperture is the size of the opening that determines how much light can come in.

So you may see an exposure setting of ISO 100, f/16 at 1/100. But that same scene could have been recorded at ISO 100, f/8 at 1/400. That’s part of the triangle which I’ll explain more later.

To me, the first step in making an exposure is choosing your ISO. This used to be set by the kind of film you chose but today you can change that number to whatever you want ... almost.

ISO, International Standards Organization, is the sensitivity of the sensor in your camera. Basically how will it respond to different brightness of what you’re photographing. A lower number ISO will render a nice clean image and as you turn up that number, the picture will become more grainy as I’ve illustrated here.

With film, the bigger the grains the faster the film was but also the grainier the image would be. Hmmm, what do I mean by faster? Simple, the faster or higher the ISO the faster shutter speed you can use. Or the darker a scene you can photograph because the higher ISO number means that it’s more sensitive to light.

Boy! Back in the day, ISO which was called ASA or even DIN was so much easier than today because there were only a few choices in film speed. 25, 64, 100, 200,400 and that was it for a long time. Now you

have about 50 to 104,000 or higher. Which is just crazy but cool. And usually very helpful too.

So why do we change our settings and why not just go with Auto-ISO? If you are shooting on a bright sunny day then you can use a lower number. And as your scene gets darker you can raise the number to help keep the exposure good. Or you may be needing to use a high shutter speed and a decent aperture so you may raise the number. I always try to use the lowest setting to keep the grain down and the picture clear. One thing you don’t hear very much these days is print quality. Everyone views images on their phone or maybe an iPad. When you make a print and or try to make a big one, the grain will show up quickly but that’s another lesson. Another fun fact about my history is that I’ve made probably a million prints and a lot of those were digital and big. “How big can I make this image file without it breaking up” was a question I answered daily.

Why not use Auto ISO? Because you are learning to shoot in manual mode. You can put most modern cameras in a Full-Auto mode and 95% of your images will look great. But what about those 5% that fail. What if that’s your favorite image of the day and it just completely stinks? Well next time you’ll know better. See in auto mode the camera decides which setting to use and the ISO is the first to fail. Meaning that the camera will turn up the ISO as high as it can to get a good exposure. If you think the right panel of my leaf picture looks okay then Auto ISO could be your friend.

One more thought...I think the final bit of knowledge for ISO is when you would use different numbers. Again, this is just a simple statement as every situation is different and you may find a need for something different.

Typically if you are taking pictures on a nice sunny day or in a building with a flash or very bright lights you would use lower numbers like 100, 200, 400. If it’s a cloudy day or maybe in a gymnasium with a little action you may use numbers like 800, 1600, 3200. And if you are shooting some faster action on a High School football field at night or maybe trying some astro-photography you may use numbers of 6400, 12,800, or even higher. Did you notice how those numbers are all doubled? That’s how the numbers move in photography. They get doubled or cut in half but that’s for another lesson.

On another note, many of you may be thinking, I will shoot at 12,800 ISO and then use software to remove all the grain and noise from the image. Let me say this. From my personal experience and lots of testing of every new software product to come out over the last 30 years, I have never seen one that does what it advertises. They work a little. You have to test things for yourself of course and I encourage that. But in my example photo here, no software will take the grainy side and make it look like the left side without making it really soft. Get a good exposure in the first place and you won’t have to use software to fix your picture. When photographers used slide film the exposure had to be right on.

Feel free to ask me any questions and I’ll do my best to answer them.

Difference in ISO settings

LOW ISO, LOW GRAIN OR LESS NOISE

HIGH ISO, HIGH GRAIN OR MORE NOISE. IT’S THAT SIMPLE.

My name is Chaz Teets, and I have always had a passion for all things aviation since I can remember. My dream as a kid was to be a fighter pilot, but an instant medical disqualifier put the kibosh on that as soon as I started my application process for the United States Air Force, and as it turned out, any military service period.

Being from West Virginia, USA, right under one of the main air corridors coming into Dulles airport, I sat outside on a lawn chair with a pair of binoculars and a aircraft ID guide on many an evening growing up. The local West Virginia Air National Guard also uses the mountainous region for training, so I was treated to a lot of low level C-5 Galaxy and C-17 Globemaster traffic as well. On occasion, I’d also get to see F-16’s from Andrews and F-18’s from Oceana. My parents took me to see the USAF Thunderbirds twice, which only fed the desire to fly and be around airplanes.

If I had to pigeonhole myself into a category, I’d say I am an advanced amateur photographer. I’ve always enjoyed taking photos, but it wasn’t until recently that I became serious about it. I took a photography class in college that was fun and taught me the basics and I’ve done a ton of research on how-to articles written by other aviation photographers, which just goes to show no matter how much you think you know about something, there’s always something new to learn.

My current setup is a Canon Rebel T7 DLSR camera with the 75-300mm Canon lens that came with it. I do plan to upgrade to a Sigma 150-600mm lens in the near future. I shoot exclusively in RAW format although I have experimented with JPEG before. When it comes to editing though, RAW wins out every time. As long as you have a fast enough memory card for your camera, there’s not many reasons not to shoot RAW. As far as image processors go, I feel Lightroom Classic fits my style and flow the best. There’s another program called PhotoDirector 365 that is really user-friendly that I like to use. I don’t use Photoshop that much unless I need to remove stubborn little distractions within the image itself.

I joined ISAP at the end of 2022 because I like to surround myself with knowledgeable people in this field. I started noticing that a lot of the aviation photographers I follow on social media were ISAP members, so the decision to join was a no-brainer. I hope to meet up with fellow ISAP members at airshows in the future.

I endeavor to answer any questions that anyone asks about aviation photography or photography in general. If I had any tips for someone starting out, it would be that a good camera and lens are not as expensive as you’d think. I bought my Canon DLSR and lens as a kit from Amazon for a little over $500 on a sale. Another tip would be to practice, practice, practice. Go to your local airport and see if they have an observation deck or other area where you can take pictures from and not bother anyone.

GARY RISLEY

My name is Gary Risley and I live in Farmington, NM in the Four Corners Region of New Mexico. I am an attorney by profession and had the privilege of serving as the vice-president of legal affairs and general counsel of Mesa Airlines from September of 1987 to August of 1998.

I am a private pilot holding Single-engine Land, Multi-Engine Land ratings as well as an instrument rating. I started and supervised Mesa’s ab initio pilot training program, Mesa Pilot Development Program, and ran it until my departure from Mesa.

I would rank my photography skills as “amateur”, and I joined this organization to learn. The combination of interest in photography and aviation must be genetic. My dad was an Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic, held a pilot’s license, and enjoyed photography back in the film and everything was manual days. The middle brother also was an A&P, a pilot, and enjoyed photography. The youngest brother was the oddball – he only held an A&P and was a pilot.

My only training has been through books, on-line courses, and trial and error. I enjoy aviation photography and use it to capture memories, visualize history, and document things that might be unique or uncommon to the average person.

I am currently using a Canon M50 and before that used an Canon EOS Rebel. (My first “serious” camera was a Canon AE-1 Program I bought at a pawn shop.) Currently I shoot native Canon M-Mount zoom lenses with a few exceptions. I purchased the Sigma 100-400mm before the Reno Air Races this year and I am learning to use it. I have been very pleased with the action shots I have taken through that lens. I also have an Insta360 X3 camera with which I have begun playing.

In my camera, I save the pictures as either RAW or condensed RAW (depending on the anticipated number of photos to be taken) along with jpeg simultaneously. I have not shelled out the bucks for the Adobe

products and currently use Cyberlink PhotoDirector to edit my photos. It is a strong, but basic, program that enables me to perform some significant edits without a big learning curve.

I learned about ISAP when I was searching for YouTube videos on airshow photography. Larry Grace was in one or two of the videos and the organization was mentioned, and I thought “Aha! There is a place I can learn a lot and see lots of great photographs!” I do not belong to any other photography group.

I am hardly the one to ask for great photography advise, but I am happy to share whatever knowledge I have. Photographers new to aviation should start with static displays of aircraft, study the lighting, look for unique of different angles, and learn and appreciate the history of the aircraft being photographed. With regard to photographing moving

aircraft, have patience, learn all you can on-line, study your mistakes, and find a mentor who has done this for a while: all of which I intend to do! If you are interested, I have an aviation blog I put up from time to time at rizair.blog.

Thank you for the opportunity to join and I look forward to becoming a better photographer through my association with this group.

Gary Risley

AIRPLANE SILHOUETTES

by John Ford

Identify this aircraft. The answer is found next to the Kenyon Gyro Ad.

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Answers to Airplane Silhouettes

1. Yakovlev Yak 17 USSR

History

We opened our original storefront in 1973. Our reputation for extensive inventory and intelligent conversation about photography began with our first customer. We grew from a small photography shop in Manhattan’s Financial District to a major supplier of photo, video and audio equipment on 17th Street, with customers returning again and again for our low pricing and high reliability. The new millennium’s explosion of affordable technology for pros and consumers alike brought new lines of computers, home entertainment, and consumer devices at our location or online at www.bhphotovideo.com

We continue to expand to meet your needs with showrooms, classes, educational and social media, and more.

Delkin’s New BLACK CFexpress™ Type B Cards

Deliver Up to 1700 MB/s Sustained Speeds

POWAY, CA, MARCH 30, 2021 – Delkin Devices, a manufacturer of flash storage solutions and camera accessories, announced today the newest addition to their top-selling line of memory cards: BLACK CFexpress™ Type B memory cards. Specially designed to meet the ever-growing demands of today’s broadcast, cinema and photography industries, Delkin’s BLACK CFexpress™ cards leverage today’s latest technology in order to provide the fastest speeds on the market.

Other competing CFexpress™ Type B cards may state a maximum write speed, but BLACK takes things further with sustained sequential write speeds of at least 1400 MB/s (higher depending on capacity). This sustained speed versus potential write speeds is what guarantees flawless cinema-quality video capture, including DCI 8K RAW 12-Bit @ 30fps (2600 Mbps) in the Canon R5. This is especially valuable during events like weddings, sport meets, concerts and other situations you cannot redo. The cards are also capable of offloading data at speeds reaching up to 1730 MB/s, ensuring the quickest, most efficient data transfer from card to computer for immediate file access and sooner post-production.

“With more camera manufacturers deciding to integrate support for CFexpress™ Type B memory cards into their new camera models, we felt the need to provide camera owners with a card that they could trust to protect and preserve their precious memories” says Jenn Sherry, Delkin's Retail Sales & Marketing Manager, “As cameras continue to advance and new data-heavy modes are introduced, it has become even more important for storage mediums to be able to keep up. We believe that BLACK CFexpress™ is the solution for complete video capture, just as the creator envisioned.”

Maximum Write Speed – Defined as the Maximum Capable Write Speed – Potential Peaks & Valleys

Sustained Sequential Write Speed – Defined as the Continuous Write Speed – No Peaks & Valleys

Each BLACK CFexpress™ Type B memory card has undergone extensive testing to ensure full functionality and performance in today’s high-end cinematic hosts, including ones from Canon® (C300 Mark III, C500 Mark II, 1D X Mark III & R5) and Nikon® (D6, Z6 II & Z7 II). Select hosts originally designed with native support for XQD cards can also accept CFexpress™ Type B cards via firmware upgrade.

In addition to their “Lifetime Warranty” policy, Delkin continues to offer a unique built-in insurance policy for their BLACK memory cards, known as the “48 Hour Replacement Guarantee”. Delkin will replace any non-working BLACK card within 48 hours or less (not including weekends - in the US and UK), prior to receiving the non-working card. Cards can also be replaced over-the-counter at any authorized Delkin BLACK reseller. Additional information on Delkin BLACK can be found here: www.delkindevices.com/delkin-black/.

ABOUT DELKIN DEVICES, INC.

Delkin Devices’ consumer group manufactures storage devices and digital accessories for the photography market. Delkin has been in business since 1986 and has offices in both the US and UK. If you would like more information regarding this product or any other Delkin product, please contact Jenn Sherry at jsherry@delkin.com.

ISAP Board Members

President and Board Chairman Larry Grace

Vice President and Vice Chairman Jim Wilson

Treasurer Gary Edwards

ISAP Board Member George Kounis

ISAP Board Member Kevin Hong

ISAP Staff Member John Sepp

Chairman Emeritus Jay Miller

Airspeed Editor Kevin Hong

Airspeed is a periodic publication of the International Society for Aviation Photography (ISAP) and is used to communicate news, functions, convention information, and other information of interest on the local, regional, and national scenes. The views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the authors and should not be construed as the views or opinions of the International Society for Aviation Photography (ISAP). Please contact us at info@aviationphoto.org

Airspeed is a publication to showcase our members’ work in capturing aviation events.

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