Camera Club Outing







Supposed Green Heron Hangout







                A few Saturday's past, several members of our camera club got together to visit a member at his private membership club that surrounds several lakes in our area. No big fancy homes, just travel trailers, a few cabins, and some great habitat. He has always been able to get out at the right times and be at the right spot to capture some really great wildlife pictures. He takes some good natured ribbing because he just seems to have so many of the pictures that all the rest of us which we had, especially being so close to home. It is less than 15 minutes many of our homes. Green herons, no problem. Raccoon peaking out of a hole in the tree, just drive over to here. Bald Eagle perched on an old tree snag, just move around to this spot here. Warblers flitting amongst the lower trees, just drive to this road over there. Deer with antlers in velvet, just keep your eyes open along the tree line. You get the picture (he usually does, now it was our turn). Well, he made arrangements for us to visit one Saturday morning. After getting the pre-requisite guest passes, our road tour began to all the hot spots. We began to go around and visit all his favorite stops. Soon the ribbing really began towards him. They may be his hotspots but not on this day! I got a great shot of the old branch in the water where the green heron usually perches... without the heron. I didn't take the picture of the hole in the tree where the raccoon usually peaks out. No raccoon. No wild turkeys, no deer in velvet. We did see some warblers, but there was too much activity on the other side of the road for them to get too settled. We rambled through the wooded area around the lakes and had to agree, it is prime habitat for all sorts of wildlife. Like most times you have to be at the right place at the right time. That day wasn't our day.

Supposed Warbler Hangout





                We drove back to where his site is. Of course, the ribbing was heavily one-sided against him but by nature he enjoys it as much as giving so it was good fun. He and his wife had prepared a small lunch for everyone and then one of his exploits came to fruition. He has claimed that a Great Blue Heron will come and feed off his dock when he catches small fish and leaves them for it to grab. Naturally, we were hesitant to believe this one because of his track record for the day. No sooner than he had his pole out and was standing on the dock than this relative of the flying dinosaur came swooping in from nowhere landing near our group. Initially  landing about 15 " away, as soon was the first fish was on the hook he was on the end of the dock. He knew as soon as the bobber was under water a fish was on. He was not intimidated by a human near him either as he was so fixated on the fish, it didn't matter about a two legged creature. No more ribbing, delivery on this brag had been confirmed! Sounds of the wind through the trees has been replaced with every shutter sound you could think of. Nikon, Canon, Sony, Pentax, Kodak. It was good fun and good pictures. 

               

Promise deliverd

 It was fun to go out with the group. Maybe we didn't get as many pictures as we wanted, but we got some good ones. An easy, laid back trip close to home is a good thing to include in your itinerary. You never know what will present itself.

                So remember not to pass up any chance and ....

                Always go to the Light,

                Steve

Destination:   Mid Atlantic Air Museum World War II Weekend

Mission: Full Circle Propeller Pictures



P-51 Mustang



For the past 21 years, the above museum has hosted a gathering of historic airplanes and it has grown to include one of the largest venues for ground troop re-enactors. My interest has always been the aircraft. I may go alone, with a friend or lately with my son Sean. Sheryll has gone but has lost interest in another 65 year old plane roaring by. Even after all these years, there are some things I can’t understand about her.

I sometimes say I’m going to skip a year but before you know it, a plane I have never seen before is scheduled and I am right back again. This year the vacuum forcing me to return was Fifi, the only remaining flying B-29 (think Enola Gay), a C-46 cargo plane and the Grumman F-4 Wildcat. I believe this was my 14^th year. I always come home with pictures that I am happy with but this year I wanted a different image. It is easy to shoot most planes, especially jets. Pick an aperture that gives a good fast shutter speed (I shoot in A 95% of the time) and blast away. Sometimes (or most times) in a propeller type aircraft you generally get a stopped prop. The plane may be traveling 200 mph, but the propeller isn’t moving. It doesn’t seem natural. Jets don’t have that problem. Most times you can’t tell if it’s going 200 or 2000 mph. To shoot a full circle propeller, it takes some effort. There are many things to consider besides the usual ISO, shutter speed and prevailing conditions. Also to be taken into consideration is, propeller speed, aircraft position and panning, all at a slow shutter speed. Sean and I were both experimenting as planes moved about and took daring visitors up for rides (we dared two years ago when we flew in a B-17). A little research before and we knew we were talking shutter speeds down to 1/30^th of a second or slower. To get even parts of the circle, you need to be slower than 1/125^th. As the various aircraft moved by, we were calling out what shutter speed we were at and what the results were. We did get some strange looks from those around us but it goes with the territory. The type of aircraft had a direct relevance to the results. Older, or should I say simpler designed engines that don’t have a constant speed propeller, were different to shoot than constant speed props. This means the early trainers and biplanes have a fixed pitch prop that relies on engine rpm for speed changes whereas a constant speed prop means that the prop will change pitch as the engine rpm remains constant. We had to wait for them to be increasing rpm’s to get the faster prop speed to match the shutter speed to prop speed. The fighters and bombers revved up and changed to a coarser pitch as they moved about. Panning was critical for success. Panning was also making it difficult to get the images you want. After all, following planes lifting off near 150 mph, or better, at 1/30^th is not easy. Once again, the beauty of digital is the ability to see the results.



B-17 taxing



F-4 Wildcat




Reading is generally a very good air show to visit. Crowds are usually under 15000 on Saturday, the sun is behind you during the afternoon flying for good lighting on the wings and there are aircraft that are slowly becoming extinct. Fuel expenses (think 75-95 gallons per hour for a fighter x two or four for engines in a bomber), insurance rates are rising higher than a flight of P-51’s and parts for these Warbirds are becoming non existent. It will be a sad day when you will not hear the deep rumble of a radial engine or the distinct growl of the Rolls-Royce Merlin.



Wildcat interior



We generally get there when the gates open, set our chairs up at the fence and then cruise around the static displays. It’s a good time to look details on the different planes and talk to the pilots. They are always interesting conversations. You get to learn so much about the finer points of flying or the intricacies’ of the aircraft handling. This year we had such a conversation with the pilot of the Wildcat. He had flown up from Texas and because of fuel capacities and flight characteristics (read unstable), it was done in less than 2 hour trips. He visited other air shows on his way to break the trip up. This Wildcat was used by Chevron Oil Company to transfer engineers and other oil men to different sites in South America. First of all, this plan was designed for tight turns and dogfighting and why they thought they could cram three plywood seats into the back of this plane I’ll never know. The executives who thought of this was somewhat of a sadist and I’m sure they never flew back there.



AT-6 Demo w/ stopped prop



My examples are a few of the good images I was looking for. The AT-6 with the smoke was an example of a propeller that was stopped in flight because of a higher shutter speed, in this case 1/1600^th of a second at f11. The Mustang was 1/40^th @f29 ISO 125 and the B-17 was 1/30^th @f32 ISO also at 125. As you can see, the ISO has to be low as well as the shutter speed. Only digital has the capability to use these stopped down f stops. Older lenses just wouldn’t have the broad capability to cover down to f29 or 32 in a lens that also opens to f4. I also included the Wildcat to show the craziness of adding seats to this plane. OK, it may be good for short, unimproved fields, but it couldn’t be good for passengers.



The air show was fun even if rain came in before it was over. We just relocated to the road outside the airport and took some shots of the planes coming in on the approach. Sean got a great shot of Fifi just over the lights.

I hope you were able to follow the jist of the message on slower speeds. Remember, no matter what the shutter speed or intent….

Always go to the Light,

Steve