FighterControl

Looking for any tips or advice on shooting into the sun (Duxford Autumn show coming up) Got away with it for the F15 display in September but that was more luck than judgement! Any particular camera settings I should be using (metering mode etc, and using Av or Tv??)

Thanks in advance for any advice or tips on this subject.

Pedro

My basic recommendation would be to shoot with the highest shutter speed possible (not much help with prop aircraft ) Try and keep your F stop low but don't be put off. The sun glinting on the aircraft can give some great results.

It will be a struggle, always is at Duxford shooting into the sun.

I'd suggest getting a good spot at either end of the crowdline and if you're careful you can shoot the aircraft just as they begin banking from extreme left or right of the airfield before a pass. Either that, or go for some arty farty wide angle black and white or silhouette shots!

Steve

Tricky subject really

I always expose to the right when shooting into the sun. As mentioned above, the sensor is fooled by the increase of light into the lens so you need to overexpose to stop the subject matter being a silhouette. They sky will obviously appear brighter than it actually is, but it's easier to recover an image that is overexposed than it is to recover an underexposed image without loosing that vital image quality.

Try to use the origionl subject settings that you'd normally use, lower the shutter speed for props and choppers and raise it for fast jets and use the exposure to compensate your settings. Try setting up the custom function buttons on your camera
so you can change settings quickly throughout displays.

Spot metering can help, just make sure you keep it on the aircraft, easier said than done sometimes! AS Pete said dial in some exposure compensation, at least +1 should help.

Be careful if you're using a long lens and the sun's out, don't point direct at the sun, you can damage your eyes very easily.