Great Falls Air Show

Over the weekend I had an opportunity to go to an air show featuring the United States Air Force Thunderbirds, which provides great opportunities for photography. Whether it is planes on the ground set up for people to look at or looking towards the skies for high flying acrobatics and aerial stunts. One of the trickiest parts to photographing an air show is the speed which the planes are moving providing the challenge of tracking a plane that may be moving at 300+mph and having your shutter speed set right to be able to freeze the object for a clear picture. The other big challenge is trying to focus at that speed. This is a situation where auto focus can be both your friend and enemy. I'll discuss tricks that I used for focusing on objects in a field of blue in future posts. So if you have a chance to check out an air show I would highly recommend it. If you want to see the Thunderbirds who put on a spectacular show check out the link above to see where the closest show to you may be.

Be sure to enjoy your summer and take your camera with you. Even if you are not planning to take pictures you may find that you want to. So go out take lots of pictures and as always be sure to always be safe in your activities. 

Rule of Thirds

When you go out and take photos a rule to remember to help compose your pictures is known as "The Rule of Thirds". Dispite the fact that you may feel that the subject of your photo should be centered, if the subject is located in one of the thirds, it will help the image provide parts of the story, as in showing a subject entering from one side or leaving towards another side. If you check the menu on your camera you may find the your camera has a setting to display a grid to help you see your screen in thirds to help you visualize the rule to help use it in your photography. 

Next time you are out taking pictures try experimenting with positioning including the use of the rule of thirds and see what this can do for you photography. 

So grab your camera and head out and take pictures and remember to always be safe in you photography activities.  

Here is some examples of how the Rule of Thirds can be used,

With this picture you can see how the plane is taking up the left 2/3 of the image leaving the right 1/3 for you to visualize the plane to move into knowing it is about to take off.

In this picture, it is broken in to 3 parts. The right 1/3 of the Fram has the jeep driving out of the frame while in the center 1/3 you have a plane moving from left to right. This can be told by the left 1/3 of the from being empty showing everything in motion to the right of the image

Some times when you are photographing fast moving objects the Rule of Thirds is hard to get. Even if objects are centered sometimes it can still make for nice pictures such as the one above. The trick is you just don't want to shoot every picture centered. Try experimenting, you may be amazed at what this one little trick can do.

Planning Shoots

When it comes to doing photo shoots, it doesn't hurt to do some planning in advance if you can. One of the things to think about is the time of day to do the shoot. Think about where the sun is going to be compared to the subject you are shooting. Try to plan to take the pictures so you are not shooting with the sun directly behind your subject. Another thing to think about is weather. If it is cloudy you won't get as bad of shadows do to the light being more diffused and spread out by the clouds compared to the harshness of the direct sunlight. Also later evenings can give nice golden tones to the picture. So next time you are planning to go out and take some planned pictures with the family or friends keep this in mind and plan ahead for the best lighting and take great looking pictures.

So go ahead and go out and take some great pictures and have fun while doing it, don't forget as always be safe in everything that you do.

Here is a few more pictures from the trip I took to Yellowstone.

Lake Store 

located along the shore of Lake Yellowstone in Lake Village

Hamilton Store

located lower portion of Old Faithful basin near Old Faithful Inn

Old Faithful Inn