GilesGuthrie's Gallery: now inc Leuchars Air Show 2012

[Pebb]

I love the shot in post 29.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Forrestburn Speed Hill Climb
23rd August 2008

Camera: Canon EOS 5d with EF100-400 F/4.5-5.6L IS
Focal Length: 400mm
Exposure: 1/1600 sec @ F/5.6, ISO 100 (Flash: Not Fired)

Camera: Canon EOS 5d with EF100-400 F/4.5-5.6L IS
Focal Length: 400mm
Exposure: 1/125 sec @ F/11, ISO 100 (Flash: Not Fired)

Camera: Canon EOS 5d with EF100-400 F/4.5-5.6L IS
Focal Length: 200mm
Exposure: 1/60 sec @ F/13, ISO 100 (Flash: Not Fired)

Camera: Canon EOS 5d with EF100-400 F/4.5-5.6L IS
Focal Length: 400mm
Exposure: 1/1000 sec @ F/5.6, ISO 250 (Flash: Not Fired)

Camera: Canon EOS 5d with EF100-400 F/4.5-5.6L IS
Focal Length: 400mm
Exposure: 1/1250 sec @ F/5.6, ISO 100 (Flash: Not Fired)

Camera: Canon EOS 5d with EF100-400 F/4.5-5.6L IS
Focal Length: 100mm
Exposure: 1/1000 sec @ F/5.0, ISO 200 (Flash: Not Fired)

Camera: Canon EOS 5d with EF100-400 F/4.5-5.6L IS
Focal Length: 320mm
Exposure: 1/60 sec @ F/13, ISO 100 (Flash: Not Fired)

Camera: Canon EOS 5d with EF100-400 F/4.5-5.6L IS
Focal Length: 150mm
Exposure: 1/125 sec @ F/13, ISO 100 (Flash: Not Fired)

 

[Pebb]

I love the first shot a lot.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Thanks! The full gallery and sequence of the spinning Dax Rush can be seen over at my place.

 

[Speedster502]

Wow. These are fantastic, I still can't get over how amazing the quality is of these shots, just phenomenal. I hope I'll be able to pan to the same brilliant perfection you have, I can't really critcise these at all, there too good I can't think of anything. Also well done for capturing the crash of the Dax! Just out of intrest, in one of my magazines that I buy now it says for shooting Motorsports shoot at -1 stop exposure so then you can get the detail in the driver, do you do this technique? Also what camera mode are you using for it?

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Wow. These are fantastic, I still can't get over how amazing the quality is of these shots, just phenomenal. I hope I'll be able to pan to the same brilliant perfection you have, I can't really critcise these at all, there too good I can't think of anything.

Thanks

Also well done for capturing the crash of the Dax!

Aye, he came pretty close to me - probably two or three car lengths away.

Just out of intrest, in one of my magazines that I buy now it says for shooting Motorsports shoot at -1 stop exposure so then you can get the detail in the driver, do you do this technique?

Actually, I tend to find that the 5d works best with about -1/3 stop exposure compensation (EC) dialled in. For a lot of the shots, I was bringing up the black clipping point in the Levels or increasing the Darks in the Tone Curve to make the blacks black. There's generally a lot of dark in cars which will cause meters to try to overexpose, so the advice is sound.

Also what camera mode are you using for it?

A mixture. If the light is reasonably stable, then I'll use Manual. For the panning shots, between 1/60s and 1/160s on the shutter, and F/9-F/13 on the aperture, adjusting ISO to get correct exposure. For the straight-on shots, around 1/640-1/1600s on the shutter and wide open - usually F/5.6 - on the aperture. Again, adjust aperture to suit.

If the light is variable, I use Av, and set the aperture to what I want, then dial in around -1/3EC, and let the camera choose the shutter speed. This can lead to a lot of frozen wheels when the light suddenly gets brighter though. In truth, the light was horrendous at Forrestburn: rapid shifts from sunshine to shade, changing the exposure by around 2 stops.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

In spite of the sheer number of Canon whites, and 100-400s specifically, I'm not surprised at the lack of postings of Leuchars.

Worst. Weather. Ever.

Nonetheless...

1
B-52. I thought this was going to fly on the day, but it didn't. Not that it couldn't, just that it wasn't intending to.

Canon EOS 5d with EF16-35 F/2.8L II
Focal Length: 35mm
Exposure: 1/1000s @ F/4.5 ISO 100

2
Gazelle. One of my favourite helicopters, apparently it's due for retirement.

Canon EOS 5d with EF16-35 F/2.8L II
Focal Length: 16mm
Exposure: 1/3200s @ F/2.8 ISO 100

3
A Quiver. The Red Arrows, parked up.

Canon EOS 5d with EF100-400 F/4.5-5.6L IS
Focal Length: 400mm
Exposure: 1/1250s @ F/9.0 ISO 640

4
Eurofighter takeoff. The Eurofighter lifted what was a completely miserable day for flying at the 2008 RAF Leuchars airshow. The Typhoon's power and majesty wowed us all for the few minutes its display lasted.

Canon EOS 5d with EF100-400 F/4.5-5.6L IS
Focal Length: 170mm
Exposure: 1/640s @ F/9.0 ISO 640

5
The Eurofighter Typhoon rips the air apart above Leuchars.

Canon EOS 5d with EF100-400 F/4.5-5.6L IS
Focal Length: 400mm
Exposure: 1/800s @ F/9.0 ISO 640

6
XH558. What so many of us had come to see: the last airworthy Vulcan. Limited to Visual Flight Rules, she was not to fly on the day.

Canon EOS 5d with EF100-400 F/4.5-5.6L IS
Focal Length: 235mm
Exposure: 1/60s @ F/13 ISO 100

7
Belgian F-16. Another jet to try to lift the day, this guy only got a few minutes too.

Canon EOS 5d with EF100-400 F/4.5-5.6L IS
Focal Length: 160mm
Exposure: 1/1600s @ F/8.0 ISO 640


8
Tornado GR-4. As the gloom lifted slightly, the Tornados tried valiantly to lift our spirits, by pretty much flying racetracks around Leuchars, coming over the airfield on full reheat. Here, the first of the pair is running for takeoff.

Canon EOS 5d with EF100-400 F/4.5-5.6L IS
Focal Length: 190mm
Exposure: 1/800s @ F/8.0 ISO 640

 

[wfooshee]

I hate loading up for an airshow and not getting to see what was expected. I am fortunate enough to be in the city adjacent to Tyndall Air Force Base, where there is a huge show every spring, and just a couple of hours from Pensacola Naval Air Station, the home base of the Blue Angels. They always have a major airshow the second Saturday of November as the end of their season, and I'm hoping to get there again this year.

That low ceiling really limits what they can do for you, but the high humidity gives you lots of vapor off the wingtips in the hard turns. Too bad the Vulcan couldn't fly, though. That woulda been somethin'!!

 

[Smallhorses]

Lots of Flowers!

Bright White

Sorry, couldn't tell you what it is, but it (like the rest in this post) was in my Grandmother's garden in Jersey.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D with EF100 F/2.8 USM Macro
Focal Length: 100 mm
Exposure: 1/800 sec @ F/9, ISO 640 (Flash: Not Fired)

Absolutely fantastic pictures Giles! All of them! 👍
That Vulcan Bomber picture brings back many memories of seeing them flying overhead when I was I kid spending summer holidays on the Solway Firth.
I can, however, clarify your flowery query, since my wife had those as her wedding bouquet!
It's a Cala Lily, relatively small white flower with a thick yellow stamen with a comparatively thick green stem. (Which is probably why our wedding photographer repeatedly told her to "Hold your Leeks up!" It had us both laughing and grinning a lot, and hence we got a great set of pictures despite it pissing down with rain all day!!!)

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Piping for Scotland's Music

Louise Marshal Millington plays bagpipes at a Scottish Music Group protest outside the Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood.
Camera: Canon EOS 5D with EF70-200 F/2.8L IS
Focal Length: 200 mm
Exposure: 1/640 sec @ F/2.8, ISO 100 (Flash: Fired)

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Look Left

Susan looking out through a large window. Shot from long range to avoid the tension of a pose. I think it works really well as a high-key black & white, and the glasses, of which she's usually self-conscious, make the shot. Naturally, I'll probably be severely harmed for posting this!

Camera: Canon EOS 5D with EF70-200 F/2.8L IS
Focal Length: 175 mm
Exposure: 1/800 sec @ F/2.8, ISO 1250 (Flash: Not Fired)

 

[Jordan]

I just now visited this thread - fantastic work, Giles, very impressive! 👍

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Greek Stray

Dogs without apparent owners abound in Greece. Generally healthy, they roam where they want to. This one was interesting because it was hard to determine in what sort of state the dog was. It looks healthy enough, but it clearly wanted to be left alone. When some other dogs came up to it, it wasn't clear whether their interaction was play or something more menacing. I could have watched it for hours.

Camera: Canon EOS 5d with EF70-200 F/2.8L IS
Focal Length: 200 mm
Exposure: 1/3200 sec @ F/2.8, ISO 200 (Flash: Not Fired)

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Mirror Angel

One of those occasions when the scene screams 'shoot me'. Emma was a willing model for a few minutes, admiring her newly straightened hair in the mirror while I shot from behind and out of the mirror's view, bouncing flash around different parts of the room. This shot, the pick of the bunch, was without flash though.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D with EF85 F/1.2L II
Focal Length: 85 mm
Exposure: 1/160 sec @ F/1.2, ISO 500 (Flash: Not Fired)

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Took these on a practice trip to Edinburgh's Botanic Gardens. The first outing for my EF135 F/2L.


Cotoneaster Berries

Winter berries were in abundance at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh on a beautiful winter day. This one of the first shots taken with my superb new EF135 F/2L lens.
Camera: Canon EOS 5D with EF135 F/2L USM
Focal Length: 135 mm
Exposure: 1/400 sec @ F/7.1, ISO 250 (Flash: Not Fired)


Tree Silhouette

Another shot from 'the Botanics', as Edinburgh residents refer to the superb botanic garden north of the city centre, it came to my mind after thinking of the silhouette phase I went through a couple of years ago. Not a monochrome, there's some colour here, which adds a little interest for me. Detail resolved by the EF135 lens superb as is assessing itself to be the norm.
Camera: Canon EOS 5D with EF135 F/2L USM
Focal Length: 135 mm
Exposure: 1/1600 sec @ F/7.1, ISO 250 (Flash: Not Fired)


Winter Shutdown

The sapphire sky lets in the crisp cold air of the winter. This tree is clearly readying itself with leaves gone and going.
Camera: Canon EOS 5D with EF135 F/2L USM
Focal Length: 135 mm
Exposure: 1/1000 sec @ F/7.1, ISO 250 (Flash: Not Fired)


Primaries

Greens, blues, leaves, branches. Don't stare too long, it's hypnotic.
Camera: Canon EOS 5D with EF135 F/2L USM
Focal Length: 135 mm
Exposure: 1/8000 sec @ F/2, ISO 250 (Flash: Not Fired)

Pointers

These fronds seemed to reach out to the lens. Had to wait a while for enough stillness to shoot, even at 1/3200s
Camera: Canon EOS 5D with EF135 F/2L USM
Focal Length: 135 mm
Exposure: 1/3200 sec @ F/2, ISO 50 (Flash: Not Fired)

 

[Dougboy]

Nice shots Giles. The bokeh is amazing

 

[Syntax error]

The last shot is an absolute cracker. Love it. Great colours and a really nice silhouette. That lens in pretty sweet. I really love the aperture blur in the first shot although I probably would have picked either the beginning or end of the branch to be in focus, not the middle.

 

[exigeracer]

Almost all of your shots are dead-center of frame. Why is that? I think more interesting things would happen if the composition would be arranged with a different spread.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

I think it's because I've been working on leading the eye into the frame. I'll bear it in mind though.

 

[Sprite]

That new lense it's very nice. Great shots. 👍

 

[GilesGuthrie]

So it's been a while!

Here's a preview from my photoshoot at the Scottish Sprint Championship at Kames:

Here's the rest of the gallery

 

[RouWa]

I plan to buy EF16-35 F/2.8L II for my 5D Mark II. In the photo with the helicopter the corners are quite dark. Well, the 5D Mark II has an option against vignetting, but after Canon's recent advance in prices the lens costs 1.400 € (= 1.826 $) here in Europe. Can you post some more light photos @ f2.8?

 

[Nicksfix]

Some more great pics offered here. Fantastic stuff.I should spend more time in here poking around at what you guys do with your cameras.You guys are good. 👍.

I like this one :

 

[RouWa]

This one is much better, but the lens was stopped down to aperture f8.0. Vignetting is no issue when a lens is stepped down that much. That's why I asked for f2.8 photos.

I'm also interested in the corner sharpness, which you can't judge on downsized images. Both the 17-40mm f4.0 and the 16-35mm f2.8 could be sharper in my opinion. If there was a Zeiss wide angle lens under 20mm with auto focus, I would buy the Zeiss. Canon makes awesome primes, but Canon zooms and especially Canon wide angle lenses could perform better.

The corners in many of the other photos are quite dark, too. The strong vignetting seems to be a 5D problem. I also own the EF 70-200mm f2.8 IS USM and the lens shows almost no vignetting wide open with my 5D Mark II.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

This one is much better, but the lens was stopped down to aperture f8.0. Vignetting is no issue when a lens is stepped down that much. That's why I asked for f2.8 photos.

I'm also interested in the corner sharpness, which you can't judge on downsized images. Both the 17-40mm f4.0 and the 16-35mm f2.8 could be sharper in my opinion. If there was a Zeiss wide angle lens under 20mm with auto focus, I would buy the Zeiss. Canon makes awesome primes, but Canon zooms and especially Canon wide angle lenses could perform better.

The corners in many of the other photos are quite dark, too. The strong vignetting seems to be a 5D problem. I also own the EF 70-200mm f2.8 IS USM and the lens shows almost no vignetting wide open with my 5D Mark II.

I'll check, but I'm fairly sure I added the vignetting in post on the Gazelle shot. I quite like the way it closes down the shot. Also, I tend to have a CPL on the 16-35, so the corners are often darker because it's so wide there's a variance in the polarising effect. Lightroom can correct vignetting (using the opposite settings to the ones I used to add it) very simply, and as a repeatable action across shots.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Wallace Menzies spins up the rears in the Westfield SEi he shares with his wife.

Canon EOS 1d MkIII with EF70-200 F/2.8L IS
70mm, 1/200s @ F/10, ISO 100

Scott Sheridan making a blur in the MK Indy

Canon EOS 1d MkIII with EF70-200 F/2.8L IS
70mm, 1/30s @ F/10, ISO 100

Paul Lawrence on his way to a class win in the "Ninja Bogey", an MNR Vortx

Canon EOS 1d MkIII with EF70-200 F/2.8L IS
135mm, 1/100s @ F/8, ISO 320

Paul Martin in the Esses in his Evo 6

Canon EOS 1d MkIII with EF70-200 F/2.8L IS
200mm, 1/80s @ F/3.5, ISO 100

Simon Durling's beautiful historic Brabham BT-18

Canon EOS 1d MkIII with EF70-200 F/2.8L IS
70mm, 1/250s @ F/9.0, ISO 200

Scottish Champion Jonathan Rarity in his self-built Ghost

Canon EOS 1d MkIII with EF70-200 F/2.8L IS
200mm, 1/100s @ F/4.0, ISO 100

Jac Koumides with a couple of corners to go

Canon EOS 1d MkIII with EF70-200 F/2.8L IS
80mm, 1/100s @ F/3.5, ISO 100

The awesome Audi Sport Quattro, here in Keith Ulverston's hands

Canon EOS 1d MkIII with EF70-200 F/2.8L IS
200mm, 1/80s @ F/3.2, ISO 100

And the bonkers Evo of Donald McCaskill

Canon EOS 1d MkIII with EF70-200 F/2.8L IS
200mm, 1/60s @ F/5.6, ISO 320

Finally, the gorgeous Ferrari 250 Lusso of Jon Goodwin

Canon EOS 1d MkIII with EF70-200 F/2.8L IS
70mm, 1/200s @ F/8.0, ISO 320

Hope you enjoyed them. Aside from RAW processing and a medium sharped from Lightroom, they're all straight from the camera as after sorting and keywording them I haven't the time for post-processing.

 

[boiltheocean]

The Brabham and Quattro are beautiful 👍

 

[C-ZETA]

Love the Brabham pic, brilliant picture with plenty of details of the Brabham.

 

[Syntax error]

Some nice shots Giles. I really like the partially obscured evo 6 for some reason and the Quattro is wicked.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

No tripod, no remote release, no forethought.

Bowlarama

Canon EOS 1d MkIII with EF24-70 F/2.8L USM
24mm, 5s @ F/8.0 ISO 160

Thoughts?