Western Railroad Discussion > Orange and Blue Angels

SeaFair, Seattle's version of Fleet Week happened this last weekend and after seeing the Blue Angels buzz over my house during practice on Friday, I decided it was time to increase the shutter speed on my camera and try to photograph the Blue Angels. Unforunately the show was grounded on Saturday due to high winds, but the pack of 6 jets were able to put on a great show Sunday. I have never photographed planes in my life, but wanted to get their take off from Boeing Field and then relocated to my confort zone, the BNSF yard at Harbor Island where an overpass provides a great perch to watch the show. 

Personally I'm happy with the shots, but I quickly hit the limits of my budget 400mm zoom lens, something that normally isn't an issue when shooting slow pieces of steel across a nice landscape. I had to get one in there with trains so the cranks on TO didn't scream "off topic" :)

Thanks for looking!

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thank you for posting these photos.  You really nailed it with photo #2!

Steve Zahn
Broomfield, CO

pretty cool to have boeing field available for a in city location

Thanks for sharing your excursion into aerial photography.  You did swell-!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/26 13:21 by cozephyr.

Awesome trio, especially #2!

Awesome composition on all three ! Thanks !!

I like the ‘off topic’ shots :) but I will have to agree that the one with the freight included is extra exceptional !!

Really cool shots!!

Another vote for #2! I know you've tried more expensive lenses years ago, including renting or borrowing an L lens? What might not meet your expectations is certainly good here on TO. 

cchan006 Wrote:
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> Another vote for #2! I know you've tried more
> expensive lenses years ago, including renting or
> borrowing an L lens? What might not meet your
> expectations is certainly good here on TO. 

I have had mixed results with the big L lenses, but this 700$ 100-400mm has worked really well for train photography. When I was going through Blue Angels photos, there was somethign to be desired when cropping shots for more detailed views of the planes, but the non cropped photos look pretty good. Thanks!

At the Huntington Beach Pacific Air Show, in the first pass of the Air Force Thunderbirds, they send one jet in front of the crowd to get all eyes on it, and then the others come screaming in from behind at treetop level and scare the crap out of the crowd!  I love it!

mapboy