Starduster Too captured by D4s / 80-400VR2
The breakaway shot is so cool to capture! It is a dangerous, challenging shot to get though. Why is it dangerous? The pilot, once they bank to breakaway, can no longer see the photo platform. In formation flying, they need to always need to have an eye on the wingtip of the photo platform. For this reason, they tend to break off at great speed, for sheer safety. Photographically, since we’re shooting at a slow shutter speed to blur the prop, the motion of the plane moving away the majority of the time makes the plane out of focus in a breakaway. Using a longer lens, the subject aircraft can be further away from the photo platform, that is safer. Having the subject aircraft further away allows it to break slower, and with the slow shutter speed, you can get a sharp photo. All of this is dealt with on the ground in the brief before we ever take to the sky. It’s just not as simple as it appears.