Tag Archives: Lightning II

Messing Up the F-35B Departure

Since I switched to my R3 bodies, I have been playing a lot more with low shutter speeds to emphasise speed in images. This has been a topic in multiple posts on the blog in recent years. However, it doesn’t always work out well. I know that the keeper rate will fall when shooting fast moving objects at low shutter speeds, but you hope/expect that you’ll get something worthwhile from the ones you take.

However, that doesn’t always happen. During Seafair last year, the US Marine Corps F-35B departed Boeing Field for its display. I decided to go low with the shutter speed from my location up on the tower with the aim of having the airfield background blurring out and leaving me with the plane as the dominant element in the shot with little distraction. However, when I came to go through the sequence of shots that I took, I had some sharp ones as it approached me and as it flew away but nothing that really pleased me as it was closest and alongside me.

Some of them weren’t terrible but it was a huge disappointment as I clicked through the images and came to the realisation that I had blown it. You can’t always get lucky, and I knew what I was doing so I can’t be totally surprised that it didn’t work out, but it was still a bit galling. Does this mean I won’t do it again? No. Getting the record shot is fine, but I am more bothered about having a shot I really like these days. Might as well give it a go!

Flare Doors Open on an F-35

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Early in 2024, Mark and I were down in Arizona photographing aviation in all its forms. We did spend a little time in Glendale at Luke AFB and seeing a wide variety of F-35As (if you count variety as meaning very slightly different low visibility markings). One of the jets that came overhead on approach, and it had a pair of open doors on the underside. Initially I thought that this was the Integrated Power Pack outlet but then I saw that was next to the doors. It is actually the flare dispenser and I guess the doors must be stuck open after something from the mission.

Why Land When a Flyby Would Be Better?

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The view from the tower at Boeing Field is excellent (which makes sense, of course) but, when planes are landing from the south, they will have touched down long before they get close and so are not going to give the best photo opportunities. A small price to pay for having such a good spot to hang out so no complaints from me. However, I was rather pleased with the USAF F-35A demo when it completed its show.

It came in on a curving descent towards the runway but, as it got lower, up came the power and the gear was cleaned up. Keeping it low, the pilot gave us an impressive show as they blasted along the length of Boeing Field’s runway before pulling up aggressively into the downwind. The second time, they did actually land. I would have been fine with a few more of those passes but I guess I shouldn’t be greedy.

First of the Weekend Flyovers – The F-35C

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The Navy brought three F-35Cs to Boeing Field to provide a flyover for one of the UW Huskies’ games. It would have been great to catch them landing but that wasn’t possible, but the game was on a Saturday that I was free, so I headed out to catch them. The conditions were really nice with that sort of fall lighting that can be so welcome. Two jets were going to do the flyover so the spare could wait on the ramp.

They got airborne long in advance of the game itself. Whether this was to allow a little sightseeing or to buy time if there was a need to jump to the spare, I don’t know. I did decide to get some video as they taxied out since it showed off the wings being unfolded. The video is below and is actually a combination of two different departures.

I haven’t seen much of the Charlie models of the F-35 so was happy to have these jets operating locally. The motor in the F-35 is a big one and the take off is not subtle – they do seem to come out of burner pretty early, though. I guess that much power gets you going fast enough pretty quickly. I picked my mid field location for the take offs to get a reasonable angle on the jets as they rotated and climbed out. Then it was time to relocate.

The return of the jets after the flyover had been completed gave the opportunity to get some touchdown shots which I had missed from the day they arrived in Seattle. More good light so all was well. They stayed overnight and then headed back home the following day. A different flyover was happening that day which will be a different post but, in the meantime, there are some bonus shots of the three jets heading back to base.

Departure of the USAF F-35A Demo

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Being up the tower at BFI during Seafair was a fantastic opportunity. I have photographed a bunch of F-35A departures at Boeing Field in recent years, but an elevated location was hard to beat. The A and B jets were parked together on the far side of the field so a little distant for a clean shot but, as they taxied out, it was still worth a go. Passing the Golden Knights jumpship and all of the people watching from the ramp was also rather cool to see.

The takeoff is a brutal affair. The power of that engine is impressive and, as they got airborne and held it low, you knew that anyone at the north end of the field was in for a treat as they blasted across the airfield perimeter. Looking down on the jet was epic. I was taking a chance with some lower shutter speeds but letting the camera make up for my lack of skill by letting me have a lot of shots to choose from. What a moment of sensory overload!

Flares Aplenty

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The USAF has started using flares more in some of their displays recently. I have seen shots of the F-22 Raptor demo pumping out flares at the top of a loop to great effect. The willingness to use flares is dependent on where you are – no point starting a wildfire for a display. Seafair is over water so no risk at all there. Consequently, The F-35A demo this year incorporated flares too.

I was pleased to get some shots with the flares being dispensed. They were not thrown out in quick succession, which was a shame as a closer spacing would have made for a better shot. Even so, having some flare shots was a nice addition. Seafair’s display axis is a long way from the shoreline, so things were a bit distant, but they were still not too bad.

This Stabilization is Amazing

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Another episode in the testing of the RF 200-800 for today’s post. This is more focused on the image stabilization in the lens. When shooting stills, I have commented on the slightly odd jerking effects visible in the viewfinder. I think this is most apparent when panning very slowly and I think the camera is trying to work out if you mean to stay still or not. However, one area which is really effective at showing the capabilities of the stabilization is video.

I have some footage below that is taken with the lens at 800mm and hand held. No tripod or monopod here. The rabbit was at the other end of our back yard while the bees were on the lavender plants in our beds. You can see that the image is remarkably stable. It is amazing to see it lock on so well. I have also shot some video of an F-35B in the hover, also at 800mm. It was interesting to see a lot of movement in the viewfinder for a moment and then it seemed to lock in on what it was doing and then things get really solid. This tech is most impressive.

Burning the Runway Surface

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I got a sequence of shots of the F-35B as it was taking off for its display at Seafair. I was a long way down the runway from it so the image quality is not all I would like but what caught my eye was the effect of the afterburner plume on the runway surface. From shot to shot, there was either this red glow or nothing. I was wondering whether it was a function of material on the runway like rubber that was burning in the efflux of the engine. Interesting effect, whatever the reason.

My First USMC F-35B Demo

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The Marine Corps F-35Bs have been in service for plenty of time now and I have had the opportunity to photograph them on quite a few occasions. However, I had not, until this year, seen their air show demo. I have seen the RAF F-35B at RIAT on an occasion, but it was not a full demo but a brief flyby and hover. Consequently, when the jet was slated for the Seafair schedule this year, I was interested to see the performance. It turned out to be an interesting combination of things although maybe not intentionally.

The displays at Seafair are a bit tricky. The alignment of the lake and the populated areas means the show box is a bit distant from the shire. Consequently, the flying takes place quite a way from the crowd. This is not ideal for photos. However, the Marine demo did seem to approach the box from some interesting angles that included coming almost along the shoreline at one point. Not sure if this was intentional but it did make for some closer shots.

Sadly, the hovering portion was quite a way offshore. I had hoped that this might be closer in given the lack of speed but that wasn’t to be. Even so, it was fun to watch the jet doing its thing and looking to see how much the surface of the lake was being disturbed by the efflux. Hopefully, I’ll get to see the demo again at a location that allows some closer passes.

Foreign F-35s

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Luke AFB is not just home to a load of USAF F-35s. It is also the training base for many of the export operators. They also allocate some of their jets to the unit, so you do have the opportunity to catch a bunch of jets that are not from the USAF. This includes Italian, Danish, Norwegian and Dutch jets. Aside from the Danish ones that actually have a tiny bit of color in their national markings, all the jets are low viz. At least they are slightly different, even if not very conspicuous.