Damp days can make for great prop vortices on takeoff. However, I have been feeling less than satisfied with my results recently. As I was going through some shots, I made a discovery that should probably have been something I worked out before. I like to have a good amount of prop blur so drop the shutter speed down when I can. I go with a high frame rate with the aim of getting a good sharp shot amongst the more blurry examples.
As I go through the shots, the sharp ones have okay prop vortices but not great. Then I will come across some really nice vortices but the shot is otherwise not sharp. It seems that, in panning with the plane to get a sharp shot, the trailing vortex gets blurred out. If I am not panning well, the vortex can be the thing I have tracked better and it shows up well. I have seen shots from others with the props almost frozen with a high shutter speed and the vortices easily seen.
Consequently, I am going to have to make a decision in future. How much prop blur do I want versus the ability to see the vortices well. A little trial and error will be involved. At least it is fall/winter so the Pacific Northwest will probably provide me plenty of damp days on which to experiment!
The north Norfolk coast is the location for Holkham Hall. We had been to the beach up there many years ago (if you have watched Shakespeare in Love, the final seen of her walking ashore on a Caribbean beach is actually Holkham) but we hadn’t visited the estate. The Hall looked like it would have been worth a bit more exploration of the estate but we only had a short time to be there. We stopped off at the entry to the estate and visited some of the buildings there. They were rather interesting looking buildings and we will go back if the opportunity arises.
