Bob Scott
October 2025 - Wing Walking
About the Image(s)
There was some silly narrative about the wing walking couple on this plane at the New Jersey Airshow at Greenwood Lake last month. I could barely see them and concentrated on using my new (to me) 600mm Nikkor lens (I also used my 180 to 600 Nikkor). I slowed the shutter speed down to hold the ISO down and also to try to blur the propeller (partial success) and with this plane following a fairly level path, panning was relatively easy. The photo was not cropped. I ran it through Lightroom for basic lighting and then through Topaz AI for denoising and sharpening. In PhotoShop, I used an adjustment layer to darken the sky, which ended up producing a nice deeper blue one
2 comments posted
What a fun shot, Bob! And sharp enough to read the words on the tail of the plane. You did a great job with getting the right shutter speed on the propeller. You don't want it too slow or too fast….fast enough for details of moving plane to be sharp and slow enough to blur rather than stop the propeller. Hard to get it right, but you did it. The color contrast is nice between the red and the deepened blue that you created. Kind of fun that both of the people seem to be looking your way. Ha! Posted: 10/20/2025 04:01:13
Bob, Great timing and technical control. You achieved a perfect midpoint between motion and sharpness - the propeller blur gives a strong sense of life and movement. The angle of the plane creates a sense of upward tension, and the diagonal framing adds to the drama. The rich blue sky complements the red aircraft, creating a strong visual impact and a genuine sense of excitement. Posted: 10/24/2025 05:03:06