Trade Secrets: Breaking the speed of sound

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|| SportsShooter.com: News Item: Posted 2006-06-20

Trade Secrets: Breaking the speed of sound
Orville Myers' airshow photograph is the thirteenth in a series of SportsShooter.com features called "Trade Secrets."

By Orville Myers, Monterey County Herald

Photo by Orville Myers / Monterey County Herald

A U.S. Navy F-18 on the verge of passing through the speed of sound at the California International Airshow Salinas on Sat. Oct. 1, 2005 in Salinas, Calif.

On Saturday, Oct. 1, 2005, I headed out from Monterey, California to the California International Airshow in Salinas. Over the past 25 years I've shot the event many times and actually look forward to spending the day out in the sun watching the show.

As the crowd waited anxiously for the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds to appear, they were entertained by stunt planes, fire-breathing robots and jet trucks. In the middle of the program was the U.S. Navy F-18A Super Hornet. The jet performed the usual routine of shooting straight up towards the sun and endless rolls. Towards the end of the routine the announcer said that the pilot would take the jet to the apex of breaking the speed of sound. I had been shooting everything at a fast shutter speed and had slowed the shutter down to 200 and was going to try and pan the jet as it went across the sky.

Not sure what to expect I figured I would try something a little different since I already had some other nice photos. As the jet came closer I could see a "cloud" begin to form around the jet. I shot a series of about 15 frames as it passed by and the cloud grew. At the moment right before the jet breaks the speed of sound, it looked as if the jet were coming out of some Star Trek scene. I later learned that the atmosphere and temperature were just right to produce the cloud like that.

The following day I noticed that Scott MacDonald from the Salinas Californian (and SportsShooter.com member) had a shot that looked almost the same.

As the Airshow came to an end the fog began to creep in and the roar of the U.S. Thunderbirds could be heard in the sky. They made one pass in front of the crowd - then were gone. The ceiling was too low for them to perform safely !!!!

Just like any other assignment in this business - being in the right place at the right time is 99% - what we capture in that last 1% makes all the difference in the world.

For this picture I used a Canon EOS1D and a Canon 300 f/4 with 1.4 converter

The photo ran four columns wide and 7.5 inches deep on A1 of our paper.

The response was incredible. I got a couple hits on the SportsShooter.com web site and according to Vern Fisher (Director of Photography here and a SportsShooter.com member), The Herald has sold more reprints of the photo than of any other photo ever.

Orville Myers is a staff photographer for the Monterey County Herald.

"Trade Secrets" is a series of educational features where SportsShooter.com members reveal the inside-information about how they were able to create a specific image (or two.) To nominate an image for this feature, please send a message to the SportsShooter.com admin staff here: http://www.sportsshooter.com/contactus.html The SportsShooter.com admin staff reserves the right to accept, or not accept, any nomination.

Related Links:

Orville's member page