Cheers, I was quite happy with 5 except for the overall graininess of the plane once I'd messed with the contrast.

Even on Saturday there were cars still queueing to get in long after the show had started, which was about 30 mins late due to weather. I'd spent some time writing out the sequence of events as I don't have a working printer, about five minutes in I realised I might as well throw it in the bin as everything was rescheduled.

Thanks.

I was about to say that most of that will be my amateur-ish attempts to clone out the marks on the original that are either on the lens, in the lens, or on the sensor. I was planning to upload the unedited image as a comparison, but then it seems to have little in the way of marks when I look at the original jpg.

All I've really done is crop the image, adjust brightness and contrast, resize it to 800x whatever, then run the unsharp mask on it. Most of that is by pure habit, though sometimes I'll forget about the unsharp-ing if it doesn't look like it will help.

I must say I prefer your adjustments than mine, looks as if I'll have to experiment with adjusting levels a bit more. I also should play more with the raw file rather than the jpg.

Cheers. That was my main reason as well - the only place 'up north' we'd have seen the two together, and as the Canadian one goes back today (or may already have left) no chance of anything else. It would have been nice to get better shots of the Lancasters, but the experience was the main thing really - other things put on better displays because they're more agile, but no-one was complaining about the Lancs just circling a few times. The terrible light helped set the scene, I felt.

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/hpfirenza/Southport%20Air%20Show%202014/IMGP5650a.jpg[/IMG]

I wanted to pop up to this to hopefully see the two Lancasters together, and obviously the rest of the stuff. Anticipating traffic I went on the train, which seemed to be a good move. Weather on Saturday was quite poor, however, so I was quite disappointed with a lot of the shots, and because of the weather a lot of the flying programme was disrupted. Just as I was about to give up and head for the station, though, the commentator interrupted the current interview for the two Lancs, an impressive sight. I watched them, then decided to leg it for the train and forego another view of the Vulcan - which turned out to be the correct decision as it didn't show. I was booked somewhere else with the car on Sunday, otherwise that would have been a better day.

So, some shots. There's a lot of messing around, and I'm not that experienced at doing that so in some cases it's just 'auto contrast' and hope for the best.

1. A great sight, even if I found it difficult to get them both in the same shot.

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/hpfirenza/Southport%20Air%20Show%202014/IMGP5632a.jpg[/IMG]

2.

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/hpfirenza/Southport%20Air%20Show%202014/IMGP5578a.jpg[/IMG]

3. Typhoon made an incredible noise

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/hpfirenza/Southport%20Air%20Show%202014/IMGP5503a.jpg[/IMG]

4.

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/hpfirenza/Southport%20Air%20Show%202014/IMGP5510a.jpg[/IMG]

5.

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/hpfirenza/Southport%20Air%20Show%202014/IMGP5471a.jpg[/IMG]

6.

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/hpfirenza/Southport%20Air%20Show%202014/IMGP5409a.jpg[/IMG]

7. Lucky framing on this one

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/hpfirenza/Southport%20Air%20Show%202014/IMGP5329a.jpg[/IMG]

8. First time I've seen a Red Arrows display as opposed to a fly-past, low cloud meant it was a flat display but still very enjoyable.

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/hpfirenza/Southport%20Air%20Show%202014/IMGP5117a.jpg[/IMG]

9. Catalina opened the show

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/hpfirenza/Southport%20Air%20Show%202014/IMGP4947a.jpg[/IMG]

Unfortunately my Sigma zoom has developed a fault, where it won't zoom out past about 100mm any more. It seemed to do it once then clear itself, but now it's done it again and won't clear. Not looking forward to finding out what it will cost to repair - it had just been serviced before I bought it (used), but that will be well out of warranty now.

As always, any criticism welcomed.

Some great shots there Paul, very clear. I pretty much ignored the rally stage even though I was there for all three days, not sure why.

That might be it. Looking at your shots reminded me that I'd taken some of the stunt aircraft at Oulton this weekend, but nothing that close or that clear. That was with the Sigma 50-500, generally a good lens, but I was experimenting with exposure compensation after reading a critique on someone else's aircraft photos, so a lot were blown out anyway.

You may well be correct about the IQ on the fixed lens, I found that I was using the Sigma over the Tamron 70-300 more for the quality than the extra focal length, though sometimes there's not much in it.

Cheers all. Still can't quite get my head around taking ~700 frames per day, and somehow I never get around to throwing enough away. I got a lot of out-of-focus shots, often with the Tamron zoom but also with the Sigma. I was happy with that TVR shot, was on the Tamron zoom at that point.

That's frustrating Simon, must be annoying to lose a lens like that, though I guess it might be fixable. I was a bit worried about the rain getting onto my kit as it's not known for being waterproof, but it seems to have survived again.

Cheers. It's just something about the buildings that draws the eye on those two.

They're nice close shots - what lens were you using? I did some of the air display at Oulton but nothing spectacular, and not as close up.

A varied weekend in terms of weather provided some sun, some rain and some bits in between.

1. As the rain came on the decreasing grip almost caught a few out.

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/hpfirenza/Oulton%20Park%20Gold%20Cup%202014/IMGP4671c.jpg[/IMG]

2. Derek Bell trophy race brought some nice noise to the track

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/hpfirenza/Oulton%20Park%20Gold%20Cup%202014/IMGP4517c.jpg[/IMG]

3. Panning practice, getting a bit better though still 90% throwaway shots. I'd have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for that pesky orange thing in the background.

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/hpfirenza/Oulton%20Park%20Gold%20Cup%202014/IMGP4124b.jpg[/IMG]

4. Not sure what happened to the white balance here, but I like the overall effect.

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/hpfirenza/Oulton%20Park%20Gold%20Cup%202014/IMGP4149b.jpg[/IMG]

5. Standard Vignale Vanguard was an unusual sight.

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/hpfirenza/Oulton%20Park%20Gold%20Cup%202014/IMGP4640c.jpg[/IMG]

6. Damp conditions for the Super Touring qualifying on Saturday.

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/hpfirenza/Oulton%20Park%20Gold%20Cup%202014/IMGP3450a.jpg[/IMG]

I've been looking forward to this event for some local panning practice, and to be fair even after culling I have many more shots, unfortunately they're all almost identical views of different (and the same) cars over and over.

All comments and criticism appreciated.