It was a long day already. Shooting statics in the morning, some class time, we were busy! But nonetheless, I was running a bit low on energy. Getting buzzed like this by a FG-1D Corsair will get your attention fast.
This was a difficult shoot though. I hand held the whole thing, which was not the easiest choice for trying to get stable footage. Panning with the corsair as it went by, I quickly realized I would not get much footage like that, so I came up with other ideas.
One was to fix on a position and let the object, the corsair, move through the frame. Since I needed footage of the guys shooting too, this worked out just fine with the guys as either foreground of background.
Another solution was prefocusing on a spot in the distance where I knew the plane would pass by. This way, I could pan a bit, and once I got back and edited, I could use the sections that were in focus. It’s important to understand though that planning requires knowing where the plane would be, and where it would look best. Communication with your pilot is key!
