Honda HondaJet (N612SR)

With absolutely no ambient light, in order to get any little bit of exposure, I had to go very high with the ISO setting, low with the f-stop, and slow with the shutter. Then, being as I was handholding the camera and the HondaJet was going to pass by me only 150 feet away at its rotation speed or perhaps a bit faster, I had to pan along with it smoothly enough to get a sharp capture as it went whistling past me. I learned one thing for sure -- it is not easy to even SEE an airborne jet in the viewfinder when it is pitch dark. If it had not been for the well-lit tail, I doubt I would have been able to get a proper focus and simultaneously pan smoothly while readjusting the focus and shutter speed as it went by.

That's pretty dang good under the circumstance, Gary!

I'll never get one like this so A+ and yes, the tail light was a helper....could you do this from Rattlesnake Hill? grin!

Hi, Greg. TY for the compli. (Wave and a Thumbs Up) ... And read my reply to Alien (Tom V.) ...
Alien .... Now, I see you had a "grin" when you wrote "....could you do this from Rattlesnake ...?" So the grin tells me you most likely were joshing, right? Well, my friend, I DID do it from Rattlesnake Mountain ... just three days ago on Feb 18th. I had to get up at 3:55 and drive in to Reno. I left myself some extra time to climb The Snake because, as you already know, there are no lights anywhere around and the rutted dirt and rock trail is pitch dark. I had a flashlight and one of those ball caps with a small light in the bill of the cap, but it still took me just over 45 minutes from the time I left my car to climb that steep trail. Huffin' and puffin' (I'm 70 y/old) and couldn't see squat. But I made it to the top in time (JUST in time) to try getting pics of two things: the International Space Station which was visible for 6 minutes as it passed over, and also of United's B739 (N75435) which wears the Continental "Blue Skies" heritage livery. I know; you're thinking I'm kidding, but I'm not. I actually did go up there in the total darkness three mornings ago. Now, T, I wasn't going to post my pic of N75435 as it flew by me while climbing past The Snake, but what the heck - why not? Of course, since both it and I were in complete darkness - even more darkness than the above photo -, it isn't going to be a calendar shot, but ... oh, well, I'll post it and you'll see. I assure you that it isn't an easy picture to get. A B739 climbs at 240 knots (275 MPH) or more and it was way up into a totally black sky, but I had the one big advantage that I learned from taking this photo of the HondaJet -- I learned that I could focus on the tail of any plane that has an illuminated tail - and I knew that the tail of UA's Continental "Blue Skies" special paint is nicely lit up. So I will post it, Tom. Hardly anyone will appreciate what I had to do to get the pic because hardly anyone is THAT crazy like I am, but you and Greg B. and a couple others will appreciate my insanity (lol) so it is worth it to me to share it with you guys. (Wave to ya)

Well, I'm not going to call you insane, Gary! Now, my wife on the other hand... ;-)