Growler with “Vapor Cone”
Nikon Z9 with Nikon Z 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 @ 400mm., 1/500th of a sec. @f7.1, ISO64, shutter-priority, center-weighted metering, autofocus set to 3D tracking mode.
First of all, they are NOT vapor cones (hence my quotes in the title). Water vapor is invisible. The cone is produced because at high speed as the air around the jet accelerates, this causes the temperature to drop and the water vapor to rapidly condense into a cloud. As the jet is just under the speed of sound (around 700 MPH), the condensation takes the shape of the shockwave forming around the jet, which has the appearance of a cone. The only reason it is visible is because the water vapor has condensed, so technically this is not a “vapor cone,” but a cone of condensation. But since that’s how everyone referrs to them…..
The tricky part about shooting “vapor cones,” is that their formation is unpredictable. While high humidity is a prerequisite, if the ambient temperature is also very high, when the temperature in the low pressure areas around the plane drops, it must go below dewpoint in order for the vapor to condense. Such conditions can be elusive. I’ve seen plenty of hot, humid days that produced no condensation at all. Also, only some aircraft produce discernable cones. The US Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornet seems to be the best at producing cones. Pictured here is a varient of the Super Hornet, the EA-18G Growler, a Super Hornet optimized for electronic warfare.
Despite the near-perfect conditions for producing a cone, the one seen here lasted only a fraction of a second, so apart from holding down the shutter for the length of the high speed pass, you need a little luck to get a cone shot. That said, the best way to aid in getting such an image is to focus on all of the basics: smooth panning, being balanced on one’s feet, keeping the aircraft steady in the frame, and being gentle when squeezing the shutter. I tend never to hold the shutter for more than a second or two. I think that promotes better discipline. I prefer to know what I want when I hit the shutter. When holding it down for long periods, I find I am less intent on capturing a specific moment and thus have less mental focus while shooting, which for me often results in a missed shot. One thing I think most action photographers agree on is that, especially for shots like this, back-button focusing helps a great deal. Focus and shutter release are two seperate functions, so I think it helps to have them on two seperate buttons. Further, you can hold down the focus button for the entire pass, but then only squeeze the shutter when you have the shot you want. It’s a technique that many find is helpful to secure sharp panning shots more consistently and is worth a look if you haven’t already tried it.
Lastly, as to the camera settings, because there is no propeller in the shot and no background to blur from panning, I set the shutter to 1/500th. Why not 1/1000th or higher? Two reasons: 1) I prefer the lowest possible ISO to avoid noise and 2) I prefer to keep my aperature somewhere around f8-f11 to promote the sharpest possible images. Typically, at ISO 100, on a sunny day you can shoot at 1/500th of a second at f8. Here, the slightly lower ISO caused my aperature to drop (or rather open up) a bit below f8, but close enough. I do that because, if you read lens test MTF graphs, almost all lenses (and especially telephoto zooms) tend to be sharpest between f8 and f11. The combination of a low ISO and a midpoint f-stop always tends to produce the sharpest images. You can achieve the same thing by using aperture-priority or even just going with ISO 100, 1/500th of a sec. and f8 for the whole shoot, but we each have our comfort zones with camera settings and for action shooting. Shutter-priority is mine.
No doubt, however, Super Hornets (or Growlers) make the best cones!
