CAFB_04-12 wrote:
There is no way this picture could have been taken without either the fighter or the background being blurred. The combined zoom, speed of a fighter on take-off, and the available light make the photo implausible.
I'm not a photographer, but I'm sure that modern DSLR cameras have plenty of shutter speed to take this shot. The F-16 is fast, but it's not going Mach 1 here. Probably closer to 160 knots.
Here is an example:
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5300/5468307131_a23e25baf6.jpg" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">
NASCARs top out at about 190 mph on the fastest tracks (a tick faster than 160 knots) in race conditions. This picture was taken on the new track at Daytona, where test speeds topped out at 203 mph--one of the fastest tracks in NASCAR. So, the fastest these guys will be about 190. Given that this isn't the top NASCAR circuit racing in this photo, I doubt they are going over 180.
This picture is taken with a modern DSLR camera with a telephoto lens in broad daylight--the shutter here can operate at it's fastest speed and still allow enough light in for the photosensors to record the image. Now, even with that capability, notice that the crowd is blurred from the camera panning to follow the car--in essence, as far as the camera is concerned, the fans and grass in the foreground are moving at 180ish mph in the opposite direction of the camera and are blurred because the sensors read them as having moved 6 or so inches in the fraction of time it took for the shutter to open and close.
The other thing to note is the depth of field in the NASCAR picture--the range of focus is about 40 feet before focus begins to fade. In a telephoto lens, this means the photographer was using a larger aperture (a bigger opening in the lens to let light through), which mean he needed less shutter speed.
Now, let's contrast with the CNN picture. We have an object moving at about the same speed, and a telephoto lens. The differences are the available light (the CNN picture being taken at twilight or dawn) and the depth of field (both the building and the jet are in focus, so a photo taken of both simultaneously would require a smaller aperture/opening to have both in focus in the same shot). These two differences combine to tell you that the shutter in the same camera would have needed to stay open much longer to get enough light onto the photosensors than the NASCAR shutter needed. Therefore, if the CNN photo were a true photo either the jet or the background should be at least as much if not much more streaked than the fore/background in the NASCAR photo.
