Freeze the Helicopter

davespics

Hi,

I was at a local event this weekend where they brought in a helicopter. I had a 2.8 lens for the day and had no idea I would end up stopping the blades of the copter.

pyry

The blades are actually going round much slower than people tend to think. Bright glass in daylight will stop them easily, as you found out

As for the picture, crop a slice off the left and top to put the helo off center and it'll look very nice

digismile

This was a chopper flying overhead during a 4th of July parade. The blades are nearly stopped at 1/1500 of second. Your photo was 1/6400! No wonder it's sharp!

Nikolai

With almost any propeller-driven flying machine you must have your shutter speed in the vicinity of 1/80..1/125 of a second to get the prop blur. This usually works more or less ok for choppers and acrobatic planes, almost all biplanes and other slow flying crafts. Unfortunately it's a tough call for something like P-51 "Mustang" going full speed, since you'll get inevitable motion blur on the plane itself (try 1/250..1/400 in this case).

moose135

It's a series of compromises to shoot prop aircraft or helicopters, trying to get acceptable prop blur while avoiding aircraft blur...that said, I don't generally go as slow as Nikolai suggested. I don't really want the props to disappear, but to have just enough blur to allow you to see the motion.

1/100 (Yes, it's on the ground, but it was right at start up, with the prop turning very slowly)


1/250


1/320


1/400

Nikolai

moose135 wrote:

... I don't generally go as slow as Nikolai suggested...

...yet your images prove my point to a a "tee"
slow on civic planes and choppers, faster on fighters

TexPhotog

I knew that if I searched about this the awesome DGrinners would show me the light... I'll be posting some Helicopter pics soon... although, they are static because I was shooting with a fast shutter...

Zanotti

Frozen Helicopter
Is this one frozen enough?





Z

Nikolai

Zanotti wrote:

Is this one frozen enough?
Z

Is that how you roll? R35p3ct!

Darren Troy C

Awesome image, Zanotti!

Ed911

Helicopter and ice
Z

That is a very nice shot...worthy of publication. I could see that in one of the photo mags.

Thanks for sharing.

moose135

That's a super shot, Zanotti!

DJ-S1

Moose, that is one sweet Mustang shot!

pathfinder

Doesn't look like Florida to me, George!

TexPhotog

Well... it's no "frozen" shot like above - AWESOME SHOT btw - but here are some shots of helicopters that I shot while on my way to the Grand Canyon

Please tell me what you guys think... thank you!

http://www.pmaphotovideo.com/gallery/6534242_5UHiz/6/429518473_QtpRm#P-7-15

ps - sorry for the link, but for some reason, I'm unable to post the pics directly from this computer... I'll try to do that when I get home to make it easier

scottV

1/640

1/1250

xtnomad

You can pratice this at home with a box blade fan with the gaurd off( try this at your own risk). I learned this in a high school photo class to help with motion and time compared to shutter speed. If you want to take it to that level, number the blades with a markes alot and switch on high. Then for a given light start with a slow shutter speed and slowly increase the shutter speed to stop the action or to control the blur effect. I only wish that digital was around then so I did not have to wait for developing and prints. OOps i just dated my self!

Pindy

Most light aircraft propellers cap out around 2300 RPM before red-lining. I believe helos are more like 1400-1500 RPM.

Balloonatic

Hey, I caught big brother! 1/640

1/800

Just noticed, I thought this was the same Heli but look at the N number

This one I stopped the rotors and put them back in the box!

moose135

A couple of recent ones, shot in the aftermath of the US Airways crash, both at 1/250: