Air to air photography

nofate · July 4, 2007

Does anyone have any experience with taking pictures of a flying aircraft from another flying aircraft? Both high wing aircraft, Nikon D70S camera with stock zoom lens. What would be the recommendations for time of day and atmospheric conditions for best colour saturation, contrast, dramatic effect etc? I have lots of ground pics, but would like to get a heads up on air to air shoots before trying it.

Andy · July 4, 2007

Check Canon Explorer of Light Paul Bowen's Site:
http://www.airtoair.net/

There's a techniques section

ivar · July 4, 2007

I have had to do some air-to-air shooting with passengers before. Shooting from a high wing ac means that you will need to be higher than the other aircraft most likely. Also, they will be mainly side to side shots. Shots from head/tail will require to cross at an angle, and that means some distance. You may want to bring some long lenses. (not sure what the stock lens is).

The windows open upwards on most Cessna 180s. Some will have a metal strip/latch (between the window and window-frame) to not allow the window to open up past a certain angle. The best thing to do is to unlock that (this is a simple/normal thing and can be done by hand without tools). It will allow the window to go open all the way. As long as you hold it while you open it, you can let it go after it is 'stabilized' and it makes shooting a lot easier. Some don't have this latch.

I'd fly a little before sunset, but it gives you little time. Maybe take of a bit early so you have some time to practice. Or go up twice if possible.

If you are shooting with sunny weather be careful of reflection of the sun in the windows etc.

Clean the front windows and the leading edges of the airplane you are shooting before you go flying. They collect bugs like crazy, depending on where you are.

If you are shooting planes with floats, try to find an angle that works for the plane. They have a tendency to look huge/weird (but that could be a personal thing)

You can ask the pilot of the other plane to make some slow rolling/yawing movements to get you some better angles. This can be done flying parallel at the same distance pretty much.

Art Scott · July 4, 2007

Andy wrote:

Check Canon Explorer of Light Paul Bowen's Site:
http://www.airtoair.net/

There's a techniques section

Dang Andy beat me too it......

seastack · July 4, 2007

Funny how these threads show up at just the right time. Anybody out there have any experience in taking shots from a military jet? I may have a photojournalism assignment coming up. ("Don't puke on your camera" has already been suggested

)

Art Scott · July 4, 2007

seastack wrote:

Funny how these threads show up at just the right time. Anybody out there have any experience in taking shots from a military jet? I may have a photojournalism assignment coming up. ("Don't puke on your camera" has already been suggested )

I have to re-iterate the link above for Paul Bowens site...clik the warbirds link and also his tecniques link....Yoiu may also just want to contactl him.....hers is alink to his bio....PAUL BOWEN......btw his shooting platform is a B-25.....GOOD LUCK!!

seastack · July 4, 2007

Art Scott wrote:

I have to re-iterate the link above for Paul Bowens site...clik the warbirds link and also his tecniques link....Yoiu may also just want to contactl him.....hers is alink to his bio....PAUL BOWEN......btw his shooting platform is a B-25.....GOOD LUCK!!

Thank you, I did go to his site and checked out technique but missed the warbirds. Will look again.

Andy · July 4, 2007

ivar wrote:

I have had to do some air-to-air shooting with passengers before. Shooting from a high wing ac means that you will need to be higher than the other aircraft most likely. Also, they will be mainly side to side shots. Shots from head/tail will require to cross at an angle, and that means some distance. You may want to bring some long lenses. (not sure what the stock lens is).

The windows open upwards on most Cessna 180s. Some will have a metal strip/latch (between the window and window-frame) to not allow the window to open up past a certain angle. The best thing to do is to unlock that (this is a simple/normal thing and can be done by hand without tools). It will allow the window to go open all the way. As long as you hold it while you open it, you can let it go after it is 'stabilized' and it makes shooting a lot easier. Some don't have this latch.

I'd fly a little before sunset, but it gives you little time. Maybe take of a bit early so you have some time to practice. Or go up twice if possible.

If you are shooting with sunny weather be careful of reflection of the sun in the windows etc.

Clean the front windows and the leading edges of the airplane you are shooting before you go flying. They collect bugs like crazy, depending on where you are.

If you are shooting planes with floats, try to find an angle that works for the plane. They have a tendency to look huge/weird (but that could be a personal thing)

You can ask the pilot of the other plane to make some slow rolling/yawing movements to get you some better angles. This can be done flying parallel at the same distance pretty much.

great post, Ivar - thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience.

Man, I can't wait till we get the SmugJet - Captain Ivar at the stick!

nofate · July 4, 2007

Thanks for these great tips Ivar. I also checked out Paul Bowen's site and there were a few tips there as well, but nothing for air to air shoots.

I think the best time of day would be when the sun is low in the morning or evening. It would be possible to get the underside of the wing illuminated at those times. Colour saturation should be best during those magic hours too. For background I would like some dramatic cloud formations and /or some of the beautiful lake dotted groundscape we have in northern Ontario.

What would you recommend for camera settings? The zoom lens is a Nikon 18 - 70 mm which has been very good for most of my pics so far. To keep the planes at a safe distance a longer lens will be preferable, but I'm not ready to invest in one for this purpose just yet. Maybe I'll be able to borrow one. What exposure setting would be best? I don't want to stop the prop with a very short exposure so maybe a shutter priority mode might be best. I can always experiment with changing to different modes to see what gives the best results.

Obviously flying safety must be a priority. In Canada it is legal to fly in close formation if the pilots have preplanned the flight as such. Now I just have to find either a competant pilot to fly my plane while I take pics from the other one or a good photographer to take the pics from the other plane. The other plane owner will want aerial shots of his plane too so this could be a long or multi flight session. I'm looking forward to combining two of my favourite passions...flying and photography.

Thanks again for the tips.

ivar · July 5, 2007

Andy wrote:

great post, Ivar - thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience.

Man, I can't wait till we get the SmugJet - Captain Ivar at the stick!

If you get me that global express to fly, I'll cook you vegan for the rest of your life

That is my #1 plane on my 'want to fly' list

ivar · July 5, 2007

seastack wrote:

Funny how these threads show up at just the right time. Anybody out there have any experience in taking shots from a military jet? I may have a photojournalism assignment coming up. ("Don't puke on your camera" has already been suggested )

shooting from a military jet? Air-to-air? from the ground? the airplane flying or standing on the ground?

have a look at http://www.airliners.net for some inspiration. The search page will let you search for the type of plane as well.

ivar · July 5, 2007

nofate wrote:

I think the best time of day would be when the sun is low in the morning or evening.

nofate wrote:

For background I would like some dramatic cloud formations and /or some of the beautiful lake dotted groundscape we have in northern Ontario.

Yeah, some cool clouds would be nice. Remember the wing though. Shooting backwards will make it easier to keep the wing out of the photos, but then you have to be careful of not getting the stabilizer. On a non-seaplane I would say you can try flying cross-controlled, wing up to make shooting and not getting the wing a bit easier. On a seaplane though, the floats may cause too much drag.

nofate wrote:

What would you recommend for camera settings? The zoom lens is a Nikon 18 - 70 mm which has been very good for most of my pics so far. ...[snip]... What exposure setting would be best? I don't want to stop the prop with a very short exposure so maybe a shutter priority mode might be best. I can always experiment with changing to different modes to see what gives the best results.

I looked at a few aerial shots wrt the prop-stopping. You can actually calculate what the shutter speed has to be for prop-stopping. I did a course calculation, don't even know what I came up with exactly, but it is quite high. I assumed 2400RPM just to start somewhere.
Have a look at this one. shot with 1/320 and f13.

Be careful of the metering/exposure. One minute you may have bright white clouds as background, and the next dark lakes and ground.

nofate wrote:

Obviously flying safety must be a priority.

Always

Art Scott · July 5, 2007

Here is another local (Wichita: Air Capital ) plane photog...this link takes you to his opening page: DAve Higdon : PhotoProse........There is contact info on his site also......One heck of a nice guy to talk to......

seastack · July 5, 2007

ivar wrote:

shooting from a military jet? Air-to-air? from the ground? the airplane flying or standing on the ground?

have a look at http://www.airliners.net for some inspiration. The search page will let you search for the type of plane as well.

All of the above, and I'm hoping for candids with the crew. We'll see, the editor is working on it. It may happen in August but its sounding most likely not until next year since there's a long list of press and a limit of 3 for the venue (plus pre-approval by military, etc). My biggest challenge will be from inside the plane itself, I'm not really sure what to expect (F/A-18 Hornet) in terms of ability to photograph, canopy reflection, or even if I'll be able to snap a few (although I've seen some). Research, research, research ahead of time. The above link has been very helpful, thanks!!!:D

EDIT: It occured to me that I might be hijacking this post a bit, my apologies if that's the case, not my intention. If a mod wants to move this to a separate thread, that's fine with me.

pilotdave · July 6, 2007

I have a little bit of experience, but no advice... I dunno what I'm doing!

This one was shot from a Cessna 182, through a dirty window. Lighting sucked... but this was just an impromptu "visit," not a photo shoot.

Dave

ivar · July 20, 2007

nofate wrote:

Does anyone have any experience with taking pictures of a flying aircraft from another flying aircraft? Both high wing aircraft, Nikon D70S camera with stock zoom lens. What would be the recommendations for time of day and atmospheric conditions for best colour saturation, contrast, dramatic effect etc? I have lots of ground pics, but would like to get a heads up on air to air shoots before trying it.

Did you do some shooting already?

Jim Wilson · July 22, 2007

Aviation Photography

nofate wrote:

Does anyone have any experience with taking pictures of a flying aircraft from another flying aircraft? Both high wing aircraft, Nikon D70S camera with stock zoom lens. What would be the recommendations for time of day and atmospheric conditions for best colour saturation, contrast, dramatic effect etc? I have lots of ground pics, but would like to get a heads up on air to air shoots before trying it.

I've been shooting aviation for 26 years. I average 400 hours a year of air to air work around the world. Late last year I began a thread on Fred Miranda's site called "Mustang Air to Air", it's in the "City, Still Life, Abstract" section of the forums. Since that thread began it's taken on a lifre of it's own with over 128,000 views. There's lots of great shots and dialogue within that thread that might help you. Let me know if there's anything specific I can help you with. I've begun an aviation image gallery on smugmug under my name as well.

Sincerely,

Jim Wilson

Jimwilsonphotgraphy.com

Air to air photography

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