Advise on shooting aircraft.

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upperoilcan

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Graham
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Hi,me and a friend are new to DSLR photagraphy and for something different have decided to visit Cad/east in the middle of September to try and get some pics of any aircraft we encounter......

Any tips apreciated,as i am at a loss as to what shutter speed's i should be using for panning the aircraft.....

Any advise would be a blessing/many thanks.
 
My advice, which others may well disagree with, but this is what I do....

- Aim to position the sun towards your back. You do not want to be shooting into backlighting if you can avoid it. As the sun moves across the sky during the day then consider moving your own position, if it will help keep the sun behind you.

- Use manual exposure and take a meter reading from your palm as it faces back towards the sky (and the sun) behind you and then set an exposure to set the needle at +1 1/3 stops above the centre.

- If there are brightly lit white clouds in the background then check your histogram and look for blinkies to double check that you are not blowing highlights (too badly). If you are then just pull back your eposure 1/3 and try again.

- If you have an IS lens then use IS Mode 2 for panning. Do not use IS Mode 1 for panning. If planes are on the ground or coming towards you then IS Mode 1 is fine.

- To achieve prop blur you will probably need shutter speeds of around 1/250 or slower. For helicopters it'll be more like 1/100. You'll need a steady hand and smooth panning action. For jets you can up the shutter speed to help reduce shake. Aim for faster than 1/500 if the light is good enough. 1/1000+ would be better.

- When panning, unless you are good at it, try firing in short bursts of about 3-4 shots. The first one or two may have a bit of wobble from an over-eager shutter finger. Later shots in the sequence might be sharper.

- Do not use a UV filter. If you have a lens hood then definitely use it. A CPL filter might be handy to put some colour in a washed out sky if there is some haze or simply to make things look a bit more dramatic.

- Shoot raw so that you have a better chance of recovering clipped highlights and lifting shadows in high contrast or backlit conditions.

- If you can get some practice in beforehand then it might be time well invested.
 
I was there recently and agree with Tim's comments

You will need a lens with a focal length of 300mm minimum to avoid the need to crop.

CAD east is primarily going to be shots of the underneath of the aircraft as they turn into the valley. CAD west is better for top shots. Lowflying is only done midweek and not at weekends

Plenty of advice can be found here www.lowfly.net and here http://www.warplane.co.uk/
Discussion on Lowfly hereLowfly forum

Steve
 
I would suggest going to Cad West on your first trip, as the sun or lack of it is kinder for photographs on a first trip. Also as said you get top shots of the A/C. It is a tough walk up Cad West but well worth it. Another big help is, people are more grouped on Cad West so spotting A/C will be instantly done by an experienced togger. It goes without saying, take warm clothing as it gets cold if the wind gets up and a warm drink if poss.
 
It may be obvious, but we don't fly LL at weekends or public holidays.

Cheesy
 
tdodd said:
- Use manual exposure and take a meter reading from your palm as it faces back towards the sky (and the sun) behind you and then set an exposure to set the needle at +1 1/3 stops above the centre.
Click to expand...

time to prove i know nothing. lol

how do you do what you said above? :shrug: :thinking:

I have a 20D btw...
 
There is an age old technique for setting a manual exposure by pointing your camera at a specially calibrated photographic "grey card" and adjusting the exposure to get the meter needle at 0. You can simulate this technique simply by metering from your own palm, but because your palm is paler than a grey card you aim to set the exposure to get the meter at +1 1/3. The advantage of your own palm is that it is free, always with you, never forgotten etc. etc..

All you need to do is face your subject, with the camera in your right hand in the usual way. Lift up your left hand in front of you with your palm facing back towards you. Raise your camera in your right hand, aim at your palm and set a manual exposure that places the meter needle at +1 1/3. I recommend you use spot or partial metering to ensure you only meter your palm and not the background. Obviously you must take care that the lens does not cast a shadow over your palm. You also need to ensure that your palm is in the same lighting as your subject, be that sun, shade or whatever.

With a little practice it is a quick and easy technique that takes the guesswork out of setting exposure. I can happily use this technique with my 100-400 lens at 400mm. Shorter lenses are even easier, not that the 100-400 is exactly hard.

20090826_214719_0637_LR.jpg
20090826_214852_0640_LR.jpg
 
Regards metering, make it easy for yourself.. Jets ~ AV widest aperture try and get around 1/1000 alter ISO but not too high.. For props ~ TV 1/320 to start, if happy with your panning drop the speeds down. Its ok getting prop blur, but you dont want the Aircraft blurred too ;) .. Its all down to practice with the panning.
Shoot RAW.
AWB.
Centre weighted or evaluative.
Centre focus point.
AS Servo.

Please feel free to PM for anymore info.. Locations etc
 
Another source of info is http://www.flylow-flyfast.co.uk/

If this is your first time out taking photo's of low flight jet, the best advice is forget about spot metering, that will only confuse matters. And not sure it really works for the conditions in the Mach Loop anyway (light, shadow, shade) on a 600mph aircraft change so quickly its something you can worry about on subsequent trips, if you really need to anyway (I don't bother, plus several other friends who are out on the hills every week don't do either) and have got some great shots.

What you want from your first trip is to bag an aircraft, so my tips are:

AISERVO, single point focus (if you confident enough) or all switch on, as there's nothing between you and aircraft to distract focus points.
Shutter speeds 1/1000 sec or 1/1250 sec ball park for the jets, props, which will be TUC's 1/400 sec Herc 1/250 - 320.

Light conditions will be very important, you can't guarantee the weather in the Loop, so to achieve these type of shutter speed can be very challenging at time (or near impossible), increase you ISO (depending on camera, Max for non 1D series 400) and think about using + or - exposure compensation, maybe if you understand what it does (check manual). The Histogram is a very important tool, this will let you whether you're under or over exposing your images

It will also depend on your lens you have, as this will also effect the shutter speeds you can achieve in the light conditions. Minimum focal length for lens at all locations on the Loop is 300mm.

Panning Technique, pickup the aircraft early, track with it, keeping in focus and smoothly panning, when aircraft starts to fill 1/2 to 2/3 rd's screen start to think about taking a burst, 1, 2-3 shots, refocus to allow camera to catch up and then another burst. Machine gun approach will fill not get you good images, but will fill up your buffer and the delete image button on the camera will get some good use.

Cad West not good in the Morning because of the sun, So you could start at Cad East, drive up farmers track most of the way. The Bwlch shelves or Exit are good all day, Corris Corner, again in the morning, but midday sun in wrong position, so move to Cad West.

Hope this helps

Peter
 
Thank you all very much for the reply's,have gained some very valuable info,were not heading down until the 3rd week in september,so i will do plenty more reading !!!!

Again thank you all for your comment's...will post a pic if i manage to get one worthy of the board.....:)
 
MisterE said:
Why? Please......
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IMO, a UV filter is likely to degrade the quality of the shot (especially shooting 300mm+) and you're also likely introduce lens flare if the filter is a cheap-ish one.... A lens hood is the better option for protection as that is pretty much all the UV filter is going to do for you glass.
 
MisterE said:
Why? Please......
Click to expand...
Try reading the FAQ here - http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=368177 - and then you can make your own mind up.

Even though I own good quality (Hoya Pro 1 grade) UV filters for all my lenses it is my preference to leave them off at all times, unless I know I will be working in unpleasant conditions - e.g. salt spray, flying mud, dust or sand storm. The only exception is my 16-35/2.8L II, which requires a filter to complete its weather sealing. I have a Hoya HD (the newest top of the line range from Hoya) UV filter on that.

The Canon 100-400, which is my "long lens", is notorious for being upset by the use of filters and low grade filters can degrade the IQ to an unuseable level. If you look at Canon's documentation regarding their super-telephoto lenses, you will note that the lenses have a built in protection element at the front and it is not flat glass - it is curved. Flat glass at the front sets up reflections back and forth with light that bounces forward from the sensor, causing flare and ghosting. The visible result is lowered contrast and peculiar reflections of bright points such as lights, especially visible in night photography. Scroll down to the bottom of this page to see what Canon says - http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/tech/report/200308/report.html. Have a look at this discussion - http://www.prophotohome.com/forum/c...5671-meniscus-lens-300-600mm-prime-teles.html too.

The bottom line is that unless you actually have a very good reason to put a filter on the front of your expensive and highly engineered lens, do not put one on. A UV filter will not improve IQ when used with a digital camera. At best it will do no visible harm. At worst it will destroy your IQ. Also, since digital cameras already have UV filtering built in to the sensor there is no need to filter out UV at the front of the lens, so all you are really doing is spending money to stick a bit of flat glass in front of your lens. Why would you do that? A hood will offer far better physical protection against knocks and scrapes and will enhance rather than harm IQ, by further reducing flare rather than adding to it.

Parting shot against UV filters, cheap ones especially - http://www.kenandchristine.com/gallery/1054387_ucZqa

If you can't be convinced of the pitfalls of using UV filters then at least use a good quality filter. Review here - http://www.lenstip.com/113.1-article-UV_filters_test.html
 
pete.rush said:
If this is your first time out taking photo's of low flight jet, the best advice is forget about spot metering, that will only confuse matters. And not sure it really works for the conditions in the Mach Loop anyway (light, shadow, shade) on a 600mph aircraft change so quickly its something you can worry about on subsequent trips,
Click to expand...

I'm not familiar with Cad East/West or the Mach Loop. My advice to use spot metering was purely to facilitate metering from your own palm in order to set a manual exposure suited to the incident light. If you plan to use autoexposure then I agree that spot metering would be tricky and probably a rather unsound idea.

My purpose in suggesting manual exposure is to lock an exposure that is correct for the prevailing incident light, assuming it is steady and even. That works perfectly with clear blue skies or evenly overcast skies. It is not very helpful when planes are flying in and out of light and shade between broken cloud cover, or darting into shaded areas below cliffs, for example.

The problem I have with autoexposure is that it is upset by changing backgrounds - white clouds, blue sky, dark forest or mud, light dust/dirt/sand, dark planes, light planes - and I would not want to be fighting with the EC dial as I panned across a scene and the background altered as I went.

The best choice does depend on the conditions. I don't really shoot much in the way of aircraft but I do shoot birds in flight, and for me it is much, much, much simpler to use manual exposure for tracking birds than to keep riding the EC dial to compensate for differing background reflectivity. It shouldn't matter how reflective your scene is. What should matter is how well illumimnated it is. That's why I expose for the incident light, not the reflected light.

Anyway, use whatever works for you, given the conditions at the time :)
 
alastair.b said:
im confused why you recommend not using spot metering, as if you are using it you meter off a spot on the plane and not the background?
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If - as in this case - you're shooting the aircraft against the ground, as opposed to the sky, it'll make very little difference...since the spot is still attempting to make a 17% avarage reading...
Matrix should take into account all colours and tones...

If shooting against the sky, the chances of getting the selected cursor squarely on the (fast-moving) aircraft are slim at best if you've not been practicing for years...

Better to do an average metering off the hand, as has been suggested, in the same light-conditions as the aircraft you're shooting...
 
So as you are going to the Mach Loop, where the aircraft will be against a background and not sky (like at an airshow) in most cases, spot metering is pointless for this situation and as it's your first time, switch all focus points on, as you will have nothing really infront of your to distract the focus, other than the aircraft. Single point focus does take some practice to get reasonable results.
 
Advise on shooting aircraft.
Click to expand...

Wait till they stop popping flares before firing missile, makes lock on easier.

Sorry couldn't resist:coat:
 
PsiFox said:
Wait till they stop popping flares before firing missile, makes lock on easier.

Sorry couldn't resist:coat:
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hmmm...radar-controlled cannon makes it even easier, unless they have Top-Cover with HARM...

Shilka...mmmmm...

shilka-02.jpg
 
Thank you for such informative replies tdodd and mscott.
 
Arkady said:
Shilka...mmmmm...
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Damn you tovaritch I was just scrolling down this thread to add just that to it :D

Gotta love a Shilka - well, unless you are a pilot! :cool:

Ok, one better then.... Tunguska!

ZSU-23-4P-Shilka-2S.jpg
 
big lens wide open high shutter speed
pan
allow for shutter lag
 
"It may be obvious, but we don't fly LL at weekends or public holidays.

Cheesy"

Must remember then, in my bid for world domination to kick it off on a Saturday morning!!! - bank Hol weekend, should give me about 3 days air domination. That should do it!!!




I know its a world of difference Cad West etc and an airshow - but first time went to an airshow had a 70-300, 2nd time a 120-400 - the extra range made a huge difference........
 
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