Any tips on taking pictures of a flypast.

Chonga

Chonga

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Hi all! Tomorrow, I'm going to the 'Meet Your Navy' event at the Historic Dockyard in Portsmouth. During the afternoon there is going to be a Royal Navy Historic Fly past, a helicopter search & rescue harbour display and to finish it all off, a Red Arrows Fly past.
I've yet to try taking pictures of any fly pasts so I was after some basic tips that might get me through the day and hopefully come home with some half decent snaps. I appreciate I will need to use a fast shutter speed. Any advice will be most appreciated.
 
When they flew over London back in April I researched the flight path and decided where I wanted to be positioned. Then I got there early. They were there and gone in a matter of seconds, so get setup, be patient, and then be quick!
 
You are going to have to be very careful with your exposures. The brightness of the sky could leave the aircraft seriously under exposed, so you'll have to do some homework when you get there. Try taking a pic of a building against the bright sky, and see how it looks.

A fast shutter speed will be necessary if you just want to take a snap. Panning the camera with the flypast means that you will be able to get a slower shutter speed, and a smaller aperture which will give more detail.

Depending on how fast, or how close you are to the aircraft, to be absolutely sure of getting a good shot, you could bracket a full stop either side, or shoot in RAW.

Getting detail in the pictures of the aircraft is probably more important than the scenery, so I would bias my shots as much as possible in the direction of smallest aperture.

Dont forget you have the ability to increase ISO if you need a faster speed for any given aperture. Up to 600 ISO should be reasonable if the weather is dull, 400 would be better.

I hope you have fun, and that the photography works out for you.
 
Thanks for the tips so far.

Hepburn - Got the times of the flypast, the flight path details and a position in mind. So fingers crossed on that score.

Dougdarter - If the weather is going to be like it is today then it will be hazy sunshine which will be a problem I feel. If I go the panning method (panning virgin by the way) would I need to be in AI Servo mode still? I've understood your other advice so we'll see how it goes.:thumbs:

Edit: I take I should stick to 'Evaluative' metering.
 
Chonga said:
Thanks for the tips so far.

Hepburn - Got the times of the flypast, the flight path details and a position in mind. So fingers crossed on that score.

Dougdarter - If the weather is going to be like it is today then it will be hazy sunshine which will be a problem I feel. If I go the panning method (panning virgin by the way) would I need to be in AI Servo mode still? I've understood your other advice so we'll see how it goes.:thumbs:

Edit: I take I should stick to 'Evaluative' metering.
Click to expand...

I don't know which sort of camera you have, but continuous servo mode would absolutely be the best if you have it. This means that the lens will focus all the time you have the focus area on the subject, and you can take a picture without having to get focus confirmation in the viewfinder. Both Canon and Nikon have this facility, at least on cameras that I have owned they do.

If you feel happy with evaluative metering, then fine. Personally, I would go with centre weighted or spot metering, given the possible contrast possible with a bright sky.
 
Ok! Comments have been stored. Thanks again.:)
 
Remember for the helos you ideally want a shutter speed of 1/125 or ,to produce a nice blur of the rotors.
 
Thanks PsiFox & IanC-UK. Think I'll mix it up a bit with regard the Choppers and try for still rotor & blurred rotor shots, just so that I can see the comparisions when I download the images on my PC.:)

Edit: No sod it! Bin the stills. They will look like I've cut and pasted a Helo (chopper would have sounded too rude lol!) onto a sky background. 1/125 it is.
 
Monopod could be handy but only if it's got a decent QR mechanism - there may well be times you want to go handheld in a hurry!
 
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