Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for April, 2011

So, You Want To Shoot Some Aerial Photographs!

Posted in New Stuff on April 17, 2011| 2 Comments »

So, you want to shoot some aerial photographs but don’t know where to begin! Let’s get to the bad news first: It is very expensive! BUT the good news is, that for the time I have invested and the overall expenses involved it is the most productive type of photography I have ever done. But to make it pay off, it takes a lot more planning, calculation and judgment than simply casually getting in your car and driving to a scenic location. Here are some planning tips:

PILOT AND PLANE I only fly with professionals! Many of my photos are in narrow mountain valleys. I had an experience where a sudden temperature drop caused us to be enveloped in clouds that formed in seconds while we were literally surrounded on three sides by peaks! My pro pilot extricated us without a blink of his eye. He knew exactly what reverse heading, nose angle, etc. led to safety! If he did not have a constantly changing escape plan in his mind we might have died.

The Crater On Mount Baker


I also suggest you plan on shooting for several trips, especially if you plan on going into rough terrain. There will be a learning curve for you too! That being the case: get to know the pilot. Give him some prints from your first shoot and then ask for him specifically when you plan your next shoot if there is more than one pilot in the company and you were happy with your first experience.

At the very least, you must have a plane which has a window on the passenger side that will open. Often, the window will “fly up” when unlatched, but not always! Often you can latch it up against the wing. Note: If it has been raining, open the window and wipe the seal dry before going up. I once went up, got into position, light was perfect…..but the window was frozen shut! And I never shoot through a window. If you are away from home, clarify that when you order a plane. I once had a plane show up with a fixed window and I simply refused to go up, much to the anger of the pilot. I was not about to pay $200 an hour (The price then!) to shoot through scratched plexiglas!

Whitehorse Mountain


The best shooting situation I have ever had was with a Cessna that had a third door that accessed the rear seats. The pilot would take the door off and then bolt a fairing (scoop) to the front edge of the doorway that caused the air flow to curve out and away from the doorway. Then I put on a special harness that allowed me to lean out of the plane into that quiet bubble and shoot almost straight down without the camera being ripped from my hands or worse yet me being ripped out of the plane! It was great, because I was aft of the wing and wheels and could shoot nearly any direction. The only thing that was a bit disconcerting was when the plane banked to the right, my legs would hang out into the bubble and I could look down between them to the glaciers zipping by below! I flew with that pilot for a number of years and got many great shots with that setup. If you are lucky enough to find this setup, be sure to secure your extra gear or at the first right bank….say goodbye to your favorite lenses!

Alpenglo On Mount Baker- 6x7 Pentax/Negative Film


CAMERA EQUIPMENT With our great digital choices today and great zooms this is pretty easy. Back when zooms were terrible and I always shot with medium format I was constantly changing lenses. You will probably be happy with a zoom that goes from near normal (50mm) up to 200 or 300mm. Perhaps you may want a longer lens to avoid having to move the plane closer to a subject. But remember, the longer the lens, the more any vibration from the engine will be amplified so you will need to use a higher iso or shutter speed. You will probably have little use for wide angle lenses unless you intend to include the airplane in the picture.

In days of yore, when that awful stuff called film was used, if you used a 35mm camera, 50 or 100 iso was about the max speed because you probably shot chrome. Thus, you had to shoot with the lens wide open to get a high enough shutter speed to not show engine vibration. I wanted a greater contrast range than chrome had and made large prints so I used negative film in 6×4.5 and 6×7 medium format cameras. The larger film size meant I could use films up to 400 iso allowing me to stop down a stop or so in bright light to access the “sweeter” (sharper) center area of my lens. I also carried a few rolls of 800 iso film so I could stay up and shoot in the dimmer light toward dusk. I knew I would have to make smaller prints due to grain…..but I was there!

Ferry In the San Juans 6x4.5 Cm Chrome film


Today, digital cameras and low dispersion glass, computer generated, zoom lenses have changed all of photography. Depending on your camera, you can now use an iso of 1000 to 2000 or better, which allows you to stop down a stop or so. In any case, the edge sharpness is better today in good lenses—test—Tack up a newspaper and shoot it wide open from a tripod, stop down one stop and shoot, two stops and shoot, three stops and shoot. Look at the corners of the frames at 100% in photoshop to see how much falloff you are willing to accept.

The North Cascades


JUDGMENT CALL This you will have to work out for yourself. Vibration is the big enemy. If your shutter speed drops down below 1/500 in a chopper or 1/250 in a fixed wing aircraft you will lose a lot of shots. If you have good rapport with the pilot in a fixed wing and have voice communication you can ask him to throttle back for a couple seconds and shoot much slower. In any case you will be happier if you can shoot at 1/500 or better yet, 1/1000. Therefore, I would chose shutter priority of 1/500 or 1/1000 and then have as high an iso as needed to try to avoid shooting wide open. Keep in mind that trying to brace any part of the body against the airframe, but especially the elbows, will transmit vibrations you are not even aware of directly to the camera. Your gluteus maximus and soles of your feet should be the only contact with the airplane! Choppers are mucho worse for vibrations! This is where some learning curve is involved.

SIMPLE TIP Here is a tip from the old manual focus days that I still think is good today. I used to twist my lenses to infinity and then use photo tape (No Residue) to tape them in that position. That way I never wasted time twisting to check if I was on infinity. It is still a good idea. Put your camera on manual focus, go to infinity and tape the lens there: you will not have to wait for the lens to “search”.

WHEN AND WHERE? I don’t want to waste money! If I’m going to fly, I know it is going to cost me at least $400 per foray. Experience tells me I have to get at least one salable print from such an expense….but it may take years for me to sell enough copies of that print to actually recover my expense! I have always taken the long view, but at my current age, and viewing the “winner take all” philosophy the robber barons are attempting to once again force onto our economy, the number of flights I can take is limited! (I once spent $13,500 on a trip to Antarctica that had terrible weather and I have only printed 5 or 6 images, and yet made money on the trip….but that was a different economy)

Mountains in Fog OR The Day We Went Up But Couldn't Get Down!


Anyway, what are the considerations? My first consideration is a repeating weather pattern. One usually has to order a plane a day or so ahead. I once wanted to photograph Whitehorse Mountain late in the day with the sun setting through a veil of clouds on the horizon to create an alpenglo on the mountain (see pic). We had just the right weather pattern that repeated for a week. The second day, I drove down the freeway where I could see the mountain, said “yahoo!”, checked the forecast and ordered the plane!

Other times, I have wanted the Skagit valley to have spring greens, so obviously fall is not the season, but maybe not so obvious is that things stand out much better early in the morning or late in the evening when there is strong “cross lighting”. But tulips? Ultra early in the morning, tulips are closed and the fields look sparse, so coming perhaps at 9:00 still gets “sweet light” but the flowers look fuller.


Use judgment, know your subject, scout it out before you fly and think whether it should be a high angle shot, shoot straight into the face of the mountain or come in low over the valley and use a fairly wider angle, etc. Think before, because you will have damn little time to change your mind once you are in the air! Also, it is incredibly hard to come around and find that same spot again, even if you are with a great pilot!

Also, you will be very, very drained of energy after a productive flight. You will feel exhilarated and tired and wanting to do it again soon!

Whitehorse Mountain

Read Full Post »