Any tips for flying aircraft photography?

MoonManMike

Senior Member
Hi
I gave my 3100 the first real 'test' of aircraft photography at Duxford last weekend with mixed results

All static pics came out fine, using the S (shutter priority) setting.
Shutter speed 125th. I had the camera set at 200 ISO at all times
Here's an example:
DSC_0201.jpg


However, I had some problems with in-flight photography.
I used the Nikon 55-200 zoom lens, mostly at 200.
Camera settings were as above. I assumed 125th may be fast enough as I understand the VR facility allows you to go 3 stops lower than usual. I also wanted to get some movement in the propellors as prop planes with frozen propellors simply dont look right in flight!

Here's one of my first efforts:
Outoffocus.jpg


This could have been quite a good shot, but is either out of focus or blurred (or both!) and a little under exposed.

A number of shots were quite similar (ie poor). So I adjusted the shutter speed to 320th and also opened up a couple of stops to allow for the bright sky. Most shots were then acceptable, like this one:
DSC_0185.jpg


Not perfect, but reasonable (this is without any editing other than a slight crop). There's a little movement in the propellor, although I would have ideally liked a little more. When one of the Spits came in to land, I got a nice shot, but being throttled back, 320th virtually froze the propellor. With hindsight, I could possibly have dropped it back in the region of 200th or so as the plane was travelling much slower:
DSC_0169.jpg


So, back to my original question, do I have the settings about right or can I make any improvements? Is there any special setting I should have the autofocus on for in-flight photography? Or does anyone have any other tips?

Many thanks
Mike
 
Last edited:

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
For anything that moves fast, 1/500 is about as slow as I would get. VR does NOT prevent moving objects to be blurred, it only reduces the chances of having a blurred image due to camera (user) motion.

So you're learning by mistakes which is good since you will always remember what not to do.

Nice pics (the ones that are not motion blurred)
 

Photowyzard

Senior Member
Mike, you can always make improvements! These are terrific images. In my limited experience taking airplane photos, the undersides are the toughest to get right. You need shutter speed to freeze the action and a grey card to get the exposures right. Hold the card up parallel to the wings, get a reading and snap away.

The examples that are in focus above are excellent, in my opinion!

My big question is: Where on earth did you find these two Spitfires!
 

MoonManMike

Senior Member
For anything that moves fast, 1/500 is about as slow as I would get. VR does NOT prevent moving objects to be blurred, it only reduces the chances of having a blurred image due to camera (user) motion.

So you're learning by mistakes which is good since you will always remember what not to do.

Nice pics (the ones that are not motion blurred)

Thanks Marcel. I did wonder that about the VR. Presumably, it makes no difference then if the VR is switched off while photographing moving objects?
In fact, that raises another question. Is there any point in ever turning the VR off?

Re 1/500th, the only potential 'issue' with that speed is that it would freeze the propellers. 1/320 gave a little movement although some of my shots were slightly blurred even at that speed. Maybe I need a little more panning practice?

Mike, you can always make improvements! These are terrific images. In my limited experience taking airplane photos, the undersides are the toughest to get right. You need shutter speed to freeze the action and a grey card to get the exposures right. Hold the card up parallel to the wings, get a reading and snap away.

The examples that are in focus above are excellent, in my opinion!

My big question is: Where on earth did you find these two Spitfires!

Thanks. I do recall the grey card 'trick' from many years ago when I had a pre-digital SLR. Generally, however, I usually opened up two stops from the meter reading, which was usually about right. Of course, one big advantage with digital is the ability to mess about with brightness etc post photo taking.

I did wonder is switching from 200 ISO to 400 might give me a little more depth of field in the shots, which could help the focusing a little? Would this affect image quality much?

The Spitfires were at an event at Duxford on 5th August 'Spitfires, Motors and Merlins' Essentially a Classic Car Show and Spitfire flying day..

There were three flying Spitfires in attendance on the day.

If you like Spitfires (who doesn't!), they had a great day a year or two back when they had no fewer than 16 Spitfires flying in formation. They also had 4 Hurricanes flying together. A fantastic sight!

Here's a - rather poor - pic of the Spitfires I took (on a Fuji bridge camera):
DSC_0223.jpg


And here's a pic of the Hurricanes that a friend of mine took on his Nikon (D90, I think). I did a bit of editing on this one:
SepiaHurricanes-1.jpg
 

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
Thanks Marcel. I did wonder that about the VR. Presumably, it makes no difference then if the VR is switched off while photographing moving objects?
In fact, that raises another question. Is there any point in ever turning the VR off?

Re 1/500th, the only potential 'issue' with that speed is that it would freeze the propellers. 1/320 gave a little movement although some of my shots were slightly blurred even at that speed. Maybe I need a little more panning practice?

If you want the propellers not frozen then you do have to use a slightly slower shutter speed. I guess you'll have to experiment and then maybe become an expert.
There might be a lot of pics that won't turn out great, but keep shooting since digital film is so cheap.

For VR, I'd turn it off for this style of pics. If it tries to remove the motion of your panning, it might induce a softness to your shots. Try it both ways and you'll find out.

Good luck.
 
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