Airplane photos?

[robdavis305]

Leaving out friday to atlanta for the Nikon school and was wanting to stop by the airport to take some plane photos. Does anyone have any good advice on taking photos of airplanes as far as panning or settings. I usually shoot on aperture priority, will this work on this kind of pics or do I need shutter priority? Thanks for any advice.

 

[robdavis305]

?

 

[Josh66]

?

Give it at least 30 minutes before you start bumping threads... :er:

Settings.

I don't think this will be that much different than any other normal day. All the same rules apply.

If you're going to be taking pictures of them coming in for landing, you'll probably want to use one of the servo focus modes so it will track the moving plane.

 

[Chris Stegner]

I would be very cautious shooting on airport property. Or off property shooting towards the airport. Not to be paranoid but security is an issue to consider. If you're shooting and some idiot "rent-a-cop" wants to "save the world" you may get harassed. Just keep it in mind.

 

[CoRNDoG R6]

I would be very cautious shooting on airport property. Or off property shooting towards the airport. Not to be paranoid but security is an issue to consider. If you're shooting and some idiot "rent-a-cop" wants to "save the world" you may get harassed. Just keep it in mind.

^^^+1

 

[icassell]

I shoot often at a local small commuter airport and have never been harrassed. I don't try to go out on the field, though, and limit my location to places where the public is routinely allowed. I also have shot quite a bit through the windows at the gates of larger airports, also with no issues. Then again, you may always run into some goon.

 

[robertwsimpson]

I'm sure you won't get harassed. My friend used to work at a private jet hanger here and he said that people would come up all the time and be like "hi I am crew for november 447 papa charlie (or some different tail number) and I just need to make sure the plane is locked up and check some things." then all of the sudden they'd be on the ramp taking pictures of someone's jet. They just asked them to leave.

Anyway, if you're shooting for one of the online "plane spotting" sites, read their rejection criteria. You pretty much can't compose a proper shot or blur the background or anything. They're looking for centered photos where the tail numbers are plainly visible. If you're just shooting for fun, crank the aperture open for action stopping shots and close it if you want motion blur. The camera will take care of the shutter speed for you. If you want to shoot a prop plane, just make sure that your shutter speed isn't above 1/640 or the props will be stopped and your pic will look awkward.

That's all I have to say about that.

 

[PatrickHMS]

Leaving out friday to atlanta for the Nikon school...

Rob,

When you are done with the Nikon School (or when it is done with you...lol) will you please let us know how you liked it?

I used to be involved with the school many years ago, have been wondering how they currently are. People ask me about it, and I don't know what to tell them about how the school is nowadays.

Some feedback from you would definitely be appreciated.

Thanks,

Patrick

 

[robdavis305]

I will get back to ya,thanks

 

[Live_free]

I would be very cautious shooting on airport property. Or off property shooting towards the airport. Not to be paranoid but security is an issue to consider. If you're shooting and some idiot "rent-a-cop" wants to "save the world" you may get harassed. Just keep it in mind.

^^^+1

I have had rent a cops Piss me off. What you do is just tell then to **** off all they can do is protect what is on thier property so once you are off the property they can't do anything. Even if you did something they can only chase you on the property they are there to "defend".

 

[robertwsimpson]

Yes, tell the rent a cops to *** off and then they call the real cops.

 

[rhinoryan]

i used to work for an international airline a couple of years ago, and the rule then was you cant take any photo's once you are airside.... basically that means you cant take any pic's once you have gone thru security.

 

[biggerben]

i have a whole checklist before I go planespotting:

for my Nikon D90:
ISO 200 (my lowest possible setting)
WB auto
Large
A at f/8 (if there is enough light)
AF on, AF-C
NL picture control
center metering
EV 0
and really, really important: active d-lighting off. otherwise you get halos and pics get rejected.

here is a pic I took (that got accepted by jetphotos.net) with those settings:

JetPhotos.Net Photo » OE-IKB (CN: 49448) MAP Executive Flight Service McDonnell Douglas MD-83 by Ben King

there are a million guides for postprocessing out there, so I won't say anything on that.

have fun

 

[robdavis305]

I will not be on airport property , Just a parking lot somewhere to see them land or take off. Thanks for all the good advice and we can thank 9/11 for making things harder for photographers.