tips for shooting planes

[palms]

these are some shots i took earlier in the week, hand held and on the picture stabilization setting, i found I got better results using the viewfinder than the lcd monitor as they surprisingly move quite fast

I was just wondering if anybody had any tips for getting better shots

apart from cropping nothing else has been done to them, i have also included the one that proves how fast they go ! ! ! !

I am hoping to try again soon but when the planes land the other way round ! ! mind you i dont suppose i will get such a blue sky

I have a fuji finepix s5800

Palms

[CJ Swartz]

Palms, you captured better plane shots with your Fuji than I ever did with mine! I like the "part of a plane" shot -- I got a bunch of those. You figured out how to cope with the longer shutter lag which is one of the harder things to deal with on a non-DSLR.

Number 2 and Number 3 (especially) look good. You held the whites from blowing out even though the sunlight is contrasty. What time of day were you shooting?

[palms]

CJ the shots where taken at around 3.30 pm, I was hoping for some bigger planes as i thought they might be easier. also on the 2nd shot i thought i had some how blurred just under the plane, until i realised it was the planes exhaust fumes

Palms

[dkcoats]

When shooting a rapidly moving subject (if you want it to be sharp), pan with it and don't stop until after you've pressed the shutter. It takes a little practice.

[Freezeframe]

The planes movement is the least in relationship to the camera when it is traveling towards or away from you. That will help control the sharpness and speed effect. Otherwise, panning with the planes movement when it move left to right (or visa versa) with help. Keep the shutter speed as high as possible unless you are trying to accentuate the speed. I like to keep one eye open and the other in the view finder and then close my one eye (not the one in the viewfinder...lol) at the last second. This takes some practice. I find it helps with the timing. Lastly, a polarizing filter can help keep the sky rich. Otherwise, you can tweek that in PS during post production. I hope this helps.

Patt

[bazza64]

Hi Palms,

Those shots youv'e taken are pretty good, as far as the bit of the plane showing wev'e all been there and done that, what we should do is combine all our bits of planes together and post it as a UFO (LOL).

I take a lot of 'action' shots and I can tell you one thing it takes a lot of practice to be reasonably consistent at getting good shots. All I can do is give you a few tips on what I do and hope it helps you.

The main thing (as the others have stated) is to keep the camera moving, during and after the shot.(1-2 seconds)
If your using telephoto lens try not to zoom in to tightly on the subject, it's to hard to keep it in the centre of the frame. Depending on the size of the subject and what speed it's doing I keep it about half frame (easier to track it). I can then zoom in and crop to suit.
If light permits use high shutter speeds. (I vary the shutter speed depending on how I want the background to look).
Auto focusing on a dslr can be a problem, by the time you press your shutter button down halfway to focus, your subject could be gone. To overcome that on my dslr I set mine to continuous auto focusing and if it's an important shot I set it for auto bracketing at the same time and keep the camera moving.
There is a draw back with continuous auto focus, it drains the battery very quickly. (turn the camera of when your not using it)
I also use manual focus, I have the lens prefocused at a known distance and all I have to do is press the shutter and not have to worry about focusing,
e.g. car racing (focused at a point where I want to take the photo), my grandsons football etc.
Like I said in the begining it takes practice, I live next to a park with a lot of native birds and I sit on my back porch and practice taking shots of these at various settings, it all helps.

Barry.

[palms]

Thank you Dc Patt and Barry There are some good pointers there to go over and practice on

will have to practice the panning would this be the same for most moving vechicles ?

Filters are completely new to me, and I have found it hard to find some info on them, So i have ordered and just received a uv filter and a diffuse filter ( which i got as it was very cheap £1) a polariser is next on the list

Thank you all for your advice i think it will help others as well


Palms

[fpellerin]

Originally Posted by palms1

... would this be the same for most moving vechicles ?...

Absolutely! The same technique applies to anything in movement (bicycles, motorcycles, cars). You can get some interesting results when panning people running too!

[palms]

next installement

Just had a practice with panning, (that sure is weird trying to do )
differerent location ( my back garden ) further away than the first lot, so i had to wait for the bigger plane, and put the zoom to the test, which meant taking the shots early evening

useless info the emirates plane is the biggest one that we have in daily here

I have cropped out some on the first two, but left it all in on the third, the first being the best in my opinion.

[bazza64]

Hi Palms,

Your getting better, as i said before it take practice. Take photo's of anything that moves, cars, animals, small planes, people, birds(their the hardest). Hold back on the zoom a bit and just practice getting your subjects in the middle of the viewfinder. Just a suggestion when you get another filter, try a circular polariser filter(it's adjustable).

Post some more photo's and show us how your progressing.

Barry

[palms]

Originally Posted by bazza64

Hi Palms,

Your getting better, as i said before it take practice. Take photo's of anything that moves, cars, animals, small planes, people, birds(their the hardest). Hold back on the zoom a bit and just practice getting your subjects in the middle of the viewfinder. Just a suggestion when you get another filter, try a circular polariser filter(it's adjustable).

Post some more photo's and show us how your progressing.

Barry

Thank you for you help and encouragement i will keep practising and let you know ( i had fleetingly thought of birds when they fly overhead but then cowardice took over )

Palms

[Elkhornsun]

For aircraft with rotors or propellers slower shutter speeds show their motion and provide a much more realistic look. The often requires shutter speeds under 1/200 and in bright sun even at ISO 200 there is the need for ND filters to reduce shutter speeds to this level.

A lot of great images are taken head on or slightly to one side. More taxing on the camera's AF but no need to pan. Helps to use the continuous setting and take a burst of 3-5 shots to insure at least one is well focused.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by Elkhornsun

For aircraft with rotors or propellers slower shutter speeds show their motion and provide a much more realistic look. The often requires shutter speeds under 1/200 and in bright sun even at ISO 200 there is the need for ND filters to reduce shutter speeds to this level.

A lot of great images are taken head on or slightly to one side. More taxing on the camera's AF but no need to pan. Helps to use the continuous setting and take a burst of 3-5 shots to insure at least one is well focused.

The "sunny 16 rule" states that in full sunlight, one can get real close to the proper exposure with a shutter speed of 1/100 at f16 using ISO 100. This will get you into the right shutter speed to show props turning etc. If you where to use a polarizing filter, the exposure would be less yet allowing you to use a still lower shutter speed.

For most of the images I have seen on the thread, focus is not a problem as the subjects are all out at infinity, so just turn the AF off, set the lens at infinity and blaze away, especially if you are shooting at f16 or better.

Depending on the speed of the subject as it passes by I would most certainly pan along with it, helps one to position the subject correctly in the frame.