taking photos

[mmilano]

how do you take photos from your plane? through the window? open a window? mounted outside somehow? i'm just trying to figure out if there is a better, yet affordable way to take good photos from the plane. it would be nice to find a way to avoid window glare or scratches.

 

[Frank Browne]

how do you take photos from your plane? through the window? open a window? mounted outside somehow? i'm just trying to figure out if there is a better, yet affordable way to take good photos from the plane. it would be nice to find a way to avoid window glare or scratches.

You can minimize those issues by holding the camera closer to the window. If you have a camera with auto focus it should want to focus to infinity if you're shooting out through the windows which will prevent window scratches from showing up. Unless someone took steel wool to the windows.

 

[gismo]

You can minimize those issues by holding the camera closer to the window. If you have a camera with auto focus it should want to focus to infinity if you're shooting out through the windows which will prevent window scratches from showing up. Unless someone took steel wool to the windows.

Some cameras (mostly point and shoot types I think) are likely to focus on the window or at least try to. The answer is to force the camera to go with infinite focus manually and I believe most will let you do so. Shooting through any window will degrade the image somewhat, the degradation being dependent on the thickness of the material and it's refractive index as well as the parallelism between the focal plane and the window (the closer to parallel the less the distortion). Scratches and smudges also affect the image quailty, but often the effect is less than one might think.

Unless you are in the aerial phot business I think your best shot (pun intended) is to work through an open window. On the Strutted Cessnas, you can disconnect the window hold out strap and the window will "fly" wide open providing plenty of room to take pictures. You do have to shoot ahead or behind to avoid the struts, but that's not normally a problem.

I also think you can fly with a door removed on some Cessnas. AFaIK it's in the TCDS if legal, but there may be STC's for this as well.

In Bonanzas and Barons you can shoot through the small storm window if you have the newer kind that folds open inside the cockpit. Some folks fly with the baggage door removed to provide a nice big photo port.

Some other issues with picture taking from the air are haze (UV filters help) and motion blur. A long lens and high resolution slow film require a mighty steady hand to get good results.

 

[Len Lanetti]

Mike,

Lots of folks like the Cessnas for taking photographs as the window can be latched in the up position (make sure the latch is fully functional or window is alternately secured as if the window slips you'll end up with either a busted side window or busted camera lens). Personally, I think most people use the Cessnas 'cause they are what is most available. Between the strut and the wing root on the relatively long high wing you have to move the camera a lot to frame the shot.

I really like the Grumman aircraft for taking pictures from the air. You can slide the canopy open during flight. The short wing can easily be moved out of the way by banking or slipping the aircraft.

Some advice regardless of what aircraft you use is to bracket your shots. That is, take the picture, change the aperture up 1/2 or 1 f stop(s) take the picture again then change the f stop down 1/2 or 1 stop(s) from where the first picture was taken. You'll use more film but you'll get the picture. The reason I suggest this is that it appears to me that the light meters in many cameras are fooled into taking the wrong reading. I don't know if this is due to tinted plexiglass or shading from the cabin enclosure or a high wing. Some fully automated cameras do have a setting for changing the f stop. Of course, with manual cameras you have complete control and the controls will be easier to manipulate 'cause the camera was designed with that control in mind.

Len

 

[Bill]

Some advice regardless of what aircraft you use is to bracket your shots.

That is an age old technique regardless of the type of shots. I was a photog for our highschool yearbook, and we always bracketed important shots.

Interestingly, my digital camera can be set up to automatically bracket by the number of EV you desire. When you take the shot, it takes three rapid shots, one at each exposure level. Pretty keen.

 

[Len Lanetti]

That is an age old technique regardless of the type of shots. I was a photog for our highschool yearbook, and we always bracketed important shots.

Bill,

Agreed...I didn't mean to imply that I thought up/invented bracketing. But I did help Algore invent the Internet and I helped Maverick invent that "put on the brakes and they'll fly right by" move. Oh, almost forgot, I was the one that told Gretzky to skate to where the puck was going.

;<)

Len

 

[mmilano]

thanks for the tips! .. when i get my ticket i'll put it to good use

 

[poadeleted20]

mounted outside somehow?

Mounting a camera on the outside is generally considered a major alteration requiring either an STC'd installation or field approval. Keep it internal if you can, and the high window-open speeds on Cessnas and canopy-open speeds on Grummans are conducive to making that work.