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Best Time To Photograph At DCA

Airline7322 From United States of America, joined Sep 2004, 105 posts, RR: 0
Posted (7 years 12 months 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 2721 times:

I've been to DCA once (at Gravelly Point) to take pictures of incoming traffic, however I was curious what is the best time to spot at the airport? I'm particularly interested on optimum times on the weekend, as I'm currently a student. On a slightly unrelated note, I would like some feedback on a couple of photos (recently rejected, as expected since I'm a novice) I uploaded to the airliners.net que.
Thanks,
Airline7322

http://www.airliners.net/addphotos/rejections/big/NorthwestUS.jpg
http://www.airliners.net/addphotos/rejections/big/DSC0162Delta.jpg

(Equipment: Nikon D70 18-70 stock lens)

PS: I couldn't get the photoid trick to work with rejected photos

"Good ideas must be driven into practice with courageous patience."

12 replies: All unread, jump to last

Philhyde From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 674 posts, RR: 1
Reply 1, posted (7 years 12 months 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 2713 times:

The Delta photo seems to be of low quality (i.e. high jpg compression).

The NWA is not centered in the photograph. The quality on that one looks useable.

In general, both photos need to have the a/c centered and cropped as close as possible.

Good luck!
Phil

HoustonSpotters Admin - Canon junkie - Aviation Nut

Airline7322 From United States of America, joined Sep 2004, 105 posts, RR: 0
Reply 2, posted (7 years 12 months 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 2698 times:

I appreciate your comments, Phil. What program would you recommend I use to crop and resize, that would not result in such high jpeg compression. I'm currently using Irfanview, which obviously is not doing the job. Would you recommend I shoot in RAW?
Thanks,
Airline7322

"Good ideas must be driven into practice with courageous patience."

Fly747 From Canada, joined Apr 2005, 1497 posts, RR: 10
Reply 3, posted (7 years 12 months 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 2694 times:

Your best bet for processing photos is Photoshop CS.

Ivan

Contrails Aviation Photography

Airline7322 From United States of America, joined Sep 2004, 105 posts, RR: 0
Reply 4, posted (7 years 12 months 13 hours ago) and read 2666 times:

What should I do to improve the one salvageable picture (the Northwest one)?

"Good ideas must be driven into practice with courageous patience."

Gary2880 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR:
Reply 5, posted (7 years 12 months 12 hours ago) and read 2664 times:

Just you know, if you dont see photos of that distance in the database at the moment why upload them.

But anyway the NWA one if that's how it came out the camera you might be able to crop it enough on the original not familiar with nikons

try crop it down to about this size if it`ll take it

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v504/Gary2880/nwa.jpg

regards

Gary

SmAlbany From United States of America, joined Aug 2004, 285 posts, RR: 0
Reply 6, posted (7 years 12 months 12 hours ago) and read 2660 times:

To answer your original question, the best time to take photos from gravelly point should be in the late afternoon/ early evening. At that time, for approaches to runway 19 or departures from 1, the sun will be at your back.

Airline7322 From United States of America, joined Sep 2004, 105 posts, RR: 0
Reply 7, posted (7 years 12 months 8 hours ago) and read 2650 times:

SMAlbany, I appreciate your response. Is there a way I can find out what direction traffic is taking off before I leave to go to the airport. Specifically, is there a way to find this information out on the internet, or do I need to purchase a scanner?

"Good ideas must be driven into practice with courageous patience."

Lindy From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR:
Reply 8, posted (7 years 12 months ago) and read 2640 times:

Airline7322,

If the winds are from the South/SW/SE they will use runway 19 for landing and departures.
If the winds are from the North/NE/NW they will use runway 1 for departures and landings.
Before going to the airport check weather.com for current wind conditions.
You can also check DCA ATIS for runways.

Best time for pictures at Gravelly Point is from 1pm until early evening.

Quoting SmAlbany (Reply 6):
he best time to take photos from gravelly point should be in the late afternoon/ early evening.

I don't know why SmAlbany said late afternoon/early evening. Sun will be behind your back at noon, but still high. I can tell you that 12:30pm you should be fine.

Take care,
Rafal

Bruce From United States of America, joined May 1999, 5027 posts, RR: 17
Reply 9, posted (7 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 2629 times:

Quoting Lindy (Reply 8):
Best time for pictures at Gravelly Point is from 1pm until early evening.

This is true if you are shooting from the west side of the centerline (looking east). But as you know you can walk along the jogging path under the centerline to the other side and look to the west - so wouldn't that be good in the morning?

bruce

Bruce Leibowitz - Jackson, MS (KJAN) - Canon 50D/100-400L IS lens

Lindy From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR:
Reply 10, posted (7 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 2622 times:

You are right Bruce, but morning photography at DCA is not popular Smile

Rafal

Skyliner From United States of America, joined Jan 2001, 204 posts, RR: 12
Reply 11, posted (7 years 11 months 3 weeks 5 days 12 hours ago) and read 2602 times:

In addition to the afternoon being preferred to shoot from Gravelly Point, Saturday is something of an "off" day, since a number of flights, including some of the DL/US Shuttle activity, don't run on Saturday afternoon/evenings. This applies less to the long-haul (e.g. Frontier) and more to short/medium-haul flights. There is still decent volume Saturday P.M., but weekdays/Sundays are better.
George

Skymonster From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR:
Reply 12, posted (7 years 11 months 3 weeks 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 2602 times:

IMHO, afternoons when they are using 1 are by far the best...

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Click here for bigger photo!

BUT, Gravelly Point is too "underneath" the climb out.

Andy

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