captain777 From Kuwait, joined Dec 2003, 315 posts, RR: 0 Posted (2 years 7 months 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 3433 times:
Hi I know this subject has been discussed many times in this section of the forum but i thought it would really be helpfull if all you pros out there would give us all the tips for shooting in all kind of conditions:
*taxiing aircrafts (Cloudy/Sunny/Night)
*aircraft on approach (Same as above conditions+angle pref)
*Cockpit shot ( Night/Daytime/Full moon/Dark cockpit+Night)
*Departing Aircraft (Same conditions as above)
*Tail Shots ( Same conditions as above)
*Airport shots INFLIGHT ( Night/Day/Hazy/Cloudy)
*Any other condition :p
If you guys could help with shutter speed, ISO setting, light setting etc,,,, in each condition above........
My camera is a Canon Rebel, standard lens, no tripod ( i just use a small one for cockpit shots, i don't know the name its the one that you could bend to clamp on nearly anything )
THAAAAAAAAAAAANX ALL
[Edited 2010-10-20 17:12:05]
the sky is the limit.............actually FL410 is the limit
ghajdufi From Belgium, joined Jun 2005, 169 posts, RR: 8 Reply 1, posted (2 years 7 months 2 days 3 hours ago) and read 3370 times:
There are no settings you can use without adjusting to the current conditions. Such a list would not help you. Practice as much as you can.
I'm no pro but:
f8 iso200 -1/3EV should work in most cases. If the light is not enough for these settings either make the f number smaller or the iso number higher. If your background is brighter the the acft you need to overexpose a bit if the background is darker you need to underexpose.
Most importantly especially if you want to upload to this site, !Get your editing right!
I hope this helps,
HGabor
sulman From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2004, 2028 posts, RR: 36 Reply 2, posted (2 years 7 months 2 days ago) and read 3336 times:
Quoting ghajdufi (Reply 1): f8 iso200 -1/3EV should work in most cases.
I think one has to be careful with this. Learning your camera body's exposure behaviour is really handy. For example, if I used such a blanket settting I would probably underexpose by up to a stop, depending on the light, because the metering is fairly conservative anyway.
I used to routinely shoot -1/3 on my 300d and looking back at those images, a large number are underexposed.
viv From Ireland, joined May 2005, 3106 posts, RR: 32 Reply 3, posted (2 years 7 months 2 days ago) and read 3330 times:
Such a list would be useless, because the light for every shot is unique.
You would benefit more from learning the basics of photography - colour temperature, exposure, composition - and how your camera settings - white balance, ISO, metering, shutter speed, aperture - affect those basics and interact with each other.
Nikon D700, Nikkor 80-400, Fuji X Pro 1, Fujinon 35 f/1.4, Fujinon 18 f/2
ZakHH From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 4, posted (2 years 7 months 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 3323 times:
Quoting viv (Reply 3): Such a list would be useless, because the light for every shot is unique.
You would benefit more from learning the basics of photography - colour temperature, exposure, composition - and how your camera settings - white balance, ISO, metering, shutter speed, aperture - affect those basics and interact with each other.
Exactly. Understanding these basics is the key to photography. There are no predetermined checklists for taking photos (unless for stuff like "take the lenscap off" and "make sure there is a memory card in the camera" ).
Quoting sulman (Reply 2): Quoting ghajdufi (Reply 1):
f8 iso200 -1/3EV should work in most cases.
I think one has to be careful with this. Learning your camera body's exposure behaviour is really handy
Not only that. Different lighting conditions require different exposure corrections. Always shooting with -1/3 EV will often just add noise to the darker parts of the picture.
-1/3 or -2/3 is helpful under bright conditions, and with white or bright aircraft, as it helps preventing blown highlights.
But when it's overcast, or while shooting in the dusk, I'd use +2/3 instead (like here - shot taken with +2/3 EV, while an hour before, I was shooting with -1/3).
And when I was shooting at an airshow this spring, and tried to catch the Blue Angels against a very bright sky, I used a full +2 EV, to avoid ending up with completely underexposed aircraft against a correctly exposed sky (and it worked).
Always using -1/3 EV is a bit like always using a shutter speed of 1/200, no matter if I shoot a static object at 20mm or a moving object at 400mm.
ghajdufi From Belgium, joined Jun 2005, 169 posts, RR: 8 Reply 5, posted (2 years 7 months 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 3308 times:
Let me correct James' quote before you all "kill" me:
Quoting ghajdufi (Reply 1): f8 iso200 -1/3EV should work in most cases. If the light is not enough for these settings either make the f number smaller or the iso number higher. If your background is brighter the the acft you need to overexpose a bit if the background is darker you need to underexpose.
JakTrax From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2005, 4732 posts, RR: 8 Reply 6, posted (2 years 7 months 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 3306 times:
Quoting ghajdufi (Reply 1): if the background is darker you need to underexpose
Again, not necessarily. It depends. A good way to shoot white aircraft against a dark sky is to meter the subject only (centre-weighted or spot).
There are tips that work in a good number of situations but, as has been said, each scenario presents its own lighting uniqueness. Even the type of cloud around and how the sun is shining on/through it (if shining at all) can be a factor.
cpd From Australia, joined Jun 2008, 4879 posts, RR: 44 Reply 7, posted (2 years 7 months 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 3184 times:
Quoting ghajdufi (Reply 5): Let me correct James' quote before you all "kill" me:
Watch out, the violent mob is coming after you!
I find I'm most often underexposing by -0.3EV. I can generally get away with that in most situations without exciting noise in the dark areas of an image, the beauty of the Nikon 36x24mm camera format - such low noise.
Otherwise, there are very few common things that can be done. In daylight (sunshine) I set 4550K for white-balance, everything else is on a shot-by-shot basis. Sometimes I will use F/22 in broad daylight just to reduce the shutter speed - there is little else I can do with the lenses I use. On some lenses, you can stack filters together to reduce the light getting to the sensor, but on my lenses, it's not possible since they are all very big.
Normally that might cause softness, but in the best of lenses, it's usually okay. But it does expose dirty camera sensors very well.
If I'm photographing something very fast moving (Mach 0.8 or better at low altitude), I'll generally put ISO400 and use F/6.3 aperture to get a high shutter speed of 1/3200second or better. Sometimes you have to do that in order to get the photo sharp enough.
What other people do with ISO settings and apertures might be different because of how their camera equipment works. On shutter speeds, I can't tend to reliably use less than 1/50sec - that's the limit for where I can get sharp photos.
But in general, there is very little you can share from photo to photo.
That's referencing what appears to be a very old version of Photoshop (or maybe it is Elements).
If you use modern Photoshop CS3/CS4/CS5 versions, try Scott Kelby's Photoshop for Digital Photographers books - they are extremely good, and Scott Kelby writes them in a very simple way and fills them with useful practical information that you can readily apply to your own photo editing process:
Some books are very heavy and filled with useless waffle - not Scott Kelby's ones.
That's the CS5 version, but he has older versions of the book as well. I can't help you with Photoshop Elements, I've only ever used the full Photoshop versions.
captain777 From Kuwait, joined Dec 2003, 315 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (2 years 7 months 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 3161 times:
Thanks for the help....
I had to put that huge grinning face so that you pros don't say "well what the hell is someone like you doing with a digital camera in the first place "
the sky is the limit.............actually FL410 is the limit
I had to put that huge grinning face so that you pros don't say "well what the hell is someone like you doing with a digital camera in the first place "
Hey now, don't be intimidated - everyone has to start somewhere, and I'm sure that many of us had less than glorious starts. I'm glad to help out when and where I can.
javibi From Spain, joined Oct 2004, 1370 posts, RR: 47 Reply 12, posted (2 years 7 months 23 hours ago) and read 3126 times:
Quoting cpd (Reply 7): Sometimes I will use F/22 in broad daylight just to reduce the shutter speed - there is little else I can do with the lenses I use.
You are getting into the realms of diffraction there; why don't you use ND filters?
j
"Be prepared to engage in constructive debate". Are YOU prepared?
JakTrax From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2005, 4732 posts, RR: 8 Reply 16, posted (2 years 7 months 18 hours ago) and read 3071 times:
Speaking of diffraction, what aperture would you say would start to show the signs? I tend not to go above f/11 just in case. I suppose it depends on lenses but I've often thought, "Should I go to f/12 and above?".
I also notice that CA can occur when using very fast shutter speeds with mid-sized apertures.
dazbo5 From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2005, 2570 posts, RR: 2 Reply 17, posted (2 years 7 months 17 hours ago) and read 3064 times:
Quoting clickhappy (Reply 15): curious to what you are shooting at F/22 in broad daylight?
I can't speak for others, but I'll often use this sort of aperture if I'm after motion blur on a sunny day, for example when shooting props or panning (I don't have any ND filters). I can't say I've ever had too much of a problem with diffraction at these apertures. If you have a certain amount of heat haze causing you problems, by using a small aperture and therefore slow shutter speeds on a moving subject, It's possible to get a sharpish shot when using a faster shutter speed would just results in heat hazed photos. It doesn't always work, but I've been able to shoot a few rare arrivals and get good enough results when the usual shooting technique would fail.
Darren
Equipment: 2x Canon EOS 50D; Sigma 10-20 EX DC HSM, 50-500 EX APO DG, Canon 24-105 f/4 L, Speedlite 430EX
clickhappy From United States of America, joined Sep 2001, 9444 posts, RR: 72 Reply 19, posted (2 years 7 months 11 hours ago) and read 2995 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW PHOTO SCREENER
Got it. Was confused by your earlier comment that you can't reliably use anything less than 1/50, was thinking you meant you would thus avoid anything slower than 1/50.
photopilot From Cuba, joined Jul 2002, 2439 posts, RR: 20 Reply 20, posted (2 years 6 months 4 weeks 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 2953 times:
If you want to bake a cake, you need an exact recipe of ingredients, time and temperature. But you're not baking a cake. You're taking photographs and unless you're shooting in a studio under controlled conditions, photography is a dynamic activity with ever changing conditions.
There is simply NO SUBSTITUTE for practice, practice, and more practice. You also need to STUDY and learn the basics of photography. The inter-relation of shutter speed, ISO, Aperature and light value. In this fast-food world of instant gratification, people think that there's some magic instant formula to get great photos. Sorry, it simply doesn't work that way. If you're not willing to put the WORK into your craft, then you simply won't get the results.
An Amateur keeps trying until he gets it right.
A Professional keeps trying until he never gets it wrong.
JakTrax From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2005, 4732 posts, RR: 8 Reply 21, posted (2 years 6 months 4 weeks 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 2940 times:
To be fair, I think light is that temperamental that all of us - irrespective of skill or experience - get it wrong occasionally. I know I do.
Mother Nature isn't one to be tamed and until we can do that our images are never going to be 100% spot on all of the time.
A good example from my own experience is when the sun suddenly and unexpectedly streams through a thin layer of cloud. Not much time - what do I do? How do I meter? Do I account for sun or not? The light can change dramatically from one second to the next.
captain777 From Kuwait, joined Dec 2003, 315 posts, RR: 0 Reply 22, posted (2 years 6 months 4 weeks 1 day 10 hours ago) and read 2882 times:
Quoting photopilot (Reply 20): You also need to STUDY and learn the basics of photography. The inter-relation of shutter speed, ISO, Aperature and light value
Thats what i've been trying to get from starting this thread....
I don't mind trying till i get my photos the way i want them to be but my biggest problem is the SET-UP every time i snap a photo in the cockpit they scene is always boring with no action or fun in it, so thats my other problem beside knowing what setting to use for each different condition and situation, I can't seem to get a LIVE FUN INTERESTING pic
eg of my pics :-
[Edited 2010-10-23 16:00:28]
the sky is the limit.............actually FL410 is the limit
cpd From Australia, joined Jun 2008, 4879 posts, RR: 44 Reply 24, posted (2 years 6 months 4 weeks 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 2877 times:
Hi again,
For those flight deck photos (it's an A300 Airbus, isn't it - very nice), you should be using an external flash.
You need to set the camera exposure to be correct for whatever is outside the window, and then set the flash power to fill the inside of the flightdeck with light so that it too will be exposed properly.
So what I do in these situation is:
- manual exposure on the outside of window, take multiple shots until the exposure is right (look at the histogram display in the camera to check that)
- now set the flash power and take a few shots with different power settings for the flash until you get the right exposure inside the flight deck.
This is much easier for these kinds of photos since the plane is going nowhere and you usually have enough time to get it right. And some pilots are quite interested about the methods to get these kinds of photos - so are very willing participants to the whole thing.
The rest is just working out appropriate motives. Generally, just try normal straight ahead wide-angle flight deck photos of the whole panel and glareshield until you become more confident about taking more unusual shots with things like fisheye lenses.
25 captain777: thanks very much for the tip....yup it is an A300-605R these are the kind of shots i'd like to be capturing, so do all cameras have the ability to cha
26 cpd: If you have an external flash (eg, Nikon SB-600 / SB-800 / SB-900), It's very easy to do. It's easy to do any camera, but on the built-in flashes, th
27 photopilot: You need to learn...... ISO – the measure of a digital camera sensor’s sensitivity to light. Aperture – the size of the opening in the lens whe
28 captain777: thanks to all you guys really needed all these basic info and you really made all the stuff i wanted to know real clear to me........ hopefully you'll
29 viv: This text should be permanently engraved at the top of Anet. If you do not UNDERSTAND what you are doing, you will - of course - sometimes produce so