Greg’s aerial photography tips
Here are some aerial photography tips, as requested by readers of my column. Note that I shoot only still photography of ground scenery from the air — no video or air-to-air shots. Also, I am no more than an aerial-photography amateur, because 1) I shoot in the course of travel rather than flying dedicated missions seeking the best light, weather, and shooting conditions and 2) I shoot through the awful filter of aircraft windows. Truly great aerial photography requires shooting through open windows, or at least high-grade glass. That being said, following are my tips.
Final photo: Autumn leaves tint an arroyo in Arizona’s Verde River Canyon.
Camera equipment: Use a quality digital SLR with a broad zoom range of wide angle to telephoto. (I use a Nikon D90 with 18-200mm lens.) Image stabilization is desirable (available on Nikon “VR” and Canon “IS” lenses. Other camera makers use different names.) I really like Nikon’s “ADL” adaptive lighting feature that collects additional shadow and highlight recovery information, especially here in the high-contrast light of the mountain West. (I am not knowledgeable about corresponding features on other camera makes.)
Original photo: bluish cast from acrylic windows subdues warm colors.
Preparation: 1) Identify the clearest, least distorting shooting directions from your cockpit. Usually this will be through side windows. Shooting forward is less predictable because the windshield’s compound curves add distortion, plus you may be photographing through a propeller. 2) Early morning and late in the day offer the most dramatic lighting for rugged terrain. Midday offers saturated colors but few shadows for contrast.
Process and settings: 1) Have your camera out and ready from takeoff to landing. 2) Set focus manually to “infinity” as sometimes auto-focus gets confused shooting through windows. (If your camera locks up, auto-focus is likely the problem.) 3) Use image stabilization when the ride is bumpy (VR “active” mode on Nikons). 4) Reduce shutter speed if shooting through a propeller, 5) If there are no white or grey objects on the ground, shoot a reference photo of each view incorporating outside white parts of the airplane like wing or strut. (You’ll soon see why.)
Post-processing: Acrylic plastic imparts a blue cast to your photos, and desaturates colors. So when shooting through aircraft windows, post-processing your photos is a must. That being said, the better your original the better the outcome. Plenty of photos are unsalvageable. (The above original is definitely borderline.) Following are my typical post-processing steps (terminology is Photoshop or Photoshop Elements):
1. First, correct white balance to eliminate the window tint. This is commonly done by touching the Photoshop/Elements white-balance eyedropper tool on a white or neutral grey area of your photo to correct the colors. My own preferred secret weapon for post-correcting shots through acrylic windows is the terrific ColorWasher plug-in. Unlike the finicky Photoshop/Elements eyedropper tool, ColorWasher allows you to drag a marquis selection tool across white and grey areas to find an “average” white, thereby correcting the photo’s colors. Whether you use ColorWasher or the eyedropper tool to color-correct a given photo, that correction will remain at the top of the “filters” menu for use on subsequent photos while your current session remains open. At left is the original after running ColorWasher but before applying auto-levels. (I took my white sample from the airplane’s strut in the preceding photo — not shown.)
2. Next, run image>adjustments>auto-levels from the image menu. (“Auto-levels” is called “auto-tone” in the latest versions.) This dramatically enhances colors and contrast to effectively “cut through haze.” (If the colors turn garish try image>adjustments>auto-contrast instead. Either way it may be necessary to deselect extreme dark or light areas of the photo before filtering, for optimum effect.)
3. “Fade auto-levels” as necessary if the colors or contrast appear too strong. (“Edit” menu.)
4. Apply image>adjustments>shadow/highlight compensation as necessary
Now for the “art.” We are not going for clinical accuracy here. Paraphrased from pro-photographer Adriel Heisey: “Remember what you saw that made the scene special, and impart it to your photo.” Don’t take the “gold” out of a golden sunset!
When you have completed your masterpiece, “save as” an 80% JPEG. That delivers a relatively small file with printworthy quality.
Handy accessories: 1) When traveling unfamiliar terrain, a GPS geotagger marks your photos with the locations where they were taken. 2) For pre-sorting and culling large numbers of photos, nothing beats Photomechanic software. (See my review.)
SAFETY FIRST! Assign someone else to take photos during critical phases of flight, so you can concentrate on flying! My wife, Jean, takes many of my column photos for that very reason.
Now get out there and start shooting! Please comment with your own tips and tricks. ©2009 Gregory N. Brown (I receive no compensation for endorsing any of the above products.)
