Beginner Aircraft light trails from Birmingham

Love your first one. Talk about a rate and inclination of climb. Wasn't Ryanair by chance?
 
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Never thought of that… cool thing to explore! (y)
 
David_H said:
Love your first one. Talk about a rate and inclination of climb. Wasn't Ryanair by chance?
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Thanks, I can't actually remember who/what it was! Could have been Ryanair. What I found interesting is that some planes are better than others for this. I got there in time for the Emirates A380 arrival and was frankly disappointed by the result, I think the sheer size of it and the reflections from it's gigantic underbelly just washed the photo out. Far better are the little Dash 8 flybe's where you can clearly make out the red and green lights on the wings.
 
Brilliant idea, and well executed. Seeing as I live 5 minutes from Heathrow I may give this a go...
 
Jelster said:
Brilliant idea, and well executed. Seeing as I live 5 minutes from Heathrow I may give this a go...
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Go for it! It's surprisingly addictive as they all come in and leave at different angles and create different trails depending on what aircraft type. Heathrow would be perfect as I imagine you get so much variety.
 
Like the idea but it's a shame the colours of the navigation lights don't show up. Probably be spoiled by the planes' headlights.

We're under what appears to be a fairly major aerial cossroads (EXT) so maybe I should set up a long exposure wide angle shot on film. I reckon it's worth a roll of slowish (ISO 50 or 100) film to see what I get. Whether or not I'll get round to it is another matter!
 
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Nod said:
Like the idea but it's a shame the colours of the navigation lights don't show up. Probably be spoiled by the planes' headlights.

We're under what appears to be a fairly major aerial cossroads (EXT) so maybe I should set up a long exposure wide angle shot on film. I reckon it's worth a roll of slowish (ISO 50 or 100) film to see what I get. Whether or not I'll get round to it is another matter!
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Kodak Ektar 100 for that saturated colour look perhaps? Just thinking out loud, would multiple exposure work for a totally abstract aerial light trail image, but then again, working out the exposure might be tricky? I'm full of exciting ideas but I find that time tends to steal most of them! :rolleyes:
 
Nod said:
Like the idea but it's a shame the colours of the navigation lights don't show up. Probably be spoiled by the planes' headlights.

We're under what appears to be a fairly major aerial cossroads (EXT) so maybe I should set up a long exposure wide angle shot on film. I reckon it's worth a roll of slowish (ISO 50 or 100) film to see what I get. Whether or not I'll get round to it is another matter!
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Mr Badger said:
Kodak Ektar 100 for that saturated colour look perhaps? Just thinking out loud, would multiple exposure work for a totally abstract aerial light trail image, but then again, working out the exposure might be tricky? I'm full of exciting ideas but I find that time tends to steal most of them! :rolleyes:
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I got a couple of head on shots but I'm having difficulty uploading them, I'll try and post them tomorrow but the red and green wing lights showed up much better despite the very bright landing lights. I think it's the shape of the plane and angle of the lights which causes the issue of low visibility of the coloured lights more than bright lights elsewhere.

I'm going to make this a bit of a work in progress, see what works and what doesn't.
 
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What's the blue dash at top centre? Was it a star/planet and a longish exposure (there are a few other dashes in the same orientation.)?
 
Hi Nod, yes they're star trails. Don't like them as they're distracting but I'm only really uploading the photo to show a different angle.

They are visible in the head on shots as they were taken pointing into the countryside away from Birmingham - the other shots were generally against light pollution which for once helped out!
 
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A couple more from a few nights ago, they were taking off and landing in the opposite direction, so it adds different perspective.DSC_1453_00002.jpg DSC_1460_00002.jpg
 
These are so cool. Where about to you go around the airport to get such shots? As I'm fairly local I'd live to give this a go.
 
T55 said:
These are so cool. Where about to you go around the airport to get such shots? As I'm fairly local I'd live to give this a go.
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These were all taken from the A45 - there's a pavement which handily rises up the bank which the road is cut into so you are pretty much level with the runway. Not much parking that I've found, you can try Clock Lane but it's double yellows or it's a ten minute walk from international station.

There's actually a better vantage point in Sheldon Country Park but I'm not sure how wise it is to stand in there for hours after dark on your own with expensive camera equipment.

Good luck and post your shots!
 
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