Airport photography approval

beercan

beercan

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Steve
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I have a last minute and rare opportunity to take a photo of a plane at my local airport tonight (on display in a public area outside, not airside). I want to do some light painting on it, but given that it's right outside the airport I don't want to just rock up waving a torch around.
Those of you with experience, how would you recommend I approach this with the airport? Security? Manager? Or should I just crack on and ask forgiveness if anyone has an issue? I've never had to do this before...
Thanks!
 
Thanks. Just wasn't sure as it's a sensitive location, not like a normal building.
 
As in many places public access does not necessarily mean public space i.e. still private land. Plus bearing in mind that this is an airport with all that implies about security concerns......is just rocking up and setting up your kit for a light painting session without explanation a 'good idea'. IMO it will attract attention so be ready to handle staff enquiring as to what you are doing.
 
Box Brownie said:
As in many places public access does not necessarily mean public space i.e. still private land. Plus bearing in mind that this is an airport with all that implies about security concerns......is just rocking up and setting up your kit for a light painting session without explanation a 'good idea'. IMO it will attract attention so be ready to handle staff enquiring as to what you are doing.
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Yes, this is my concern. Hence my enquiry about the best way to approach the subject...
 
As it is landside I'd suggest contacting security in the first instance, they will probably put you in touch with, or give you details of someone else you may need to speak to. As stated above, just because it isn't airside doesn't mean it is a 'public' place, Landside areas are patrolled as well as the heightened levels of security for airside restricted and critical parts. If you just turn up and start firing away, you are likely to be asked to clear off at best.

It makes sense to get permission before turning up lighting aircraft with torches etc, I'd say this would be common courtesy at any time, let alone in the current heightened state of security worldwide, let alone nationally.

Having said all that, it is hard to judge 100% without knowing more details, I am stating the above based on what would be expected at our airport.
 
Not wishing to be controversial, but if you ring security at an airport they will tell you it’s not allowed, even if that’s not strictly true. Because of the following reasons.
A, they get a kick out of perceived power
B, they are rentacops and enjoy A.
C, they don’t know the policy so will err on the No answer
Its better in my book for them to turn up, they will see what you are doing, chat to you, see there is no issues and move on.

Just a thought, but airport security are a ‘special’ level of awkward.
 
gremlin16 said:
Not wishing to be controversial, but if you ring security at an airport they will tell you it’s not allowed, even if that’s not strictly true. Because of the following reasons.
A, they get a kick out of perceived power
B, they are rentacops and enjoy A.
C, they don’t know the policy so will err on the No answer
Its better in my book for them to turn up, they will see what you are doing, chat to you, see there is no issues and move on.

Just a thought, but airport security are a ‘special’ level of awkward.
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I meant turn up and ask, not ring up. I should have been clearer. I could comment on airport security, but I had better not as they are not my department....
 
In a similar vein and don't recall if it was at TP.

I recall a forum post of someone taking photographs of an oil refinery (or was it a power station?) from across the other side of a bay. His activities were observed and he was approached by uniformed officer(s). The conversation was measured and non judgemental by either party ~ he got his pictures and the officers left content that nothing wrong was going on. As I said only similar but I agree that visiting the airport (maybe best during daylight hours to make sure to speak to the possibly managerial person responsible for authorisations) and getting agreed access is the way to go!
 
Thanks all. I took a chance and went out there and spoke to a security guard who was happy with my explanation and reasons. I decided not to use a torce to avoid undue attention being drawn, but I think I got some pretty good shots anyway. I'll upload some later...
 
beercan said:
Thanks all. I took a chance and went out there and spoke to a security guard who was happy with my explanation and reasons. I decided not to use a torce to avoid undue attention being drawn, but I think I got some pretty good shots anyway. I'll upload some later...
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Sounds like a mutually agreeable conclusion and I look forward to seeing the results of your endeavours :)
 
beercan said:
Thanks all. I took a chance and went out there and spoke to a security guard who was happy with my explanation and reasons. I decided not to use a torce to avoid undue attention being drawn, but I think I got some pretty good shots anyway. I'll upload some later...
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Maybe not all airport security as that bad then. :)
 
Shame about the cone and barriers in the background, I think i'd have preferred an angle without the car obscured by the Hawk, maybe more from the front.

Where was that taken? We had 3 Hawks in yesterday, but not the red variety.
 
Good Morning Beercan

An excellent shot an opportunity, I think I'd firstly ask why you've used the settings you have f/25, 15 sec exp, iso 1000, presuming from those, you've used a tripod and remote release, the aperture is in my opinion high, I'd have probably gone for F8 of F11 max, this would have reduced your ISO and or increased your shutter speed as well, having said that, you've controlled any noise pretty well with that ISO. In my view its a little bright, so I've reduced the brightness a tad and removed as many of the specular highlights or hot pixels as poss.

Hope that's ok


upload_2018-6-16_11-39-42.png
 
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chrism8 said:
Good Morning Beercan

An excellent shot an opportunity, I think I'd firstly ask why you've used the settings you have f/25, 15 sec exp, iso 1000, presuming from those, you've used a tripod and remote release, the aperture is in my opinion high, I'd have probably gone for F8 of F11 max, this would have reduced your ISO and or increased your shutter speed as well, having said that, you've controlled any noise pretty well with that ISO. In my view its a little bright, so I've reduced the brightness a tad and removed as many of the specular highlights or hot pixels as poss.

Hope that's ok


View attachment 128747
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Thanks for your reply.
The only reason for those settings is inexperience really. It's good to get the feedback and understand what would have made the image better, so thank you. You're correct re tripod (but it was manual release not remote).
What software have you used for the specular highlights? I tried this in Lightroom using the clone/heal tool but can't fix the top left "blob".

I've tried an edit using your suggestions. I'm gutted I missed a trick to include the car properly in the shot. I was so focused on getting the plane at the right angle... :(


Red Arrow at Night by Steve B, on Flickr
 
Interestingly, looking at this on my Galaxy S7 phone rather than my laptop, the colours look really overdone. Does it look this way to you? Not sure if the phone is too rich or the laptop is washed out... [emoji848]
 
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