Beginner Aviation Photography Help

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johno226

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Jonathan
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Hello everyone I am new to this forum and really could do with some help, im trying to do aviation photography but they come out really dull and bland in my opinion, I usually shoot in raw, F8.0 ISO on 400 but was on automatic, auto white balance, AI SERVO and I shoot in TV mode but mainly AV, I don't know which one of these is better, I know these settings change due to speed of aircraft and that but I took some pics last weekend and I was not happy with them only a couple in my opinion were ok, ive been shooting birds and that in my back garden which came out pretty good but when it comes to aviation I am never happy, and as I have anther air show sunday I really want to up my game, I will upload some pics that I took last weekend, any help would be really appreciated;). camera im using is Canon 600d with Canon 100-400 mm lens:thinking:.
 
:(
cant seem to upload an image to show you guys
 
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Hi Johno You can start by trying to itemise the things you are disappointed with. Are tay out of focus, badly exposed, badly composed ect. Once you know what bits you are unhappy with you can start to correct them one by one. Hope this helps.
 
As Melvyn stated, if you give us more specifics, we may be able to offer better advice.

In the meantime, a rough and ready guide, to help you on your way :D

Shutters speeds - fast jets, 1000th sec or higher, prop planes, start at 250th and experiment to try and keep some motion blur, in the props.
Aperture - F8 is a good starting point.
ISO - whatever it takes (within reason) to get the shutter speed / f stop combination.

There's also more to consider, e.g. panning technique, focus modes, metering mode, etc., but that should keep you going for now :)
 
Hello and thank you for your advice so far, I was trying to upload a picture to this feed but couldn't seem to do that for some reason, they seem badly exposed and not as focused as they should be, also the sky always seems white which makes the picture loo poor, thanks again guys.
 
If the sky is white then it's white.The only thing that I can see that may improve those photos is shoot in Vivid to boost the colour of the aircraft and bits of blue sky.
 
I know nothing about aviation photography but will keep an eye on your thread.
I've got a real challenge coming up. I've just ordered a D7000 and a couple of lenses and I off to Fairford for the very first time on Sunday with 0 experience of aviation photography. New kit, new genre!!!!
Anyway my comments ;
I see what you mean, all of them seem to be backlit to start. Of course that can't be helped. The focus looks a little off, your shooting with a large DoF so is it a case that you or your lens aren't quick enough?
Also, what would they look like brightened or over exposed.
Any help?
 
I know the images, you uploaded are jpeg, but are you shooting in raw and just doing a straight conversion? If so, raw images will appear "flat" and will need some processing but the beauty with raw, is that you will have a lot more data to play with.
 
I'm trying to be critically useful as opposed to critically blunt here, Johno, so please don't read any negativity into what I write if it comes across wrong.

Taking the Vulcan first....and iconic aircraft with a fairly unique shape (it's a delta) so shoot it when you can see some of that shape. There's a huge camouflaged wing there with all the colours and markings you need....but they're absent from the angle you've shot it at and consequently you've given over more of your image to bland, white sky (it's the aviation version of a mug shot). Planes fly into space and yours is flying from space....ie, leave more free sky on the right and less on the left (based on your shot) so that it looks like it has somewhere to go. If you do a Google image search for Vulcan you'll be able to see what works and what doesn't work.

F16.....Simply too far away for the lens you were using....it happens and it's not possible to shoot every aircraft in the display and get a worthwhile image from it. Again, it's got wings so it's a mug shot if you can't see them and there's nothing else to captivate the viewer.....try for a little banking towards or away and show its form.

The Lynx(?).....It's a drab coloured aircraft so you need to find some other detail or feature to make it more interesting (especially in that sky). That said, your shutter speed is in the ball park and execution is probably the best of the three. Again, Google images of Lynx and see what angles make for the most appealing or dramatic shots.

Bob
 
Given I shoot a lot of aviation I will give a go at explaining settings used, I shoot with Canon so if Nikon adjust for their equivalent setting.

Shoot in Shutter Priority mode and for Jets 1/1000th or quicker if you can get it, for props it will depend on the aircraft and type of display. If its a fighter doing a quick display you might need 1/400 to get a sharp image and a small amount of prop blur, but for a slower bomber 1/125 can work. Helicopters are the hardest and you need very slow speeds to get prop blur.
Aperture: aim for around f8 but given the distance you are away from the plane almost any aperture will work.
Exposure Compensation, normally about +2/3rds
Autofocus: AL Servo
Evaluative metering.

RIAT 2014 - Arrivals by Paul Holtom, on Flickr
Canon 5D3 500mm f4 + 1.4x Ext, 1/1600, f5.6, ISO100

RIAT 2014 - Arrivals by Paul Holtom, on Flickr
Canon 7D 70-200mm f/14, 1/60, ISO100

RIAT Saturday 2013 by Paul Holtom, on Flickr
Canon 7D 70-200mm +1.4x EXT f/1, 1/250, ISO100

The above were all taken at Fairford and there are plenty more on my website http://www.paulholtom.co.uk/royal-international-air-tattoo
 
Thank you so much for everyone's replies and help, those were shot in jpeg from last year as I couldn't seem to upload the ones I took last weekend as they were in raw, I did edit quite a lot of them and they did look considerably better, hopefully I get some better shots this weekend thanks to everyone's advice, I think I tend to panic especially when taking pics of my favourite aircraft as I really don't want to miss a shot, so maybe I just need to get that right image. its the F stop and ISO I get really messed up with lol, I am getting slightly used to exposure compensation. Again thank you everyone for your help your all very kind, also amazing pictures, maybe ill get there one day :banana:
 
An approach I for use for exposure with my Nikon set up is to shoot in Manual Exposure Mode, but use Auto ISO.

Doing that the camera still chooses the exposure, but I can control the aperture (to stop my lens opening all the way up as it's sharpest at F8 and above) and the shutter speed (to control prop blur). This is with the compromise of having the camera select the ISO within the range I set to control the exposure, but for my use I don't really care between 100 and 3200.

It's then a case of using the exposure compensation if required depending on the subject and the conditions.
 
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