Last week I took these beautiful photos of the Sierra Nevada from a plane. I often like to take shots from a plane window. Experience has taught me a few things on how to get sharp images. I have found wide angle lenses with a low F Stop or a fast lens works best. Depending on the light you will need to play with ISO as you want a fast speed. I have found greater than 1/1000 sec. The plane has small vibrations going on that can blur the image so you need the fast speed. Also, like any photo in challenging light expose on a mid tone. Don’t expose on something dark or something really bright like the clouds. If you are photographing the clouds you will increase to increase the exposure by at least a stop. This can be done use the grid.
I find it best to focus on the ground. After all I want the ground to be the main subject. I believe it is as if God was painting sometimes a masterpiece when you look down and see the wondrous colors and haw the soil and rocks flow together. It can truly be beautiful. The clouds can add to the photo as can the sun. Sometimes I add a filter such as a dusk filter or Photoshop action to help out. In these photos I have used a dusk Photoshop action to enhance the gradient of colors.
These photos were shot at iso 320 with a F stop of 7.1 which is actually high but the sun was in the photos. The speed was 1/1600 sec so very fast. If I was using a zoom lens I would drop the F stop down otherwise you get very blurry images.
I wait and actually take a lot of photos as I am after something specific. I want a flow to my photos. I see something coming in the distance and I wait. I may take a few test shots to make sure I am ready then I take several shots to make sure I got the moment. I take shots just before and after because sometimes when you develop them they look different and out of the mix if I get one awesome one I am very happy.
A lot of time I take similar routes on a plane and I know where I want to shot. I am hoping for good weather with ideally some cloud (I like partially cloudy as it gives character to the image). I like early flights or near sunset as I get deep shadows and can capture the sun. Plus the colors can be awesome at this time of day. Mid-day can have harsh sun and produce boring photos.
So what do you think?
Leave a Reply