Requirements for best aircraft photography

Taking spectacular aircraft pictures is a challenging job and it calls for a professional photographer. Various considerations ranging from the type of aircraft to the place we are shooting are required to be taken into account. Like any photographer maintains a good communication ground with the client in the same way it is important for an aircraft photographer to communicate with the pilot in order to get a desired image. For capturing a good picture the aircraft photographer needs to have a camera having various mode options such as aperture priority, shutter priority, spot metering and manual correction. An aircraft picture with a very good background is usually admired. Taking air-to-air shots of an aircraft requires proper plan and money to do it.

Every photographer can capture unique pictures of aircrafts. But to capture an outstandingly good shot one must have technical knowledge about aviation photography. There are degree courses which guide you about the things that you will need to become a professional aircraft photographer.

• Understanding your camera is a major step towards good shots. While capturing an aircraft when it is in flight one should choose slower shutter speed to avoid frozen look of aircraft in the picture. Slow shutter speeds help to capture the motion of revolving blades of aircraft making the photograph look natural.
• Panning shots give a dramatic look to the picture by nicely blurring the background and sharpening the subject. Panning shots of aircrafts look more lively and amazing.
• While capturing fast moving aircrafts like jets, the photographer can combine slow shutter speed and panning technique which will result in giving a spectacular image. Clever and effective panning comes from lots of practice.
• Camera and its settings vary according to the type of shoot you are doing. In case you want to take a picture of a stationary airplane on the ground, then there is no need for a pro equipment. While shooting stationary plane we can always eliminate the unnecessary distractions on the foreground or in the background, by blurring them.  At air shows we do not need telephoto lens as we can walk around and change positions to get a good view of the aircrafts. Since air shows are held in the morning therefore there is no need to worry about low lightning and clarity in photographs. Low ISO sensitivity setting is good for air shows. For capturing lively aircraft shots shutter speed should be low.
• Capturing the aircraft at the correct moment is very important. So, to aim well at the subject, camera viewfinder is a must.
• Monopods are used by photographers to capture to capture a more stabilized image of an aircraft. Tripods take more space than monopods. The location from where you do aircraft photography sometimes do not allow big equipment because of safety reason and also less space. Some aircraft photographers prefer taking shots using hand held camera.
• Costly and fast camera are not required for doing basic level aircraft photography as generally the shutter speed is kept slow.
• Camera zoom range changes according to the photography one wants to do. For air- to- air aircraft photography since the distance between the photographer and the aircraft to be captured is less, therefore a camera with zoom ranging from 70mm to 200mm is fine. On the other hand at least 400mm zoom is required for ground-to-air photography.

Alaskafoto is a company having 40 years of experience in the field of photography and offers top level pictures to its clients. Not only stills, Alaskafoto offers various options like videos, commercials, and motion picture scripting etc. to its clients.