I arrived at the scene and took position directly in front of the runway, which would mean the aircraft going straight over our heads, offering the closest possible view. I was equipped with my new Nikon D610, a Sigma 70-300mm telephoto lens, and Manfrotto tripod with ball head. This type of photography was new to me, and as such planned to make an educated guess on which settings to use and just basically experiment (luckily planes were taking off every few minutes).
The first problem I encountered was focusing. The camera was set to spot focus, and as the planes passed overhead I was trying to focus then take a burst of shots. Being in the air there was nothing at the same distance to prefocus on, and I found this method not achieving particularly good results, especially as the focus point was changing as the plane moved across the sky.
The next problem I had was shooting off a tripod. I had envisioned setting up the perfect frame then simply burst shooting every time there was a take-off, but to get a decent closeup I was at the longest focal length, which is a very narrow area of sky. The planes weren't passing over us in the exact same place each time, so I would invariably miss the shot.
I then remembered from glancing through the manual that my new camera has a continuous servo focus mode. This focusing mode is designed for moving subjects, such as my airplanes, and uses multiple focus points to track your subject and keep it in focus. Although I was aware of this feature, I certainly wasn't accustomed to using it, so I popped it on and hoped for the best. The results were certainly better from here on in, and now plan to put some time aside to really get to grips with the various focusing modes on my camera, so I can apply whichever is suitable for any given situation.
Ultimately for this shoot I found the tripod was too restricting, so I took the camera off and decided to handhold. I knew that to freeze the motion of the plane and to mitigate camera shake I would need a shutter speed of about 1000/sec. Luckily shooting into the sky gives you plenty of light, even in the 'golden hour'. I opened the aperture as wide as it would go, and changed the ISO to 800. This indicated a correct exposure, and was fast enough to freeze motion.
I will still unsatisfied with the results I was getting, and decided to change my viewpoint so I could get a side view of the aircraft. Two of my favourite images from the shoot are shown below. The subjects are filling the frame, are composed as diagonals giving some movement and dynamism, and I have left room for the plane to 'travel' into. Added to the golden light of the setting sun and clear blue sky, I feel these make compelling images. I do plan to visit this location again, especially to experiment with viewpoints, and to see if there's a way to include anything on the ground, to show context.
170mm, f/5.6, 1/1000, ISO 800
170mm, f/5.6, 1/1000, ISO 800
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