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The good, the bad and the ugly of aerial photography – part 4: technique

18 Feb

A glacial river in Greenland

Getting your settings right is important when shooting from the air. Due to low light and strong vibration, many images from this shoot turned out blurry.

In the previous article in this series, I talked about the equipment one might use for aerial photography. So what about technique, and especially camera settings? What should you consider when shooting from the air?

The important thing to remember here is that you’re shooting from a moving, vibrating aircraft instead of from stable ground. This simply means that in order to keep your shots sharp, you’ll need to use a high shutter speed. Remember that the compensation mechanisms in stabilized lenses are meant to deal with human movement, not high-frequency vibration, and will thus offer little help. Same goes for your own hands’ stability: even if you’re rock solid, the aircraft is not, and you should always bear that in mind or suffer the consequences (as I unfortunately have in the past).

Depending on the angle of view, I’d recommend shooting at least 1/400^th of a second to make sure the shot is sharp enough, preferably even faster, and faster still if the focal length is long. When shooting from a plane, expect to need even faster shutter speeds, as wind can often move the lens and even change the zoom settings, as it sucks the lens out of the window. To keep your shutter speed in check, don’t be afraid to use a higher ISO setting. I frequently use ISO 400, 800 and when it’s darker even 1600 and 3200. Having a bit more noise and less dynamic range is a much better alternative to having a blurred shot. You can also use relatively wide apertures, since the subject is far away and depth of field is therefore large.

Shooting at ISO 800 is a no-brainer when light is low and you’re in a Cessna.

While I talked about equipment in the last article, I left one piece of gear to this article, since I wanted to link it to exposure times: Gyroscopes. These are contraptions which use rotational inertia to counter movement and vibrations, allowing the photographer to use much lower ISO values and longer exposure times while maintaining stability and sharpness. Unfortunately, they are large, heavy and very expensive, which leave them out as an option for the casual aerial shooter such as myself and most photographers with me. I personally don’t have any practical experience with gyros, but hopefully I’ll get to try shooting with one in the future.

Another point on technique: it’s very beneficial to shoot in fast-continuous mode. Even if exposure times are high, you never know when the vibrations take their toll on camera stability. Shooting the same image 2 or 3 times will significantly increase the chances that at least one of the exposures turns out crisp.

Another reason to shoot in continuous mode is HDR. HDR is surprisingly possible in aerial photography, and I use it in cases of extreme global contrast. Take for example the image below of the Holuhraun volcanic eruption in Iceland. Taken at night, the lava was quite a few stops brighter than its black surroundings, and so I used exposure bracketing together with continuous mode to quickly shoot two shots of the same scene with different exposure times, which were later combined using Photoshop.

With the lava many stops brighter than the surroundings, I had to use HDR to get this image.

Another surprisingly possible technical feat is panoramas. As long as all parameters are in check, there’s really no reason not to pano from the air, and one can really get interesting results that way. This is especially important due to aerial photography’s equipment limitation – when you’re stuck with one or two lenses, shooting a panorama allows you to achieve a wider angle of view.

A 2-shot panorama taken from a Cessna above the mountains of Lofoten, Arctic Norway. Due to the aircraft’s movement it was a bit of a difficult stitch, but still very possible and worthwhile.

In the next and final article in this series, I’ll survey several of my aerial shoots.

Erez Marom is a professional nature photographer, photography guide and traveler based in Israel. You can follow Erez’s work on Instagram, Facebook and 500px, and subscribe to his mailing list for updates.

If you’d like to experience and shoot some of the most fascinating landscapes on earth with Erez as your guide, you’re welcome to take a look at his unique photography workshops around the world:

Land of Ice – Southern Iceland
Winter Paradise – Northern Iceland
Northern Spirits – The Lofoten Islands
Giants of the Andes and Fitz Roy Hiking Annex – Patagonia
Tales of Arctic Nights – Greenland
Saga of the Seas and The Far Reaches Annex – The Faroe Islands
Desert Storm – Namibia

Selected Articles by Erez Marom:

Parallelism in Landscape Photography
Behind the Shot: Dark Matter
Mountain Magic: Shooting in the Lofoten Islands
Behind the Shot: Nautilus
Behind the Shot: Lost in Space
Behind the Shot: Spot the Shark
Quick Look: The Art of the Unforeground
Whatever it Doesn’t Take
Winds of Change: Shooting changing landscapes
On the Importance of Naming Images

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Incredible images from DJI’s SkyPixel 2016 aerial photography competition

05 Feb

Incredible images from SkyPixel 2016 competition

SkyPixel, DJI’s online aerial photo sharing platform, has shared the winners of its 2016 photo competition and published a gallery of 2000 standouts from more than 27,000 entries. You can see some of our favorites here and check out even more top entries at the SkyPixel website.

Fishermen close the net. Grand Prize Winner. Photo by ??

Incredible images from SkyPixel 2016 competition

Exploration. First Prize, Beauty category, professional. Photo by ? ??

Incredible images from SkyPixel 2016 competition

Spillway Selfie. Second Prize, Beauty category, professional. Photo by dixonltd

Incredible images from SkyPixel 2016 competition

Overbridge. First Prize, Beauty category, enthusiast. Photo by ??

Incredible images from SkyPixel 2016 competition

Green Waves. Second Prize, Beauty, enthusiast. Photo by Mauro Pagliai

Incredible images from SkyPixel 2016 competition

Arena. Photo by Bogdan Robak

Incredible images from SkyPixel 2016 competition

Photo by Joshua Cheston

Incredible images from SkyPixel 2016 competition

Shipka, Bulgaria. Photo by Vladislav Terziiski

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Take flight over Australia: aerial photos by Scott McCook

21 Jan

Take flight over Australia: Aerial photos by Scott McCook

Originally a tailing pond image, I have created a fictional piece of work to convey a story about Australia riding the mining boom, Boddington Western Australia

Scott McCook is a native Australian and an award winning landscape photographer with a serious passion for aerial photography. All of the images that you see in this article were shot from the skies high above remote areas of Australia and New Zealand. His goals are to not only highlight the beauty in areas that are remote and far removed from the public eye, but also to illustrate the impacts that industry can have on the world around us.

To see more of his work, check him out on Facebook and Instagram.

What inspired you to begin your aerial work?

Big Lagoon Shark Bay, an isolated birrida, these birridas are gypsum clay pans that used to be saline lakes

I have two main sources of inspiration, the first of which is my drive to photograph what hides in plain sight. This started many years ago with astrophotography, which was something I pursued in my earlier days of landscape photography. The idea of something so beautiful hiding above cities and street lights every night with many people never even seeing the Milky Way with their own eyes drove me to the dark spots of Western Australia (of which there are many) to capture the incredible beauty of the Milky Way and show people here in Western Australia what’s in their backyard every night.

This concept of showing people, via my imagery, what hides just below the surface (or above your head) is what fanned my obsession for aerial photography. It’s the very same principals, the idea that these beautiful and sometimes abstract landscapes that we see every day from the ground can explode into life from the air.

My second source of inspiration is to show people the impact of mankind on nature, as in the case of my mining aerial imagery. It’s showing people areas that they would never normally be able to see on that scale. It has the possibility to empower people to make their own opinion on these landscapes and how far man will go to chase our precious resources.

I should also mention that there are a number of truly amazing landscape photographers based out of Australia that inspire me on a daily basis. The collective of landscape photographers from ND5 put life back into the aerial genre here in the last 10 or so years and their work sparked my interest in what our beautiful country has to offer from the air. Photographers like Tony Hewitt, Christian Fletcher and Peter Eastway have not only supplied inspiration over the years but have been great mentors for myself and many other budding landscape photographers here in Australia.

What’s your favorite aspect of aerial photography?

Shark Bay Western Australia, coastal floodplain

It really comes down to two questions: Is it the unique photography? Or the thrill of being in a plane or chopper?

I think it’s the pure thrill and enjoyment of flying that keeps bringing me back and then it’s the excitement of having no idea what incredibly unique moment or landscape you’ll capture from the air. Often with aerial photography, it feels like you’re an early explorer, going over uncharted territory, the feeling is quite amazing because often we are lucky enough to be the first people shooting a location from the air.

This is often the case because you can travel to very remote locations in a short amount of time. You can really feel the excitement come over you when you know you’re shooting something completely new. So let’s go with 50% the thrill, 50% the photography, how’s that for a safe answer?

What lenses and equipment do you normally shoot with?

Perth, Western Australia. Alcoa Tailing Ponds

Everything!!! Would be my short answer, but the slightly extended answer is as follows:

My Full-frame Go to Kit:

Nikon D810
Nikon 24-70 F2.8
Nikon 70-200mm F2.8 VR2
Sigma 35mm F1.4 Art

My Medium Format combo:

Phase XF + IQ150
80mm blue ring Shnieder
Mamiya 35mm

When it comes to aerial photography I have found shooting large sensor MF images really helps with not only print but the editing process, but the extra data can make all the difference to your creative vision and post processing.

How do you go about composing a shot from that high up in the sky?

Useless Loop salt farm, the different colors coming from varying stages of the process and product, Western Australia

You often have a very small window space to shoot from and you’re traveling 160km an hour at around 1500 ft, so the ground is going fast, very fast! This means you need to be on your game, with the camera settings tuned into something you would possibly find in sports photography: high shutter speeds, high ISO and looking for that sweet spot aperture.

Research using Google Maps is the key to this scenario – often I will know what is coming up, so I’m preparing myself physically (putting my arms in positions thought not humanly possible) and mentally as well, thinking ‘What orientation do I want this area in?’ Then in a matter of seconds your shooting window comes and before you know it, it’s gone. You can ask the pilot to lock into a loop pattern over the area, but time is money and I find if you can nail it first go, you can be onto the next location and maximize your shooting time and minimize your wallet taking a beating.

How much planning goes into a single aerial photography trip?

Southern Alps, New Zealand, this is an image of the ice that feeds the Fox Glacier in the South Island

Weeks or months. I did two very different aerial expeditions last year which I’ll touch on because of the difference in planning. The first was to Shark Bay Western Australia, a World Heritage Listed area and a location that is totally mind-blowing from the air. I spent around four weeks using Google Maps (My Maps) to scan areas of Shark Bay to shoot. Once I found a potential location I would run a screen grabbed image through Lightroom and the de-haze filter, along with some minor color balance adjustments – this helps me envision what I will be shooting when I arrive to the location.

The satellite images provided by Google are pretty good but with a little tweaking you can really get some detail from them and this helps me know what I’ll be coming across when we’re in the air. I would then save these screen grabs along with the location drawn onto a map, these will then be loaded onto my iPad and used when I’m discussing the flight plan with the pilot. This is extremely helpful because it allows our pilot to see exactly what we want to shoot and where it is, allowing him/her to be more precise.

The other shoot I did was in the Southern Alps of New Zealand in May last year. This was from a Hughes 500 Helicopter with all the doors off. Now, this shoot was different because using Google Maps to do reconnaissance is very limited. Why? Well because it’s a mountainous region it’s a lot harder to use the aerial perspective for a gauge on what you’re going to see. Adding to the difficulty is the fact that the snow in such areas is highly reflective, meaning large areas of Google Maps data can be blown out.

Being in a chopper allows us to hover and hold locations, so there’s no need to try and capture that one moment in a split second. We can now spot an amazing location and tell our awesome pilot (thanks Michael from Mountain Helicopters Fox Glacier, complete legend!) to head on over and bank the chopper in just the right spot. This type of aerial expedition feels far more like exploring on foot, just with the added bonus of a multi million dollar piece of machinery giving us the gift of flight wherever we want.

Okay, so slightly different than traveling by foot but I have to admit it’s an incredibly beautiful experience when you fly with all the doors off in such a location.

How do you think drones will impact aerial photography?

Shark Bay, Western Australia

How do I think drones will impact aerial photography? EVERYWHERE! That happened fast didn’t it? I’m still waiting on drone delivery of alcohol in bars, so I feel they haven’t quite achieved their full potential yet.

On a more serious note it’s impacting photography right now, the whole aerial genre has exploded in the last few years. The effect I think is largely positive, if anything it’s sparking the passion of photography in more and more people. I notice many drone operators will start off just wanting to fly drones as their primary objective and in time they develop a love for photographing the world from above, and proceed to learn the photography side of things properly.

On the not-so-positive side I’ve seen it very rapidly develop a bad name in some areas due to pilots breaking the rules and flying dangerously. This puts a bad spin on aerial photography, and in most cases the actions of very few are ruining the potential for some amazing shots for many people. But in general, I think drones are having a positive impact. Do I fly drones? Not yet, I still need my buzz! Looking at the world fly past via an iPad or iPhone just doesn’t quite do it for me yet, I like to be up there experiencing it.

What’s your favorite aerial image to date and how did you go about getting the shot?

Dirk Hartog Island, Western Australia. Coastal Sand Dunes, spot the Kangaroo tracks coming in from top of frame

It’s really hard to pick just one image, but I’m going to have to go with an image I captured near Dirk Hartog Island Western Australia. It was around 7:30am in the morning on our 5th and last day of shooting the an area called Shark Bay. Paul Hoelen and I had decided that we would burn some fuel and head over to a remote strip of sand dunes. This particular area wasn’t shot often because you had to spend a fair bit of time and money to just get there so we were pretty excited about finding some untouched landscape.

Upon our arrival we found what we were after, beautiful clean dunes, we shot the location and both nodded to each other in appreciation of our gamble paying off. We then spoke to our pilot Ryan and said lets head south then home, as we made our way down the coast something happened, Paul can barely contain himself, he’s just waving his arm and pointing down “Scott, Scott, Scott!!! Down, look down!”, I look over and this gorgeous half moon shaped sand dune just appears from nowhere. It was so out of place in relation to the rest of the landscape, like mother nature had just created the most stunning sand dune possible then placed it hidden away for Paul and I to find.

I haven’t got to the really cool bit yet, so after shooting this mind blowing sand dune, we get back to our motel that night and load up the images, I go straight to the sequence of this stunning half moon dune and start looking at the images, I zoom in 50% and suddenly spot tracks, it’s kangaroo tracks! This perfect set of Kangaroo tracks is cutting into my composition and up the spine of the sand dune. I couldn’t believe it, the chances of all those things lining up were incredibly rare and it’s why I love photography so much. Yes it’s skill and creativity, but it has equal doses of luck.

How do you keep yourself inspired?

The Salt Farms of Useless Loop Shark Bay, Western Australia

I get much of my inspiration from the amazing, kind-hearted and adventurous landscape photographers I’ve made friends with along the way. It’s so cool in this amazing field we’re in, the community is a place you can draw many things from and inspiration is available everywhere. Beyond that I gain much inspiration from the people who have come before me, I read a lot and attempt to piece together the past as it helps pave the road to my future in this craft.

What are your aerial photography goals for 2017?

Arteries of coastal floodplains pump across the land, Carnarvon, Western Australia

Push the aerial genre to new heights, pardon the pun! I love aerial photography, I am well and truly hooked. I look at 2017 as my chance to challenge myself within this genre, I enjoy story telling via my aerial imagery and look forward to sharing that this year.

Behind the Scenes

This is the Hughes 500 Helicopter with all the doors taken off that was used for the flight over the Southern Alps of New Zealand. Huge thanks to Michael from Mountain Helicopters Fox Glacier!

The below video was shot when I snagged my favorite image to date. It gives you a great idea of the feverish pace at which you are taking images while shooting aerials in a plane.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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The good, the bad and the ugly of aerial photography – part 3: equipment

26 Nov

In previous articles I’ve discussed the advantages of aerial photography and shooting from a helicopter as opposed to shooting from a light plane. But are there any special considerations with regard to equipment when shooting from the air?

Since we’ve already established that it’s the superior choice (at least in my opinion), let’s concentrate on the helicopter first. An open door gives the photographer a vast range of angle options, and selecting the equipment can be difficult at first. You can find many good compositions with ultra-wide angles all the way to telephoto lenses.

From my personal experience, the majority of my shots were taken with the wider end of a 24-70mm lens, i.e. If you only take one camera body (and don’t plan to switch lenses on the helicopter), take either a 24-70 or an ultra-wide such as a 16-35. Remember that an ultra-wide might come in handy at times, but when a need for longer focal length comes, it might lack the reach.

Naturally, lens selection also depends on the subject: if you know you’ll be shooting grand landscapes, use a wider focal length. If you’re interested in capturing detail or if you’re limited in your ability to get close to the subject, use a longer lens.

From high up, you don’t always need an ultra-wide lens to capture grand landscapes. This image was shot at 46mm.

Sussusvlei, Namibia

I highly recommend taking 2 camera bodies to an aerial shoot. If you do that, you can use another lens without switching it in midair, which can be complicated, not to mention extremely dangerous in case it goes flying out of the open door or window. The extra lens can be an ultra-wide but I personally prefer a telephoto. With a longer lens you can really delve into the fine detail of your subject, which might be hidden when shooting from the ground, and capture unique perspectives and interesting compositions.

My favorite telephoto lens is the Canon 70-300mm F4-5.6L IS, and I found myself shooting on the long end of the zoom quite a bit. The main advantage for me is that even though you’re flying hundreds of meters above the landscape, you can really get close and intimate with it when using a long lens.

When shooting from a plane, my recommendation is a 24-70 and a telephoto. Anything wider will capture parts of the plane, such as a wing or an engine, most of the time, which renders it almost useless.

At 176mm focal length, the Telephoto lens gave me a chance to capture the details on the erupting lava. Flying any closer was impossible since the air above the lava flow was so warm it made the helicopter tremble.

Holuhraun, Iceland

Once on the helicopter, you will most likely fasten the camera straps to a dedicated part in the seat belt. While this keeps the equipment from falling from the heli, you might finds straps getting tangled after going back and forth between camera bodies, which could in turn cause you to miss good shots. Try to be aware of this, and always make sure the straps are disentangled when time comes to shoot. The entanglement problem is also the reason that while it is possible to take 3 bodies, it’s not recommended.

Space in a light plane can be tight, so often you’ll only use one body. I would use a 24-70mm in that case.

Greenland

Forget about using square filters, or anything else that can fly off and hit one of the rotors. It might feel calm inside, but try to take your hand out of the cabin and you’ll feel the enormous wind strength out there. There’s no reason to risk your life, and with today’s high-DR cameras you can compensate for global contrast when post processing the image. A polarizer is also a bad idea, as it can substantially darken the image and require a slower shutter speed or higher ISO.

Even high global contrast can be balanced with today’s high-DR sensors.
The Lofoten Islands,

Arctic Norway

One last thing to mention regarding gear is clothing. It can get cold up there, and while I was able to wear a t-shirt when shooting aerials in Namibia, in the Arctic I needed full thermal gear – the most important items were the hat and gloves. There were times my hands were totally devoid of all sensation and I had to stop shooting due to the cold. Be ready for this and try to use gloves that protect your hands from cold winds while allowing you to operate the camera.

In the next article in this series, I’ll talk about technique and parameters for aerial photography.

If you’d like to experience and shoot some of the most fascinating landscapes on earth with Erez as your guide, you’re welcome to take a look at his unique photography workshops around the world:

Selected Articles by Erez Marom:

Parallelism in Landscape Photography
Behind the Shot: Dark Matter
Mountain Magic: Shooting in the Lofoten Islands
Behind the Shot: Nautilus
Behind the Shot: Lost in Space
Behind the Shot: Spot the Shark
Quick Look: The Art of the Unforeground
Whatever it Doesn’t Take
Winds of Change: Shooting changing landscapes
On the Importance of Naming Images

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Great heights: Tim Kemple’s aerial mountain photography

13 Nov

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Adventure photographer Tim Kemple has made a project of photographing some of the world’s tallest peaks from high-altitude planes and helicopters. ‘I’ve always been fascinated by the mountains. Call it a genuine obsession honestly,’ he tells Resource Travel.

Given the potential risks – and great expense – to fly near these behemoths, Kemple has been working on his passion project slowly, crossing locations off his list one by one. When he’s done, he hopes to have captured each of the seven summits and a number of his favorites photographed. We’d say he’s off to an excellent start.

Read the full interview and see more of Kemple’s photos at Resource Travel

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Earth from a New Perspective: ‘Overview’ Aerial Shots Reveal Hidden Beauty

01 Nov

[ By SA Rogers in Art & Photography & Video. ]

Planned community of Sun Lakes, Arizona

Other than a few brief glimpses near airports, few of us ever get to see the Earth from high up in the sky, taking in all of the complex textures and patterns created by nature and human activity. If we could, we might feel more inclined to do all that we could to protect it. This phenomenon, as experienced by astronauts when viewing our small, fragile planet from space, is called the ‘overview effect,’ and it serves as the inspiration behind a series of stunning aerial photographs by Benjamin Grant.

A highway interchange in Jacksonville, FL

World's largest aircraft storage facility, Tucson, Arizona — World’s largest aircraft storage facility, Tucson, Arizona

Residential communities in Boca Raton, FL

‘Overview: A New Perspective of Earth’ is a new hardcover book full of over 200 aerial images taken of sites all over the world, from industrial areas of South Korea and fields in Ethiopia to planned communities in South Florida. Grant initially started the project as an Instagram series in December 2013, selecting high-resolution satellite photographs that reveal the extent to which we have altered the surface of the planet upon which we live and curating them into a thoughtful, emotional collection.

Agricultural development, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Residential neighborhood in Delray Beach, FL

“What I’m really trying to get across here is that we’ve entered an important time in human history where our home has been significantly altered,” Grant told Wired in a 2015 interview.

The Gemasolar Thermosolar Plant, Seville, Spain

Grant searches aerial shots relating to a specific current event or environmental issue to find the ones that have the biggest impact, striking us as visually beautiful even when the imagery depicts tragedy. Some examples include shots of a refugee camp in Kenya, shrinking ice sheets and the choked streets of the world’s most populated cities. Take a look through the feed on DailyOverview.com, or order the book on Amazon.

[ By SA Rogers in Art & Photography & Video. ]

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The good, the bad and the ugly of aerial photography – part 2: aircraft

19 Aug

My favorite image from the Holuhraun volcanic eruption, Iceland. Not only did I shoot multiple versions, I also asked the pilot to fly as slowly as possible and to return to this angle repeatedly so I could make sure I have the composition just right. This was easily done with the helicopter.

In the previous article I talked about some of the advantages of aerial photography. Now we’ll talk about some logistics, starting with the aircraft. There are two main options here: a light airplane or a helicopter. Yes, you can shoot from a hot air balloon but that’s not really an option in most places, plus it’s far less maneuverable, so I’ll gently disregard it. Also, while drones are taking the world of aerial photography by storm, the considerations discussed in this series don’t really relate to them, and so I won’t be talking about them at all.

It will probably come as no surprise when I say that a helicopter is the better way to go, by far. It might cost a bit (or a lot) more, but the advantages it offers make for a very different, vastly superior experience.

Perhaps the greatest advantage is that some helicopters allow the doors to be opened or even completely removed for the flight

A helicopter is a flexible craft: it can fly slower than a plane or even hover in place, which gives you much more time to shoot a desired composition. But that’s not all: perhaps the greatest advantage is that some helicopters allow the doors to be opened or even completely removed for the flight. Once the door is off, you have a huge field of view, and wide-angle shooting is possible. You need to be careful not to have the rotor in the shot, but that can generally be avoided when pointing the camera downward.

The huge field of view also means that you have the option to try the same shot more than once should the first try fail, and you can shoot different angles of the same subject even after you’ve moved ahead. That’s a critical advantage which can make the difference between getting a shot and losing it.

Huge icebergs finally released from Kangia Fjord after floating there for years. Can you spot the (fairly large) boat?

Disko Bay, Greenland.

The most common helicopter for aerial photography is the Robinson R44. It’s a small helicopter fit for a pilot plus three passengers, and you can take both doors off in a minute, which is crucially important for getting crisp images without reflections or aberrations (if the pilot refuses to take the door off don’t even bother). Its small size also makes it relatively cheap to fly and maintain (emphasis on relatively).

What’s considered cheap? Well, one of my R44 flights cost me $ 850 (around €760) an hour, the other €1500 (around $ 1670) an hour. It really depends on where you fly, and costs worldwide can vary even more than that in both directions, but primarily upward. In places where a small, cheap helicopter isn’t available, costs can rise quite ludicrously. For example, I’ve recently gotten a quote of $ 4200 an hour for a larger heli in a place whose name I won’t mention. That’s $ 70 a minute. Yes, my reaction was similar to yours.

In the image below you can see a wide-angle shot of the dunes of Sossusvlei, Namibia, taken from an R44 helicopter with the doors taken off. It’s quite striking to see these intricate dunes from this angle, and the helicopter allowed me to take a very wide shot and include the entire dune, which is a huge advantage.

Shooting from a light plane is different. You usually shoot from an open window, and that’s in the best case scenario: about a year ago I did a photography flight in Greenland in which I had the dubious pleasure of shooting through a 15cm hatch in the front window. This means that shooting-angle selection was extremely limited (forget about ultra-wide lenses), and that once you pass a good shooting angle, the shot is gone unless you circle back. This disadvantage is emphasized by the faster movement speed, which frankly gives you a feeling of anxiety to be ready and shoot before it’s all gone.

To sum it up, though cheaper than a helicopter, a light plane with a small hatch (as opposed to a large window) is very limited in shooting angles, supplies less opportunities to get the right shot, and as a result yields much less keepers when the flight is done. I’d seriously reconsider before ever doing it again.

A Cessna with a large window you can open is a very different story. Shooting is much more comfortable and angle choice much less limiting. If you lean back (careful not to push against the poor pilot! I know I did that a few times…), no wind interferes with your lens and stability is quite good. I shot from such a Cessna in the Lofoten Islands and the experience was wonderful.

Kjerkfjord, surrounded by mountains struck by beautiful pink light. Shot from a Cessna during sunset on my Lofoten Islands workshop this January.

In the next article I’ll discuss technicalities and parameter selection for aerial photography.

If you’d like to experience and shoot some of the most fascinating landscapes on earth with Erez as your guide, you’re welcome to take a look at his unique photography workshops around the world:

More in This Series:

The good, the bad and the ugly of aerial photography – Part 1: Why shoot aerials?

Selected articles by Erez Marom:

Behind the Shot: Dark Matter
Mountain Magic: Shooting in the Lofoten Islands
Behind the Shot: Nautilus
Behind the Shot: Lost in Space
Behind the Shot: Spot the Shark
Quick Look: The Art of the Unforeground
Whatever it Doesn’t Take
Winds of Change: Shooting changing landscapes
On the Importance of Naming Images
Parallelism in Landscape Photography

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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The good, the bad and the ugly of aerial photography – part 2: aircrafts

13 Aug

Perhaps the greatest advantage is that some helicopters allow the doors to be opened or even completely removed for the flight

Huge icebergs finally released from Kangia Fjord after floating there for years. Can you spot the (fairly large) boat?

Disko Bay, Greenland.

Kjerkfjord, surrounded by mountains struck by beautiful pink light. Shot from a Cessna during sunset on my Lofoten Islands workshop this January.

In the next article I’ll discuss technicalities and parameter selection for aerial photography.

If you’d like to experience and shoot some of the most fascinating landscapes on earth with Erez as your guide, you’re welcome to take a look at his unique photography workshops around the world:

More in This Series:

The good, the bad and the ugly of aerial photography – Part 1: Why shoot aerials?

Selected articles by Erez Marom:

Behind the Shot: Dark Matter
Mountain Magic: Shooting in the Lofoten Islands
Behind the Shot: Nautilus
Behind the Shot: Lost in Space
Behind the Shot: Spot the Shark
Quick Look: The Art of the Unforeground
Whatever it Doesn’t Take
Winds of Change: Shooting changing landscapes
On the Importance of Naming Images
Parallelism in Landscape Photography

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized

Aerial Views of Apartheid: Drone Photos Show Rich vs Poor Divides

04 Aug

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

aerial apartheid

Though the apartheid ended decades ago, many physical barriers remain in South Africa, highly visible in the built environment … especially from above.

dividing line

Roads, rivers and strips of open land captured by Cape Town-based photographer Johnny Miller illustrate the divide in a photo series dubbed Unequal Scenes.

rich versus poor

Details give way to patterns in these birds-eye views, highlighting a landscape-scarring history of institutionalized segregation and inequality. Haphazard and densely packed shacks may fall on one side of a line while organized and expansive homes can be seen on the other, often separated by nearly-invisible lines.

wrapping shacks

south africa

“During apartheid, segregation of urban spaces was instituted as policy,” explains Miller, with “buffer zones of empty land, and other barriers were constructed and modified to keep people separate.” Even today, “communities of extreme wealth and privilege will exist just meters from squalid conditions and shack dwellings.”

housing patterns

housing divide

rich and poor

“My desire with this project is to portray the most Unequal Scenes in South Africa as objectively as possible. By providing a new perspective on an old problem, I hope to provoke a dialogue which can begin to address the issues of inequality and disenfranchisement in a constructive and peaceful way.” Miller has an upcoming show this fall in Johannesburg for those who want to see his work large and up close, to be announced on his social feeds (via Colossal).

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

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Zenmuse Z3 is DJI’s first aerial zoom camera

15 Jul

Drone maker DJI has today announced its first aerial zoom camera, the Zenmuse Z3. The new model is optimized for still photography and combines a 3.5x optical zoom with 2x digital magnification, resulting in a 7x overall zoom factor, covering equivalent focal ranges from 22-77mm. Aperture ranges from F2.8 at wide angle to F5.2 at the long end of the zoom. Inside the 262-gram camera body images are captured on a 12MP 1/2.3-inch Sony sensor that can also record 4K video at 30fps and save DNG Raw files.

Drone shot at 22mm equivalent focal length

Done shot at 77mm equivalent focal length (7x zoom)

The camera can be used on the DJI’s Inspire 1, Matrice 100 or Matrice 600 drones and the company’s dedicated HD video downlink allows for transmission from a distance of up to 3.1 miles (5km) away. The zoom is operated via the DJI GO app or the Drone remote control. DJI says it has refined and improved image stabilization, as any camera movement is magnified at the longer end of the zoom lens. The Z3 also comes with an upgraded gimbal. The camera will be available from July 28th and retail for $ 899.

SHENZHEN, July 14, 2016 – DJI, the world’s leading aerial-imaging company, on Thursday announced the Zenmuse Z3, DJI’s first integrated aerial zoom camera optimized for still photography.

The Zenmuse Z3 will offer up to a 7x zoom. The camera incorporates DJI’s leading gimbal technology, which has been upgraded to work optimally with its zoom capabilities.

“The Zenmuse Z3 pushes the possibilities of use for industrial applications,” said Senior Product Manager Paul Pan. “Before this camera, the only way to zoom in on a subject or object was to fly closer to it. Now, pilots in a search-and-rescue situation, or conducting surveys or inspections, can maintain distance and still zoom in for sharp, detailed images.”

The zoom camera is aimed at providing new capabilities for industrial applications, such as inspection and surveying.

The Zenmuse Z3 is compatible with the Inspire 1, Matrice 100 and Matrice 600 drones and uses the company’s dedicated HD video downlink, Lightbridge and Lightbridge 2, providing up to 3.1 miles (5.0 kilometers) of HD transmission range.

The Zenmuse Z3 is fully integrated into the DJI GO app and provides a seamless user experience, including a live feed from the camera and the ability to change camera settings, swipe to zoom in and out, capture photos or video and to activate intelligent flight modes. Users may also choose to employ camera controls, such as capturing photos and video and zoom, through their drone’s remote controller.

The Zenmuse Z3 weighs 262-gram and achives up to a 7x zoom via a 3.5x optical zoom, combined with a 2x digital zoom. This gives the Zenmuse Z3 an effective zoom range of 22 millimeters to 77 millimeters. It has a maximum aperture of F2.8 and F5.2 at 22 millimeters and 77 millimeters, respectively.

When the camera zooms in, the smallest movements are magnified. Adding an additional layer of fine-tuning to the yaw control of the Z3 is a custom-designed reaction wheel. This works in tandem with the normal yaw motor to allow for more refined and controlled movement and greater stability.

The Zenmuse Z3 features the same highly refined Sony 1/2.3-inch sensor that is found on the Inspire 1 and the Phantom 4, leading the class in image quality. It can shoot still images at 12 megapixels with additional Adobe DNG Raw Support for maximum editing options in post-production. The camera also shoots video at up to 30 FPS in 4k resolution.

Flight time with the Zenmuse Z3 is up to 19 minutes on the Inspire 1. Pilots can extend flight time up to 30 minutes with the dual-battery-equipped M100 and up to 39 minutes with the M600.