[Leica] aerial photography

[s.jessurun95 at chello.nl (animal)]

> Don Dory offered:
> Subject: RE: [Leica] aerial photography
>
>
> > Karen,
> > I will add two points to Emmanuels points:
> > Set your lens to infinity and leave it there.
> > When you are taking the images, do not touch the air frame with your
> > arms or hands.  The vibrations from the engine and turbulence will blur
> > anything.
> >
> > Last, if it is a decent day, go ahead and set your shutter speed to
> > 1/1000.  It can not hurt.<<<<
>
> Karen,
> As Don and Emmanuel have said,, Use high shutter speeds, the higher the
> better if the light is good.. IE: not a hazy day as you'll have major
> problems if there's ground heat haze. Not to mention lousy pictures. And
if
> the ground haze is particularly bad....... forget it!
>
> 1/1000 is best, lens at infinity, heck to safe guard it stays there while
> working on your first aerial shoot use some tape to hold the focus ring at
> infinity.
>
> I'd not have a pile of gear as this is your first shoot, it adds to the
> confusion of looking at the world from on high. First timers should go
with
> one camera, one lens and only if they feel very confident in handling gear
> while "tied in a chair!" Plane seat belts and harness can be very
> restrictive, should they take more than one lens and one on the camera.
>
> If you find this is neat, shooting aerials, and you are successful, after
> awhile you'll only want to shoot from helicopters where you sit on the
> floor, no door, your legs out the side and click away like yer in a car
> driving down the highway! ;-) Awesome shooting in this manner, as there
> isn't anything in front of you but the "air to the ground!"  An absolutely
> awesome view of the world. :-) Once you shoot in this manner you wont want
> to do it in any other plane. :-)
>
> Oh yeah and make sure you have excellent safety harness! ;-)  You see
> choppers make for excellent "stay where you are in hover" so you can make
> many exposures rather than going around again and again making several
> passes in a fixed wing aircraft.
>
> And from personal near death aerial shooting experience ............
> absolutely make sure the pilot has done this kind of flying
> before!!!!!!!!!!!!
>
> And even if they have! Your last instruction to he or she pilot
> is............ "DO NOT LOOK AT WHAT I'M SHOOTING , PERIOD! LOOK AT WHERE
THE
> PLANE IS GOING!!!!!"
>
> Some of you may think this is silly instructions because the pilot knows
> this...... yep and so do car drivers who "glance away from the road, or
> pilot from the air before them and they ain't here anymore... neither is
the
> photographer!!!! :-(
>
> And it's nothing but one great big hell of a mess of body and plane parts
to
> clean up! :-( And that's from personal experience with one dead crew
member,
> pilot and plane. Along with two near death experiences myself until I laid
> down the law to any pilot before take off.  And yep I ruffled one guys
> feathers pretty badly even when I spoke gently and non-demanding.
>
> That was until he said... "you take pictures I fly plane!"  OOPS!! Wrong
> thing to say after seeing the remains of a buddy and wreckage of the plane
> he was in!
>
> But who cares when you've been too close for comfort and come back with
> greenery in the under carriage! That was the scariest one of all for close
> encounters with angels by your wing tips!
>
> And when the tops of the branches are slapping the plane because the pilot
> made the simple error of looking at the cattle herd I was shooting and not
> watching where we were going with the hills rising a head of us! :-)
>
> Truly a case of nearly... "his last pictures were his best!" And yes one
> more time when I quite honestly had to change my pants on return!
>
> Karen have fun, don't over load the gear no matter how good you handle it
> with feet on the ground. And above all.... it's KISS!:-) Have a good one
and
> above all please let the gang know how you made out!!
> ted
>
>
If you can find one near you i,dd rent a Kenyon gyro stabiliser .
simon jessurun