Aerial Photography

Aerial Photography

by William Lulow

I have always liked flying and especially doing aerial photography. It’s not something that I do a lot, but I’ve learned some of the “do’s” and “don’ts.” Naturally, you need to pick really clear days to do shots from the air. Sometimes, when we think it’s clear on the ground, from 5,000 feet you can run into quite a bit of aerial haze.

So, when I’m flying commercial airlines, I try to get a window seat with a fairly clear window. You have to keep in mind that the inside windows sometimes have a plastic layer which can get foggy. Shutter speed is important. I usually shoot at 1/250^th of a second or faster. You’ve got the movement of the plane as well as your own movement to take into account. If I’m doing an aerial assignment, I’m usually in a small plane. I can open the window and the slipstream (wind rushing by the window) will actually keep the window open so I can get a clearer picture. Often I shoot with the camera on manual focus and the focus ring set at infinity. Many of the exposures I’ve made are at 1/500^th of a second at f/8 or f/11. It’s enough to keep most things in focus at a decent altitude. I also use a UV filter for all of my lenses. Many of the shots I’ve done were with my 60mm macro lens, especially if I want to focus on one building. If I’m looking for a general landscape shot, I usually use the 20mm. On my Canon 60D bodies, that translates to about a 32mm focal length.

I’ve gotten some great shots from commercial airliners just as they take off from various spots, before they get too high to recognize the landscape. The shot of Manhattan Island, New York was taken on such a trip a few minutes after departure from LaGuardia Airport. The shot of LaGuardia Airport itself, was taken about 5 or 6 minutes into the flight. The altitude was already 10,000 feet or more.

Commercial aircraft often gain altitude too quickly to make effective images and unless you want to photograph clouds, you need to be able to shoot at the beginning or end of your flight. I did come up with one spectacular shot while flying over Chicago once. It was a crystal clear day and this was the shot from 37,000 feet:

So, it’s possible, given perfect conditions. Here are a few more I made on flights from Westchester County Airport (HPN):

Then, years ago, at the beginning of my professional career, I was asked by an art director for American Express to do a really close up shot of the Statue of Liberty. I scoped out the best time to shoot her (about 10:30AM) when the sun would provide a “Hollywood Lighting,” and I rented a helicopter, equipped with gyroscope mounted on the window. I then mounted my field view camera on it and up we went. The light was perfect and we were able to hover about 100 yards or so from the iconic statue (Something I don’t think you could do today because of post-9/11 restrictions). This was my image:

                                                                                                                                              ©William Lulow