How to Photograph an Airplane

Many years ago, I sold real estate, and one day I had to work with a couple who were having trouble selling their home. When I arrived to talk to them, the man was outside polishing a gorgeous blue car that he obviously loved. I mentioned to him that I had some experience in photography, and asked if he would like me to take a picture of the car for him. I explained to him that I would take the photograph at no charge, and that I would give him the negative when I was done.

A few days later I returned and kept my promise. He was so pleased with that picture that I learned later he had taken the photograph to a specialized print shop and had a giant poster printed off of that negative! And the couple were so tickled with what I had done they even let me sell their house for them!

So What About Your Airplane?

After years of saving you finally own that Piper Arrow you had wanted for so long, and it was sitting in the hangar just waiting to be photographed. You understood that a great photograph of your airplane would look great hanging on the wall of your office printed on canvas. You imagined that your wife might even allow a photograph of the plane to be hung on the living room wall to enjoy.

Or perhaps you’re going to the Airventure show in July and you just want to take a photograph of your favorite Beech A36 Bonanza or Beech Baron to hang in your office as an incentive to work harder.

Whatever the reason, you want to have some really cool photographs of your very own aircraft, or of the one you dream you will one day own. But how do you get those great pictures? Well, read on…

How To Photograph An Airplane

When I took that photograph of that blue car I used the best camera I have ever owned, a Pentax Spotmatic Single Lens Reflex camera with one 50mm lens! This camera has no program or automatic mode, and does not use any batteries to operate. I still have the camera because it will still take great pictures without any power but mine! So why would I sell or give that one away?

But today most of us have a digital camera like a Canon Rebel tucked away somewhere. If not, why not purchase a really easy to use digital camera that has all of the neat functions you need to get great photographs of your airplane. The Canon Rebel xsi digital camera with an 18-200 zoom lens and flash unit would be my first choice.

So How Do You Get Great Pictures Of Your Dream Airplane?

I probably don’t need to tell you to have it all clean, polished and shiny. Look around carefully and find a location to take the photograph where the background will not interfere with its lines. Lighting is so important in your considerations, so try to take your pictures early in the morning or later in the day to take advantage of the soft light. An overcast day can work very well for the same lighting reason. Try to position your airplane where the sunlight is coming from the side as opposed to direct sunlight on the plane. Avoid parking your aircraft where it is part in sunlight and part in shade at the same time. Cameras cannot compensate for two extremes of light.

You will want to change the way you have positioned the aircraft a number of times so that you can get front, side and lengthwise shots of your prized possession. When photographing your airplane from an angle such as from the left front wingtip you can create an image which will have some depth to it, and this will add to the interest of your photograph.

Another consideration is scale. Airplanes, by and large, are – large! In order to provide some perspective to your photograph you may want to consider placing another object more familiar to viewers near your aircraft. For example, placing an interesting car near the aircraft can add interest to your photograph. Or perhaps have a young, attractive woman position herself within the framing of the photograph.

Prepare To Photograph Your Airplane!

Digital cameras normally have adjustments which will allow you to improve the quality of your photograph. As an example, most digital cameras allow you to choose white balance manually, and you usually can choose between sunlight, a cloudy day, fluorescent or incandescent light, and so on, so be sure to select the setting to match the lighting conditions when you are taking your photographs. Most digital cameras allow you to choose the ISO setting of the camera. To start with set the ISO to 400 to begin with. ISO indicates your digital camera’s sensitivity to light. The higher the ISO setting the less light needed to make a photograph that is properly exposed (not too dark or too light).

Next, choose aperture priority on your camera, and set the F stop to F 16 or F 22. Observe the shutter information that your camera is providing to you. If it shows a shutter speed of 1/60 or 1/125 or greater, then there will be no problem to hand hold the camera while taking your pictures. However, if it says the shutter speed is 1/30 or 1/15 of a second or less, then you will have to put your camera on a tripod in order to avoid blurring your picture. I am assuming that you are using a normal 50mm lens, a wide angle lens, or a short telephoto lens, but not a large heavy zoom lens. Caution if you just let your camera choose the F stop then you may find that the airplane is not in sharp focus from front to back when you review your photograph on the computer.

Now Take Some Pictures!

Observe where the light is coming from and move to a front corner of the aircraft. Frame the plane so that you can see both the front and one complete side of the aircraft in your viewfinder, focus somewhere near the forward part of the fuselage and gently squeeze the shutter while holding your breath to focus the camera. Now — take your picture!

Today’s digital cameras will display a histogram on the LCD panel on the back of your camera. Look at the histogram and you will see hills and valleys that look like a sine wave. Adjust your camera and take some more photograph until those peaks and valleys are in the center of the histogram and not over to one side or the other. If they are off to one side it means that there is nothing, or no image, there.

The solution to this problem is to change the exposure setting on your camera to either add or subtract exposure by increasing or decreasing the F stop settings by ½ or 1/3 stop increments while retaking the picture and rechecking the histogram for proper pixel placement. Keep checking the histogram as you fine tune your picture. The nice thing about this kind of picture taking is that your airplane will wait for you to take all of the pictures that you need to!

If you want to be creative, and own a digital SLR camera like the Canon Rebel, you could purchase a “star” filter to put on your lens. This will take a bright spot where the sunlight hits a chrome propeller and add a star to the picture.

Lastly, congratulate yourself for a job well done! I knew that you could do it!

About The Author

Betty A. Muscott is a successful child photographer who provides valuable tips and advice for young parents on how to photograph children, how to use photographs to create unique photo gifts, how to choose a beginner digital slr camera and how to decorate their home with canvas photo art.