Attn Camera Geeks - Aerial Photography Questions
 

Hey Guys!

I've been asked by a friend to take some aerial photos of their farm on Saturday via helicopter. I have a Canon 6D and am very comfortable using it on the ground LOL, but have no idea what to do in the air.

Has anyone ever taken aerial pictures before?

I have a 24-105 lens and a 70-200 lens. Which will I use?

Any help with settings?

:dunno:

Depends on the altitude you'll be at and the ground coverage you want.. Take both and be ready to swap them.

You'll need a clear day, ideally around noon to minimise the shadows, and not too bright, but bright enough to give you a short shutter time due to the shake from the helicopter.

Mich, I would take both lenses, but I suspect your 24-105 will cover what you need, unless you are shooting cow faces close up, lol!

Crank the ISO to 200 to give your cam some 'room'...you may have to go to ISO 400 depending on 'light'. You can use Auto or Aperture or Shutter priority, whichever you feel most comfortable with, and can switch around when you get up and do a couple of looks through the viewfinder to see what f stop and shutter the cam is giving you for a shot.

Agree on the light day, (or cloudy bright), and a noonish time...

I shot a bunch from a chopper in AK heading to the Mead glacier and used ISO 200, an 18-85 lens and reasonable shutter speed and f stop.

I used AV priority at f11 - f13, and my shutter speed stayed decent.

Remember, unless the chopper is strafing fields you can get away with a 'reasonable' shutter speed of 1/100th or so, as the chopper isn't moving at high air speed, and the ground below is fairly static. Not a prob, in terms of having enough speed, decent f stop, (f11 or more), and your Is lens will give you a couple of 'stops' of extra image stabilization.

Take a decent sized CF card and crank away! Try to avoid the distortion of the copter's bubble and side windows: get cam lens close to 'look through' the plexiglass windows.

Example of shot from copter zooming toward Mead glacier...the distortion at bottom right of pic is typical of what the copter plexiglass windows give, at the edges. I had no choice on what seat I got to sit in. You will, and should be able to stretch around, lean and point cam toward the less reflective/less distorted window(s) panels.

Try to keep the sun at your back, etc. Have fun!
GL, mD

Thank you! :luv:

I've only been in a helicopter once and I wasn't taking pictures so I don't have much to add that David didn't already cover.

Definitely go with the 24-105 as it has IS. You didn't specify which 70-200 you have so I'll assume it's not one of the IS models. The 24-105 is more compact so it will be easy to manoeuver and hold steady in a helicopter. It's harder to hold a long lens steady against a window when you are moving.

Use a polarizing filter if you have one. It will give you better contrast on the landscape and help cut down on any internal glare from windows, the latter being more important.

The 6D has decent high ISO performance so you may want to crank it up to 400 or more just to make sure you get a good shutter speed. I think Auto ISO should work just fine. This is especially true if you use a polarizing filter as you will loose one or two stops.

Have fun and post your results.

I just got the call that the helicopter pictures tomorrow are cancelled. We've gotten over 5" of rain in the past 24 hours, with more to come today and tonight.

Thanks for all of the advice...I'll be referencing this thread for when we reschedule. :thumbup: :plane: http://i573.photobucket.com/albums/s...ra-picture.gif

Mich, you could borrow my old but good shape Nikonos III underwater cam and dual strobe set up! ;)