Aerial photography - filter advice please

[BOAC]

I'm trying to take the odd photo of the ground from the cockpit of a B737, and getting a lot of 'haze' on the pictures. The camera is a Nikon Coolpix 885, and I have now acquired a step-down adaptor for it, to fit a filter. The windows of course are not ideal for photography, having multiple layers and heating elements, but I used to get ok results with my now ?redundant? SLR.

Could a photog expert please advise the best sort of filter to use, ie UV or 'sky' or etc?

[BOAC]

Thanks Notso -
those classic shots of yellow beach in bright sunlight with an incredibly deep blue sky

Sounds like a long-haul type of life (jelaous..jealous..jealous...):p

The suburbs of Glasgow in January have slightly less appeal (sorry Wegies)

UV I'll try

[El Grifo]

Hi BOAC,

I agree with notso up to a point. The skylight filter is hopless. Trouble is that the UV is not that much good either, especially at altitude

Although the polariser does exactly as notso states,
I think you will find if you are shooting through multi layered glass you will get terrible moire patterns.

Most of my aerial work is done from around 500ftAGL and I prefer to use no filters whatsoever, I simply correct any colour issues using photoshop.

Any half decent photo editing software will alow you to do this.

Good Shooting !!

[BOAC]

Just to let you know I got a good deal on a set of Nikon 28mm filters, so was able to try a few on my last flight. The conclusion is as per El G, that polarising is best, but the banding on the window is difficult to avoid. UV, as you say, does very little.
Thanks again.

[FJJP]

Can't advise you on digital filters I'm afraid - I don't have any for my camera. However, the V. expensive optical-digital cameras may well be able to use filters.

My SLR camera, on the other hand, has a skylight 1A fitted permanently - on the advice of a professional photographer friend. He says it doesn't do a scrap of good it filter terms, but it is a cheap and effective way of protecting a very expensive lens face.

Polarising filters give enhanced blue sky effects, and are especially effective in taking water shots in bright reflective conditions. I once photographed some swans at close range from a boat, looking almost straight down; when the prints were processed, the swans appeared to be floating in mid-air and fish were clearly seen below them - more by mistake rather that good judgement, the polarising filter completely removed all trace of the surface of the water and there was sufficient light to illuminate the fish.

Unfortuneately, the Schlieren effect is triggered by gold film heating, hence the wierd patterns you get with polarising filters and sunglasses.

[GlueBall]

I have the Coolpix 4300 and found that you can overcome the window distortions somewhat by zooming in just a little; but overall, aerial shots are best below 500 feet.

[Runaway Gun]

Polarising filter may help a little, but try to avoid zooming, as it amplifies any imperfections in the glass to cover more of your photograph. 50mm or below.

Shoot as perpendicular to the glass as possible, so that the apparent depth of awful glass is minimised. If you shoot well ahead or behind then the thickness and distortion increases. Ideally (if possible) shoot the ground when banking.

Take a handkerchief and clean the glass. You will be surprised how much grease, chips and wine you clean off the surface.

Also, to avoid extra reflections in the glass, try and use a black camera, or fit some kind of rubber cover around the lens. Don't wear a bright colored shirt (black is best). Pale colored hands also reflect nicely, as does a silver Breitling watch.

Any other questions please PM me.

[ETOPS]

BOAC

Just been through all of this with my new Sony F717. Some air to ground shots I have taken were very "blue" and hazy but having processed them with Adobe Photoshop the results were astounding. As if by magic the haze was removed and the true colours restored - the effect was most noticable on a shot of the mountains in Turkey. Before looked washed out and uninteresting, after had fantastic terrain features and detail.

Have uploaded some to Airliners.net and will post a link if they are accepted. The subjects are LTAC and EGHI.....

[El Grifo]

Like you say ETOPS, Forget filters on a Digital Camera.

Half the game consists of the camera, the other half consists of photoshop. An unbeatable team.

After more than a couple of decades of film photography, 90% of my work is now shot on the illustrious Canon1Ds,

Gods Camera buddy, Gods Camera !!!!!!


:} :cool: :}