View from 35000 ft

[Ianp83]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2341675/Passenger-jet-pilot-photographs-worlds-beautiful-views-cockpit-35-000-feet.html

Stunning pictures. Just need to get my training out of the way, then find a job, oh and buy a camera....

[Pilot.Lyons]

Wow the most amazing pics i have ever seen!

Shame a disability left me only able to achieve a ppl :( but its better than not having anything at all!

There are some very lucky people out there.... Good luck to them!

[cyflyer]

Nice photos, obviously Emirates A330. Have a mate with their 777 fleet that does the same, will show him this.

[spannersatcx]

Nice photos, obviously Emirates A330. Have a mate with their 777 fleet that does the same, will show him this.
Looks like an A320 to me!

Nice photo's but hate the HDR processing.:sad:

[10 DME ARC]

Sorry spanner but it's a A332!!

[cyflyer]

Nice photo's but hate the HDR processing.

Having done similar photos, I can tell you that cockpit photos are very difficult. The reason being, and why the photographer in this case does HDR, is the great difference of the lighting, hence exposure, between the shadowed area of the cockpit interior, and the outside. You cannot capture it with one single exposure. You will either expose for the outside, whence you will get a lovely outside sky and a totally black cockpit, or you expose for the interior whence you will get a nicely exposed instrument panel but a totally whitewashed sky outside. A skilled photographer, as in this case, takes a number of exposures and combines them to form the HDR (high dynamic range) photo that captures both the light and dark areas of the scene. Alternatively, you can expose for the outside and throw some flash which illuminates the interior. HDR is really any good with static subjects and the camera on a tripod, as between the first and last expose in the series, if the exterior is moving there will be blur when they are combined together, so kudos to the emirates (A330 !) pilot for the effort. Of course all this explanantion is superfluous to us mortals, as only pilots have the opportunity to take such photos any more ! I did those when I had friends up front, long ago......

[Funderblaster]

Some great shots out there. If anybody is on T*itter there are some great shots on @FlyingScene
Think I need to invest in a camera !

[SetStandard]

But it is an A320, honest, I fly one for a living.

Great photos though, some of the sights you see are just magnificent! Only astronaut's have a better office view IMHO. :ok:

[cyflyer]

But it is an A320, honest, I fly one for a living.
Look at the tag on the pilot, its Emirates. Emirates don't have A320, only A330.

[SetStandard]

Look at the tag on the pilot, its Emirates. Emirates don't have A320, only A330.

The tag, I'm not bothered about. Dont believe everything you read in the Daily Mail! ;) Those pictures are from an A320.

1, In the pictures the Clock is on the right hand side of the instrument panel, on an A330, it is on the Captains side (left hand side)

2, The Alternate Gear Extension in the pictures is on the very aft of the lower pedestal (its the red handle you can see int the "Panorama" and "Motherboard" pictures) on the A330 it is on the main instrument panel, just near the Gear Extension Handle.

3, On the A330 there is another column of switches to the left hand side of clock and the standby instruments (just above the left hand CPDLC interface, if fitted), which aren't in the pictures in the article.

4, The overhead panel is different between the A330 and A320, that is the overhead panel of an A320. (I know, I have spent a few thousand hours looking at it.)

Those are just a few of the differences. Although the A320 and A330 flight decks do look very similar, so much so, that pilots can fly both types, known as "Mixed fleet flying" in my company, they do have their differences.

I dont want to take anything away from the pictures though, they really are fantastic! I wish I was that good at Photography! :ok:

[cyflyer]

SetStandard, I humbly bow to your superior Airbus knowledge ! I may have too hastily wrongly identified his tag as being Emirates, but after doing some research on this guy's name 'Karim Nafatni' , it appears he is an Air Arabia pilot. There are more, and better resolution photos of his if you google his name. Very good photos. Keep well, and blue skies.

[spannersatcx]

Having done similar photos, I can tell you that cockpit photos are very difficult. The reason being, and why the photographer in this case does HDR, is the great difference of the lighting, hence exposure, between the shadowed area of the cockpit interior, and the outside. You cannot capture it with one single exposure. You will either expose for the outside, whence you will get a lovely outside sky and a totally black cockpit, or you expose for the interior whence you will get a nicely exposed instrument panel but a totally whitewashed sky outside. A skilled photographer, as in this case, takes a number of exposures and combines them to form the HDR (high dynamic range) photo that captures both the light and dark areas of the scene. Alternatively, you can expose for the outside and throw some flash which illuminates the interior. HDR is really any good with static subjects and the camera on a tripod, as between the first and last expose in the series, if the exterior is moving there will be blur when they are combined together, so kudos to the emirates (A330 !) pilot for the effort. Of course all this explanantion is superfluous to us mortals, as only pilots have the opportunity to take such photos any more ! I did those when I had friends up front, long ago......

Thanks for the explanation, I appreciate the exposure bracketing requirement, some things look good in HDR some do not, whilst the pics are very good I (personally) feel the processing is a little too much for my tastes, each to his own of course.

If it's a 330 (which it isn't) the flt deck layout is different to all the ones I've ever worked on, the fire handles and window openings were a giveaway for me.

[cyflyer]

If you don't like HDR, and that is a very impractical method for the cockpit, here's an example of the last time I shot from the cockpit some three years ago. Remember, if , and its a very big IF, nowadays you ever did get the unlikely chance to visit the cockpit, you do not have the time and luxury to 'fuddle' with camera and gear, like the guy who works there for hours. Its got to be quick, unobstrusive, and without fuss. My example below, single exposure, manual, quick light reading outside, light reading in the dark areas inside, choose a setting in between the two (eg outside= f/22, inside= f/5.6) try f/8 or f/16 and shoot in RAW mode not jpeg. Reason being, in raw your have the latitude to darken the outside considerably, and lighten up the shadows, with the same photo, as I did in this, with acceptable results. Oh, and one thing I mentioned before, flash, forget using it as it washes out the instrument screens and you just get a black empty screens. (unless you just want a picture of the person)

http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/rr327/eurocypria/DSC_0995.jpg
http://www.pprune.org/<a href=&quot;<a href=http://s496.photobucket.com/user/eurocypria/media/DSC_0995.jpg.html&quot; target=_blank>http://s496.photobucket.com/user/eurocypria/media/DSC_0995.jpg.html&quot;</a> target=&quot;_blank&quot;><img src=&quot;<a href=http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/rr327/eurocypria/DSC_0995.jpg&quot; target=_blank>http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/rr327/eurocypria/DSC_0995.jpg&quot;</a> border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot; photo DSC_0995.jpg&quot;/></a>
http://www.pprune.org/[URL=http://s496.photobuchttp://i496.photobucket.com/albums/rr327/eurocypria/DSC_0995.jpg

[MCDU2]

No CBs on the back wall in the cockpit of our A330s either. 320 series have them.

[cyflyer]

As an afterthought, I am posting the 'original' version of that photograph for comparison, as it comes out of the camera, with the lighting conditions as described. Black interior, washed out exterior. What a difference post processing makes eh ?

http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/rr327/eurocypria/prototype.jpg

[spannersatcx]

Yes it does and that's why I always shoot in RAW, and underexposure is always easier to process that over exposed areas, any way we digress. Like I said each to his own on HDR, good pics as said before.

[SetStandard]

Hey cyflyer, no worries! I'd be a pretty crappy Pilot if I didn't know what all the knobs and switches are for! :O

That 737 photo; what processing software did you use to get it to look like that?

Enjoy! :ok:

[spannersatcx]

Adobe lightroom is a good piece of software for editing raw images, then process in photoshop elements if need be.