If you are in a situation where it is windy, raining, or there
is a considerable flow of traffic between yourself and the
subject, you will need the shortest exposure time
possible. Increasing the time of your exposure will
increase the chances of a gust of wind shaking your
camera, or an aircraft taxiing in front of your subject,
ruining the shot. In such an instance, you will need a wide
aperture, to allow sufficient light to hit your sensor
On the other hand, an image captured using a wide
aperture will be less sharp than one shot with a narrow
aperture. The reason for this is the phenomenon known
as depth of field. The narrower the aperture, the better
your chances that your image will be perfectly sharp and
focussed, and all parts of the aircraft will be equally in
focus. A word of warning however, narrow apertures will
make sensor dust-spots more evident, so a sensor clean
is always a good idea.
For all tripod-mounted shots, switch off the vibration-
reduction / image stabilisation function on your lens or
camera. Stabilisation systems assume that there will
always be some extent of motion, so mounting it on a
stable tripod tends to confuse the system, leading to
blurry results.
Positioning
So, it is generally agreed that, in an ideal world, we would
be shooting as long an exposure as long as possible to allow
a narrow aperture, which will give us a sharply-focussed
photo, even at a low ISO setting. Now we need to see about
positioning ourselves to take our shot. Most airport ramps
tend to be well lit, but this does not always work to the
photographer’s advantage.
Check the light sources in your frame. Are they all pointing
at the aircraft? Is there any light source exposed in the
frame? Having a floodlight in your picture will potentially
ruin the shot, and you will need to compensate for it.
First of all, try to re-position yourself to hide the floodlight
with the aircraft itself, especially the tail. If you’re not
working on fully-manual mode, set a narrow light-metering
mode and move the metering point to an area of the
aircraft which is not particularly well-lit. That should help
your camera work towards exposing the aircraft correctly,
but you may still have to fine-tune your settings by opting
for full Manual mode or programming some aperture
compensation.
Another special word of warning concerning lights facing
your camera. These could be anything from headlamps of
ground vehicles to landing lights and floodlights. Using a
very narrow exposure will lead to a ‘star-effect’ in the
lights. Of course, this could be a beautiful effect in a photo,
but could also be a bit distracting, so make sure you have
the right settings to control this effect. If it gets too
pronounced, go for a wider aperture.
Timing
Finally, a word about timing a photo. Airliners have a
relatively rapid turnaround, so you will probably want to
capture the aircraft with the least clutter around it as
possible, which is usually around start-up. It is highly
recommended that you position yourself and prepare your
camera well in advance, taking a few test shots along the
way, in order to ensure that in those few minutes between
the aircraft being fully clear and it actually starting to move,
you already have all the settings to take your shot. Take
your picture as quickly as possible, as once the taxi-ing
lights or landing lights are on, you will have to reprogram
your camera completely!
Practice, Practice, Practice!
And finally, the usual last piece of advice. Practice is the
only way you will learn to deal with nightshot situations
quickly an d effectively. Don’t wait till there’s something
rare at your airport to take your first nightshot – practice
on the Easyjets and Ryanairs. That way you will be ready
when a real star comes along!