ON YOUR VIDEO DISC. Aerial photography

Transcription

1 Skills Aerial Photography Masterclass ON YOUR VIDEO DISC Your guide Jeff Morgan Discover the PhotoPlus method for Aerial photography Enjoy an exciting airborne ride while you capture some unique images Checklist What you ll need Trial microlight flight A medium zoom lens (preferably with image stabilisation) GPS logger and software How long it ll take Half a day The skills you ll learn How to deal with vibration to ensure sharp shots How to set up your camera to capture aerial images How to track or log your flight How to geotag your images Would you like to take your own low-level aerial photography images? Do you enjoy doing something different? Getting great landscape images from a unique angle isn t as difficult or expensive as you might imagine for this Masterclass we got airborne in a microlight. Introductory, trial or training flights are available all over the UK, and cost as little at 50. There are different versions of microlight aircraft, and some even have a fully enclosed body and windows. For the easiest view with a camera, however, and to minimise loss of quality when shooting through Perspex, I chose a flexwing craft with an open cockpit. You can shoot in many directions from a flexwing microlight, and another advantage for photographers is the relatively low altitude you can fly at, since haze can be a major issue in aerial photography. We were always below 2000 feet, and when I needed a particular shot, the pilot was happy to come down as low as 600 feet (aviation rule permitting) to zoom in closer. In planning this Masterclass adventure, I wanted to create a breadcrumb trail of the flight using my GPS logger; this would be a great way to record my flight and see where I had been, while also logging where all the images were taken. We researched good locations to shoot from the air, and the Isle of Wight looked excellent. We set off for Lee-on-Solent airport and the Hampshire Microlight Flying Club; here s how we got on 64 PhotoPlus August 2011

2 Get better holiday photos Page 30 PhotoPlus August

3 Skills Aerial Photography Masterclass STEP BY STEP Capturing an aerial image Make sure you re all set to shoot before the flight takes off No butter-fingers! Anyone with experience of microlight aircraft knows that the propeller is exposed to the air at the back of the plane, and in the photos you ll notice that the propeller is right behind me. So the pilot certainly won t appreciate it if you suddenly drop something! It wouldn t be good for the camera or the propeller if you accidentally let go of your camera, but I didn t want to be restricted to a neck strap, so I fitted a good strong wrist strap to my D-SLR. I didn t take a change of lens and left the lens cap on the ground, so it was just me, my camera and the GPS logger making the journey. Medium zoom lens If you use a wide-angle lens, the ground is too far away; on the other hand, working with a telephoto means haze and vibration become problems. Instead, a medium zoom lens is a good choice. I used a Canon mm f/4l IS USM because image stabilisation is a major benefit when dealing with wind and aircraft vibrations. Most shots were taken at around 50mm focal length, so your kit lens will be perfect for the job! Preflight setup and checks At the airfield before takeoff I took some test shots to check the light and settings: I determined that 1/1000 sec on Shutter Priority (Tv mode) would guarantee images free of vibration and movement, especially with the help of image stabilisation. Depth of field isn t too much of a problem for aerial photography since the ground is at just about infinity; I calculated that anything above f/5.6 would give sharp shots with this lens. To keep in that zone, based on the brightness of the day, I increased my ISO to 200. Overexposed skies weren t an issue either, as I was shooting towards the ground, with the bright sky behind me. 666 PhotoPlus June August

4 Subscribe and get a bubble level and battery charger Page 20 Get it right the first time! Planning before a flight is vital: especially if you re only doing one microlight flight. I wasn t going to risk changing any settings in the air, so I had to be sure that my D-SLR would take plenty of shots, without wasting any time during the flight. I chose a large 16GB memory card and formatted it in camera and put in a freshly charged battery. I also made sure the lens was clean, and that the lens hood was tightly fixed and wouldn t blow off. Make tracks Forget sat nav, there s another way to use GPS technology! To see where we had flown and to mark my photographs with the coordinates of where they were captured, I strapped a GPS logger around my neck. This device uses the same set of satellites and signals as a vehicle s sat nav, but has no map or screen on which to display the coordinates. As a receiving device, though, it s simple and accurate; all you need to do is switch it on and go. Battery life can be a problem with some older units, but the newer models are great. A matter of time Be aware that your camera won t automatically update its clock to take into account daylight savings or if you switch time zones. As we were using GPS to plot our course, it was essential to check that the camera s clock was set correctly, so that it was the same as in our GPS logger. The GPS software then uses the time stamp in each image s EXIF data to work out where it was captured, and plot it on a map. PhotoPlus August

5 Skills Aerial Photography Masterclass Phrase Book GPS (Global Positioning System) A navigation system that provides location and time information via a network of satellites. A GPS receiver deduces its location and altitude by triangulation; measuring the differing time taken to receive signals from four or more satellites. Google Maps Google Maps is a web mapping service provided by Google that is used by most GPS data logging software to display your trail and plot where photographs were captured. Maps can be displayed as a road map or as a satellite photograph view, with your images placed on the map using pointers. STEP BY STEP Export your files Download your shots to a folder; in this case, copy the folder of images and.gpx files from the Video Disc to your computer. To match up your own shots using the GlobalSat GPS logger, in GlobalSat Data Logger PC Utility click TrackRecord>LoadTrackPoints, then GetFile>OK>SelectAll>Load. Go to File>SelectAll Files, then Map>ViewPoint, and Export>GPXFile. Save this file in your image folder. (This will differ depending on your GPS logger and its accompanying software.) Get the track log from the GPS Position the images You ll now see an info screen telling you that the GPS data has been found for all 19 images, so click Yes to continue. Then voilà! our route is displayed on a Google Map, with each image marked by a pointer. All the pointers except for one are blue: the image displayed in the bottom-left window of your screen has a purple pointer. You can zoom in and out and move with the controls in the top-right of the map. Super Tip! Technically you can t hire a microlight specifically for aerial photography, but there s nothing to stop you taking an introductory flight and bringing your camera to record it; just search online for microlight flights. You can get airborne for less than 50 for 20 minutes, while an hour in the air costs around 125. We recommend going in an open flexwing microlight, but some instructors offer to remove a door to shoot through on the fixed-wing enclosed models. Fire up GeoSetter Download and install a free copy of GeoSetter from Run the software and select GoImages>OpenFolder, and navigate to the folder with the images and the.gpx file in it. Next hit Ctrl+A to select all the images on the left of the screen. Sync the GPS log GeoSetter will handle most image files, but not PhotoShop PSD files. Go to Images>Synchronize WithGPSDataFiles. Depending on where the images were captured, you may have to make changes here; if your camera wasn t set to the correct time, it can also be corrected here. You don t need to change the default options for these images, so just press OK. Mark the images Before you change anything, click Images> SaveChanges. This will write all the location info into the EXIF data in each of your images or, in the case of RAW files, add an.xmp file with this data. Confirm the changes. Now click on any blue pointer on the map to see the image from that point in the bottom-left. Explore the map Double-click a blue pointer to get the shooting data in a pop-up window. Click an image thumbnail on the left; its pin turns purple and shows where it was captured. Now grab a pointer and drag it to a new position on the map. This is how you can correct the location of an image if, for example, the clock was wrong. 68 PhotoPlus August 2011

6 Next issue Capture show-stopping images with a big stopper Change view Just above the top-left corner of the map is a yellow, green, and blue icon. Click on this, and select Google Hybrid Map. This gives a satellite photo as a background to view your track and images. The disadvantage is that it has to download much more data to display the satellite image, and this can take a while on a slow internet connection. Zoom in Zoom into the area of The Needles. You can clearly see the three images captured there. Click on the pointers and view the angles of the shots it s surprisingly accurate, and you can see that we flew quite a few circuits over that iconic landmark. A GPS logger isn t just good for mapping shots while flying, it s also great for mapping shots while hiking or driving. Super Tip! We used a GlobalSat BT-338, which is now discontinued, but similar loggers are the Sony CS3KA GPS ( 99, uk), and I-GotU GT-120 ( 45, com). You can also use any handheld GPS unit that can save your route as a.gpx file, or smartphone apps such as Geotag Photos Pro ( 2.39, photos.net). Looking for a different angle on a landscape? Get airborne to try something new with your D-SLR Sometimes it really pays to step outside your comfort zone a little and get a new perspective on things. After contacting Sandra Reid, chief microlight instructor at the Old Sarum Aerodrome, I was referred to Brian Searle, another member of the Hampshire Microlight Flying Club. Brian s love of flying started in 1988, and he earned his flexwing microlight pilot s licence in His aerial adventures have taken him to France, the Outer Hebrides, and all around the British Isles with Fly-UK. Brian enjoys creating videos and still shots of microlight flying, and during our one-hour flight to The Needles he wore a helmet-mounted video camera; you can see the video he produced of our flight on this issue s Video Disc. Many thanks to Brian and to our wingman, Laurie Wood, who made it possible to photograph another microlight over the Isle of Wight for our Masterclass. For more details of the Hampshire Microlight Flying Club see Take to the skies to capture your own unique aerial shots PhotoPlus August