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Possibly some good experience

  • Thread starter Thread starter 33L
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If you want to get the aircraft in flight, getting the rotor blades looking 'right' is diffcult. The need to look moving, not blurred, or frozen. For this, you will need about 1/60th sec.

It unlikely you'll be able to get that close to a helicopter while its running, so youll probably need either a tripod, or a steady hand and IS, on a lens of around 150 - 250mm ish. a 70-200 VR/IS is probably your best bet.

Inside, there will be less space than you think. Probably about the size of a clio or other small car. Why not practice the shots you want on a mate, inside a small car.


Yeah i will be doing some maths once i learn the low and high RPM of the blades - most of my panning shots are between 1/60 - 1/125 depending on speed and same principle will apply here i guess.

Im not planning on getting close to it unless i'm gonna get into it. most of the shots will be with my sigma 70-300mm or a borrowed 120-300f/2.8 if they will let me have it for a weekend.

well im am planning on getting a 10-20/22 soon so hopefully the confinements will be fine - hwever shooting in a small car infact a clio before i have been fine with the 17mm end of my walkabout.

They have also said they are wanting crew shots etc and when they attend events as well as incidents. so hopefully not all will be of the 2 aircraft.
 
so 8.41 revs/sec = ~1/12 shutter speed for a full revolution of one blade

5 rotars so anything around 1/60s should give full rotation on the image.

that seems slow to me or is my maths not right.
 
1/60 is fine if you want a full blur. But it may look more realistic if the rotors are not completely blurred. Using something like 1/80 or 1/100 might be interesting.
 
I cross paths with the air ambulance on a fairly regular basis & the most impressive thing is the ability of the pilots to land in the tightest spots ie road junctions with trees, street lighting & phone lines etc.
Getting some shots of it taking off would make for some impressive images.
You might have a bit of a walk back though.
 
does anyone remember air wolf! and they had the rotors look like they are in the same postion as its flying (2 rotar setup though) would love to capture it like that although i know its not possible.

1/60 is fine if you want a full blur. But it may look more realistic if the rotors are not completely blurred. Using something like 1/80 or 1/100 might be interesting.

i will try different speeds to see what comes out best! Im not sure with the copyright i will be able to post them though!

I cross paths with the air ambulance on a fairly regular basis & the most impressive thing is the ability of the pilots to land in the tightest spots ie road junctions with trees, street lighting & phone lines etc.
Getting some shots of it taking off would make for some impressive images.
You might have a bit of a walk back though.

lol it will be a walk back! but would love the shot of it lifting and debris and litter going every where!
 
1/100s:

IMG_5334.jpg


1/125s:

IMG_4128.jpg


1/160s:

IMG_8632.jpg


1/200s:

IMG_0182.jpg



Of course the shutter speed depends on the rotar speed (as you've already said) so the amount of blur will vary.
 
ahhhh!


They want me to come down on the 7th june for an meeting to see what is expected of me.

I brought up the issue again of credit for work etc... and all the credit i get is my name on a page on their website and said these are aour volunteer photographers.

They also want me to bring 2-3 images of my work to show my quality of work!

I have no idea what to take and tbh i can only pick 1 that i really like!

if anyone thinks any of my images on my flcikr are good enough to take as good quality then let me know.

I feel like i am gonig for a job interview.

I really havent taken anything worth while recently!
 
hopefull this weekend i am gonig to the police dog training grounds where they have frequent flyovers by the police to get the dogs used to the helicopters so i am going to get some samples shot hopefully!
 
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