1. How did you get into aviation photography?

It all really started when a friend introduced me to the world of aviation around 5 years ago. Upon discovering the interest, I began collecting model aircraft. As of today, I’m still collecting models however the interest for photography and videography really came around in early 2018. At the time, I didn’t have a camera, and had completely no knowledge on photography, lighting etc – not even aircraft schedules! My first time plane spotting occured at a backlit lookout at Adelaide Airport, with my sitting in the car with my iPad, and filming aircraft out the window! At the time, it was really only domestic aircraft (737s, A320s etc), as I had no idea when the international arrivals came in!

2. Why aviation photography?

I chose to pursuit aviation photography, because it corresponded with my interest of aviation. Before aviation photography, I had no skills or interest in general photography – all of that really came from aviation photography! From this interest I have began experimenting with other photography, though I still find photographing aircraft enthralling and exciting – certainly a great way to get a feel for photography!

3. Is this something you do as a hobby or is it a commercial operation for you?

At the moment, it’s definitely just a hobby. I really enjoy going out and taking photos of aircraft, and keeping spreadsheets of all the movements going on in Adelaide. I’m sure many of us would love it to become a commercial operation, however!

4. Tell us about your best ever day shooting.

I really couldn’t pin a favourite day shooting – the hobby comes with so many interesting and different experiences! I’ve gone to the airport throughout all hours of the day, from 6am arrivals to 12am departures! I’ve spent days as long as 10 hours at the airport – not really shooting anything in particular! But there certainly are many enjoyable experiences (and results!) that come with plane spotting.

5. You’ve got to choose your best shot ever. What is it and why?

This is another tough one! It would probably have to be this shot of A6-ETI, an Etihad Boeing 777-300ER departing from Adelaide Airport after diverting. I love how this shot ended up turning out, relatively sharp while not too grainy, and in brilliant last-light. I remember the night it was taken clearly – the whole viewing area was filled with photographers, anticipating the aircraft’s departure. It ended up departing approximately one hour late, and just before sunset. I remember everyone was about to leave when the sun had just about set, and then the beacon finally flicked on – much to everyone’s relief!

6. What’s your best tip for anyone starting out in aviation photography?

Just go for it, really! I know it’s probably said a lot, but anyone and everyone can take a photo of an aircraft. A bad photo of a plane is better than no photo of a plane, so regardless of your setup or skill level, aviation photography is fun and exciting for everyone!

7. Tell us about your gear.

I’m currently using a Canon EOS 70D camera body, with the VERY old Canon EF 28-80mm F/3.5-5.6 II as my wide angle. For my telephoto lenses (which are most prominently used in aviation photography) I use a Canon EF 70-200mm F/2.8L USM and a Tamron 100-400mm F/4.5-6.3 Di VC USD. I do hope to upgrade my wide angle lens shortly to either a Canon 24-70mm or 17-85mm. I’ve often thought about what I’d have as my dream setup; ideally, I would use the new Canon EOS R5, with the Canon RF 28-70mm F/2, the upcoming Canon RF 18mm F/1, the Canon RF 70-200mm, the Canon RF 100-500mm F/4.5-7.1L IS USM, and the EF 200mm F/2 and EF 600mm F/4 lenses for use with EF-RF adaptors. But of course, that setup would be way far out of budget!

8. We’ve all got our own style; tell us about yours.

I couldn’t really pinpoint my style, though it’s generally just a ‘realistic photo of an aircraft’. I rarely edit my photos so they look unreal (i.e colour only in certain areas of the image to emphasise a certain subject, or a large amount of clarity etc…). While I enjoy photos like this, I like to edit my photos with generally a whole aircraft crop, addition of contrast and a little exposure, and adding some colour so the aircraft ‘pops’, but not unrealistically.

9. Any quirks to how or what you shoot?

As far as my photography goes, I shoot pretty generally. Unless I’m planning, i like a fast shutter speed to capture the moment clearly, however I generally bring my aperture down to F/8 or there abouts when shooting in daylight to prevent vignetting. Something I do religiously shoot are business jets, partially foreign registered ones! While many other spotters find the majority of interest in shooting special schemes or very rare arrivals, I tend to favour ‘bizjets’. I keep a record of all the registrations i shoot, so I enjoy adding the obscure and often unheard of business jet registrations to this list, rather than multiple photos of the same ‘interesting’ aircraft.

10. We’ve all done it – missed the prefect shot. Tell us about the time you missed what could have been the best shot ever. What happened?

Oh, it’s happened MANY times! Probably the ‘worst’ of these occasions, was the arrival of the Lion Air A330-900neo into Adelaide Airport. The Tamron 100-400mm lens I use has two ‘VC’ (or image stabilisation) modes; one for still subjects (corrects the horizontal and vertical axis) and one for moving subjects (only corrects the horizontal axis). I always have it set to the mode for moving subjects, however for this particular movement it was bumped to the mode for still subjects. Because of the aircraft’s high speed, every photo from the arrival was blurry and useable. Thankfully, I got usable images from the aircraft’s departure.

11. What’s a day at an air show look like for you?

Throughout my two years of spotting, I’ve only been to one airshow! This was the 2019 RAAF Base Edinburgh airshow. Because of my limited experience, I can really only speak for how I went about this one airshow. Unfortunately, light was only good on the ‘airside’ for half of the show. For this airshow, I photographed all of the moving displays in the morning from the viewing platform, and during the lunch break, I took photos of the numerous static aircraft. To ensure I photographed all of the displays in good light, I left the airshow grounds after the lunch break and around to a nearby street to photograph the remaining afternoon arrivals.

12. Photo editing – love it or loath it?

Like all I imagine, I do love the results from editing. It’s amazing to see a photo come to life at your fingertips. I particularly enjoy editing night photos, the results from just lowering the white balance is incredible – and really makes the aircraft bright. Sometimes when editing night photos, I select the sky to darken it, further making the aircraft the subject of the image. I use Adobe Lightroom to edit all of my photos, and store them in folders on a hard drive. This way they’re easily accessible and safely stored.