Aircraft Photos
After work this morning I decided to head out to take a few photos before heading home. Although the timing would be about right for some sunrise shots, I didn't want to drive too far for just sunrise shots. I do have some interest in aircraft though, so decided to take some shots at Sydney Airport. I had a bit of time before it got light enough to start shooting, and since I had never been to the Sydney Airport spots, I decided to do a recce, with the locations in mind being Barton Park and The Beach. Driving down the road, I missed the turn off for Barton Park, so decided to do that later, but then also missed the turn off for The Beach spot, so I drove around and eventually detoured over to the Radar Field. I didn't like the look of the Radar Field, since there were fences in the way all round, without much elevated positions to shoot from. Next stop was The Beach spot, and once again, there was a fence to get in the way. Barton Park was even worse, since there was no way to get to the elevated position as the area has been fenced off and been taken over by construction equipment and trees obscured everything else. The general area is under the take off path of Runway 25 however, and while I did have a few flights go overhead, the place was lacking in potential.
I didn't want to head all the way over to the spot at Qantas Drive and because I hadn't really planned everything properly, I wasn't entirely sure how to get to the Shep/Tower Mound, so I went to try to make the best of The Beach, before it occurred to me that there was a little breakwater just at Kyeemagh that I could try and should offer some good views of the north-south runways, so I headed there instead. There were a couple of people fishing right at the tip of the breakwater, which would've have provided the best views, but where I eventually ended up just a bit back from them was quite alright as well, and had a good view of aircraft on runway 16R/34L and taxiway Alpha. There were a few small angles where the fishermen, or their fishing rods would get in the way, as would the waterway light, but I still had ample unobstructed coverage to shoot from.
The shoot would have been my first real use of my Pentax 55-300mm F4-5.8, and while I have played with it before, it is still rather difficult to keep the camera and lens steady at the long end. Also, it did take a little bit of time to adjust to the zoom ring, which zooms in the opposite direction to the Sigma 17-70mm that I'm so used to. In order to help me steady my shots, I used my tripod as a monopod, extending just one leg. I start off shooting whilst standing, but soon got lower to make it easier to get steady shots and knelt down on the rocks. That was painful for my knees and I soon found a much better alternative and found a spot where I could sit. I found Av mode at F8 and ISO200, with +0.3EV compensation to be about the right balance to keep up the shutter speeds, and I ended up pushing most shots up by about 0.8EV in post to get a good exposure.
Even though I was shooting in the single-shot drive mode, in the just under 1 hour and 20 minutes that I was there, I took 427 shots in total and filled up a 4GB SD card before I moved onto my spare card. As I learnt and adapted to the conditions, and as the light got brighter, and therefore helping the AF, I found that my shots got notibly better and a lot more were sharp and in focus. The sunrise was quite a nonevent, with clouds obscuring most of the sun, and when the sun did break though the clouds, it didn't necessarily mean better light; since I was shooting towards the sun, some of my shots lost a bit of contrast, while the diffused light comming from through the clouds was actually quite nice.
I had put my stuff away and was making my way back towards the car when I turned around and realised that there was an Emirates A380 on taxiway Alpha, and quickly set things up again and then managed to take a few shots of it. In hindsight, it was towards the later stages of the shoot, just before I started to head off, and as I continued off after taking the A380 frames, that the big bodied Boeing 747s started to make their appearance, so it would probably be a good idea to stay for a bit later for next time. Also 300mm is just about long enough, although there probaby would be benefits in having even longer glass.
Despite taking 427 photos, the final cut left me with 27 shots, which is just over 6%, and of the 27 shots, I've only uploaded of 23 them. Here's a short selection of photos, with the rest being available on my flickr, where I've even set up a new set for aircraft shots.
Here's an example of the low contrast as a result of shooting into the sun.
I didn't want to head all the way over to the spot at Qantas Drive and because I hadn't really planned everything properly, I wasn't entirely sure how to get to the Shep/Tower Mound, so I went to try to make the best of The Beach, before it occurred to me that there was a little breakwater just at Kyeemagh that I could try and should offer some good views of the north-south runways, so I headed there instead. There were a couple of people fishing right at the tip of the breakwater, which would've have provided the best views, but where I eventually ended up just a bit back from them was quite alright as well, and had a good view of aircraft on runway 16R/34L and taxiway Alpha. There were a few small angles where the fishermen, or their fishing rods would get in the way, as would the waterway light, but I still had ample unobstructed coverage to shoot from.
The shoot would have been my first real use of my Pentax 55-300mm F4-5.8, and while I have played with it before, it is still rather difficult to keep the camera and lens steady at the long end. Also, it did take a little bit of time to adjust to the zoom ring, which zooms in the opposite direction to the Sigma 17-70mm that I'm so used to. In order to help me steady my shots, I used my tripod as a monopod, extending just one leg. I start off shooting whilst standing, but soon got lower to make it easier to get steady shots and knelt down on the rocks. That was painful for my knees and I soon found a much better alternative and found a spot where I could sit. I found Av mode at F8 and ISO200, with +0.3EV compensation to be about the right balance to keep up the shutter speeds, and I ended up pushing most shots up by about 0.8EV in post to get a good exposure.
Even though I was shooting in the single-shot drive mode, in the just under 1 hour and 20 minutes that I was there, I took 427 shots in total and filled up a 4GB SD card before I moved onto my spare card. As I learnt and adapted to the conditions, and as the light got brighter, and therefore helping the AF, I found that my shots got notibly better and a lot more were sharp and in focus. The sunrise was quite a nonevent, with clouds obscuring most of the sun, and when the sun did break though the clouds, it didn't necessarily mean better light; since I was shooting towards the sun, some of my shots lost a bit of contrast, while the diffused light comming from through the clouds was actually quite nice.
I had put my stuff away and was making my way back towards the car when I turned around and realised that there was an Emirates A380 on taxiway Alpha, and quickly set things up again and then managed to take a few shots of it. In hindsight, it was towards the later stages of the shoot, just before I started to head off, and as I continued off after taking the A380 frames, that the big bodied Boeing 747s started to make their appearance, so it would probably be a good idea to stay for a bit later for next time. Also 300mm is just about long enough, although there probaby would be benefits in having even longer glass.
Despite taking 427 photos, the final cut left me with 27 shots, which is just over 6%, and of the 27 shots, I've only uploaded of 23 them. Here's a short selection of photos, with the rest being available on my flickr, where I've even set up a new set for aircraft shots.
Here's an example of the low contrast as a result of shooting into the sun.