aircraft take off / landing

[les_au]

hi all

i am trying to learn how to photograph aircraft taking off and landing, i am looking for a couple of hints. i know i am doing something wrong as i can get nice photo's of the craft but the horizon is often tilted. i am panning on the craft using ai servo and shutter priority. hardware being used is a rebel XS with a tamron 18-270 vc

[PhotosGuy]

The only way I know to be more aware of the horizon is to practice. Go out & shoot some traffic until it's second nature. I'd tell you to try lining up the focus points with the horizon, but that will just get in the way of your shooting & really isn't a good idea, so don't try that.

For now, you could try shooting a little wider & then crop in during post processing.

[FlyingPhotog]

You're probably trying to make the plane level when in fact it's actually nose up during takeoff and nose down during landing.

[les_au]

ok thanks guys, more practice is in order

[FatAlbert]

As PhotosGuy & Flying Photog say,
Aircraft aren't always level, especially during take-off and landing. Don't kill yourself about levelling the horizon. Make sure that you get a nice sharp shot! that makes all the difference! Along with practice, many of the shots you take, you'll think are r****sh, discard them and concentrate on the good ones. If you are close enough, crop them so the horizon doesn't come into play.


FA

[aridan]

More practice will definitely improve your skills, but for the time being, I can't see why you can't simply rotate the canvas as necessary to straighten the horizon...

[les_au]

i still need to work at the camera end of things but i found a way in photoshop to fix the problem, picasa will also fix it as well