As soon as humans realized their dream of flight, photographers started dreaming of photographing from high above. I had a chance last week to have my dream of shooting New York City from above come true.
While photographing from a helicopter over New York City was a blast, it was not easy. The common aspects of photography like composition, lighting, exposure, and subject come into play, but moving at 2,000-plus feet in the air amplifies these aspects 100 times. Then, adding in the excitement of seeing the iconic city from an angle and height I’ve never seen made me feel like a kid in a candy store with a one-hundred-dollar bill in my hand.
After experiencing my flight, I had a lot more appreciation for Ted Ford’s The Art of Photography video interview of aerial photographer Frank Crebas. While I was lucky enough to have an opportunity to fly over New York City and shoot some aerial photography, Crebas has some excellent advice for anyone who is interested in shooting aviation photography. While aviation photography and aerial are technically two different types of photography, there are some strong similarities, and the advice Crebas gives such as using Google Earth before heading up to plan the shoot is good advice.
Even if you have no desire to shoot aviation photography, the video is worth watching to see some of Crebas’s beautiful images.
Nice..I'm an aviation photographer myself on Instagram at Londonfoto.