Hi Pat, I shoot from the air a reasonable amount, but gliders only a few times. >From what I recall, it's very cramped in the cockpit. The times I went up, the pilot sat behind, and I was shooting with a mini video camera (this is before digital), so I got some nice shots of the pilot's face by pointing the thing over my shoulder and reviewing the shot until I could get a decent frame. Stills would be fine, just rattle off a few, varying the angle slightly.
Going around and around in circles up a thermal is not my idea of fun and I was wishing an early end to the flight. But then again, I hate the Waltzer or whatever it's called where you live, on the fairground. Shooting through the canopy is not the best way to photograph the ground. I don't know what they use these days, but ten years ago it was some type of perspex that displayed a multitude of scratches when the sun caught it, which was most of the time. If you can, take a cloth and some Windowlene or similar and ask the pilot if he wants a free polish. Do the inside as well. When shooting through glass / perspex / whatever, you need to get the front element as close as possible to the window, and crucially, fill the gap between lens and window with something. A collapsible rubber hood would be pretty good. Or how about a dark cloth draped over the camera? This way, you reduce any chance of flare or reflection. Even a cupped hand is better than nothing. Personally I would shoot neg as it will be more forgiving with exposure. If you've got a very wide lens, holding it in front of you and shooting yourself will always be a good shot. Even better: hold it down low, pointing upwards, portrait format, and get the flyboy to invert. This will get a nice shot of you with the ground 'over' your head. If you haven't experienced considerable G force before, get the pilot to break you in gently. My eyeballs turn to mush past 2 G, but I'm a wimp. If you can withstand 2G, you'll be okay to 3, but I doubt gliders get that close. Put it this way, if the wing decides to seperate from the fuselage, you've probably gone past 3 G. Not putting you off am I? You'll have a great flight, enjoy it. Cheers, Cotty > > >Weather permitting, this weekend I have the chance of fulfilling the >life-long dream >of going gliding. I think that it will be a fairly short flight � maybe >only 15 or 20 >minutes � and my primary goal is to absolutely enjoy it. Having said that, >I think >that it might be too good of a chance not to take some shots. I�ll >probably take the >MZ-3 but am not sure of lens or film choices. I only want to take 1 lens >and can >choose from the 20-35, 28-70/4, 43mm or 80-200. Could also get my hands on >a 100mm. >Perhaps the 20-35 is too wide and the 80-200 is physically too long. Any >opinions out >there? > >Also � film choices. I generally shoot Velvia or Provia, but would also >consider print >film for this. Along with film choice � any opinions on filters? I thought >that I >might take the polarizer but I�m concerned that I might be enjoying the >experience too >much to actually bother. > >May the weather gods smile on this corner of western Europe (and not blow >a gale >again�.) ____________________________________ Free UK Macintosh Classified Ads at http://www.macads.co.uk/ ____________________________________ Oh, swipe me! He paints with light! http://www.macads.co.uk/snaps/ ____________________________________
