Aerial Shot

This is a shot of the southern end of The Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, taken from a low-flying plane (probably 200-300 feet). It's intent is to show the "before" view of the Site 1 Impoundment Project.

The Site 1 Impoundment is the triangular (or pie-shaped) area of land just above the irregularly shaped body of water. Over the next 5 years, the Impoundment will be transformed by the Army Corps of Engineers into a lake to handle excessive water runoff from the Refuge and from Lake Okeechobee.

To give an idea of its size, the lower edge of the Impoundment area, which runs along the Hillsboro Canal, is 3 miles long. The Impoundment is 1,660 acres.

So in 5 years, the entire Impoundment will be underwater.

This is my first aerial photography experience. Suggestions appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I took maybe 1,000 shots and ended up with 30 keepers from different angles as the pilot circled the Impoundment.

The shot is full frame. I like leaving in parts of the airplane, but I'm open to any and all suggestions. For example, do I level it, and if so, what do I level? The horizon? The plane's wing looks level.

I did minimal pp...slight H&S, Auto Curves.

Canon 5DII + 24-105 @ 24mm, polarizer, F5.6, 1/500, iso 400. IS turned on.

Thanks, Lance for giving me a different view of a place where I have spent many hours. The photo looks fine to me but I'm just one of those earthbound photographers.

Don Mullaney

donaldmullaney.smugmug.com

Seems to me that it is a good ariel.

You accomplished what you set out to do. You have told your story. You show your project and its relationship to contiguous property. You explain what will be done and you show that your vantage point is from a small plane.

Do you have your co-ordinates so that you can take a picture in five years to show the changes??

Thanks for sharing.

Good shot, and I'd leave it as is. We do lots of aerials, and sometimes (as in this case) the plane is part of the story. This is more about the plane than about you, but I'm assuming you were shooting through the window rather door-off. The plane is in great shape if so! Most of our shooting, whether fixed wing or helo, has to be door-off or through a very small window due to distortion and scratches.

I have learned to shoot at your fastest shutter speed when shooting from an airplane. Ash the pilot what his elevation is and you can figure out how high you are. Looks like your higher than 200-300 feet. Maybe more like 1000 feet. I'm not a pilot but I do enjoy flying and taking pictures any chance I get. Good Luck, Conrad

BTW-

Those lakes in the foreground look like the lake Carl Hiaasen wrote about in "Double Whammy." Priceless book, if you haven't read it!!!

Thanks, everyone.

Hank, I love Carl Hiaasen. This is his neck of the woods. Try "Sick Puppy" and "Skinny Dip" if you haven't already read them.

Joseph, good point. I can definitely get the coordinates.

I also think you're higher than 200-300 ft., Lance. Looks like 1,000 easy. But the shot looks spot on to me. I wouldn't mind seeing a shot with the horizon leveled, just for comparison, but I'd probably prefer it just as it is here. I also think aspects of the plane in the shot are vital to its success. Glad you got to do this.

Hank, I love Carl Hiaasen. This is his neck of the woods. Try "Sick Puppy" and "Skinny Dip" if you haven't already read them.

Gottem all and luv them all, but Double Whammy is the ultimate for this ruralite.

Given the perspective I'd guess you were at about 1000 ft. As for level, by definition the horizon is what's level. I did aerial photo work in the Army using a 4x5 Graflex. Lots of fun. My favorite was hanging out of a chopper with the door off and shooting straight down while we were in a banked turn.

Your shot is pretty good as is and the polarizer was a good choice as was the IS and your shutter speed. Turn off your auto-focus (you didn't mention whether you used it), set the focus on infinity and tape it there. Use the fastest shutter speed you can and never let the camera touch any part of the plane while shooting (vibration). Your body will act as a shock absorber (and the IS will help too).

I used to enjoy aerial work. It is a whole different way of looking at the world.

I like the image the way it is. Here is a down and dirty crop after leveling (maybe went 1 too many to the right) the rounded horizon. I think most would agree that it rips out the visual of the airplane. Hope you don't mind me cropping and reposting YOUR image!!
Troup

I don't mind one bit, Troup.

Thanks, everyone :)

Lance, this is coming from someone who has never made aerial shots, but I love this picture. I like the way the landscape is partially framed by parts of the airplane and that those airplane parts are in focus. I'm also, in general, very much a fan of minimal post-processing, so what you've done looks just fine to me.
As someone involved in a photo project of the Hudson Valley right now and having just read a history of how a huge area in Ulster County was flooded to build the Ashokan Reservoir, I agree with those who suggest you do your best to make "after" images in five years' time. Alas, the technology didn't exist to be able to do this with Ashokan, but now that it does, I say go for it!
Thanks for sharing this shot.

I like the "You Are There" element of the slightly tilted horizon and more wing and strut visible, but that's based on familiar views of a favorite activity.

As for the elevation estimate, I'm attaching one I shot at a documented 200 feet (altimeter) for comparison. Admittedly the subjects are lots closer, but comparing the angle of elevation in mine and the relative size of your subjects points to the 1,000 estimates of others, and I'd even push it toward 1,500 feet based on subject size.

Great Aerial photos. Extremely well done. But best of all was speaking of Carl Hiassen, who is one of my favorite Authors. Thank you for turning me on to "Double Whammy". I have already read "Sick Puppy" and "Skinny Dip". Wonderful books from an unusually great Author, with a twisted sense of humor.

I like the tilted version myself. And, as someone who use to jump out of perfectly good airplanes and currently works atop billboards, you are wayyy over 200ft. Thanks, now I have to go back up with my camera!! (Expensive Experimentation!)