Saturday May 23rd – 11.00am to 5.00pm.
Places cost £125.00 each. Only 1 place still available.
This course is limited to just 4 photographers, to ensure that everyone gets plenty of personal attention.
Please contact us to request a booking form for this course.
Photographing aircraft in flight is challenging but also great fun, and it can result in some really spectacular images. Like any other type of action photography, it does require some specific skills and understanding of camera settings for the best results. On this one day aviation photography course at East Midlands Airport, you will learn those skills. We will start with some relatively easy subjects (large jet airliners in good light), before trying our skills on some of the smaller turboprop and jet aircraft as well.
On this course, you will learn how to:
- choose the correct shutter speeds to either freeze motion, or allow some motion blur for creative effect
- using panning techniques to increase the impression of movement and speed, and help blur out distracting backgrounds
- choose the correct autofocus settings for really sharp results with fast moving subjects
- plan your shooting locations and camera angles to help you get the best results in different lighting conditions and at different times of the day
- get optimum results with telephoto lenses
The knowledge you will gain on this course will be applicable not only to photographing aircraft, but also other types of action photography – including wildlife, pets, and sports photography (especially motorsports).
This is an intermediate, rather than beginners’ level course, so it is important that you are already familiar with the basics of photography and how to use your camera in other than the “all-automatic” mode. If you are not confident about how to use shutter speeds, lens apertures and ISO to control exposure, please consider one of our beginners’ digital photography courses where we teach those skills.
This one day aviation photography workshop is taking place at East Midlands Airport, which has some excellent viewpoints for photographers. The airport itself is conveniently located next to the M1 motorway, and Sheffield, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire are all within easy reach. There are also good public transport links by bus and rail from Derby and Nottingham.
East Midlands is the second busiest cargo airport in the UK, and will have a variety of aircraft types for us to photograph – from large and small jet airliners and cargo aircraft to turboprop aircraft, business jets and light aircraft. It is also home to the Rolls Royce Heritage Flight, so if we get lucky we might get to see and photograph their Spitfire or P-51 Mustang.
We will probably use a couple of different locations during the course – depending on which end of the runway is in use. The images below were all taken from the actual locations that we will be using. One of those is in the East Midlands Aeropark, which is located only 170m from the runway, and offers superb views of aircraft taking off and landing – as well as across to the DHL cargo apron. Entry to the Aeropark costs £5.00 (not included in the course fee), but it has free car parking, toilet facilities and a snack bar. Better still, it also has two large viewing mounds, one of which is higher than the airport perimeter fence and offers a superb elevated vantage point for photographing aircraft free of any obstructions.
The Aeropark also has a collection of nearly 30 complete post-WW2 aircraft (including a Vulcan bomber) on display outside, which we can photograph in addition to the arrivals and departures at the airport. A full list of the Aeropark’s aircraft can be seen here.
The other location that we are most likely to use is down at the other end of the runway, where aircraft coming in to land are well lit by the afternoon sun. They are so low at this point that you don’t even need a telephoto lens to get full frame shots of them, and the views of the flight path are unobstructed by trees or fences.
The excellent viewing points that we will be using mean that you do not need a top-of-the-range camera with big, expensive lenses for this course. Any sort of interchangeable-lens camera (DSLR or mirrorless) with a zoom lens which goes up to 200mm or 300mm is ideal, but bridge cameras should also be fine. Please contact us for advice if you are unsure whether your camera is suitable. A wide angle or kit zoom lens will also be very useful for close shots of aircraft landing or the exhibits at the Aeropark. The only other equipment that will be useful is a tripod – but don’t worry if you haven’t got one, as we have some that we can lend you if you don’t already own one of your own.
There will be very little walking required on this course, so it is suitable for people who have some mobility issues (please check with us before booking if that applies to you). We can park very close to the viewing areas that we’ll be using – also useful if we need to shelter from any rain showers. If there is any heavier rain, we can shelter inside one of the buildings at the Aeropark – where we will also have a chance to review the photos you have taken on the laptop that we will be bringing along.
For lunch, you can bring your own food or get some from the Sainsbury’s Local that is very close to the Aeropark. The Aeropark Cabin also sells snacks, ice creams and drinks.
This course is limited to just four photographers to ensure that everyone gets plenty of personal attention. Places cost £125.00 each. Please contact us to request a booking form.
You can see details of all the other landscape and beginners’ level photography courses we are currently running here.