Up in the air
Ritchie George explains how to get the best plane shots from the ground up
From a young age, I have always been fascinated with military aircraft. In addition, my father and grandfather were both into photography, and it seems that their enthusiasm has become a part of me.
Since 2018, I have taken my interest more seriously. I bought my first kit – a Canon EOS 1300D and a 75-300mm lens – purely for taking photos at the Royal International Air Tattoo. But it didn’t take me long to get the photography bug and before I knew it, I was taking photos of anything and everything. I loved exploring the use of different lenses for different genres of photography. I have now upgraded my camera to an EOS 7D Mark II and a Sigma 150-600mm lens purely for aviation photography. At air shows, I find it best to use Auto ISO, simply for the ease of not needing to worry about selecting the correct ISO – especially with all the action going on! I always set my maximum to 32,000 but I rarely get anywhere close unless the weather is awful. Using a variety of software, I will fine-tune my photographs during editing and find these programs incredibly useful for correcting any issues with high-ISO images.
I don’t take lots of kit with me, but I always make sure I have my wide-angle lens, especially for taking photographs of static aircraft. In my bag there will also be a 150-600mm lens, ready for any flying displays. Sometimes I will deliberately stand towards the end of the runway so that I can capture a variety of angles.