Australia....

[Don Railton]

Hi Guys,

Not sure if this is post worthy or not, but I decided 'its all I got' so here it is... I have been regularly flying to the USA for work and this is a shot I took from the aircraft window in the last couple of hours of what is a 30 hour trip home. Got to find something to do...! I think it is of the Stuart Hiway running down through the center of Australia from Darwin in the north to south Australia. It shows the inland of Australia...

1dmk4 + 50mm 1.4 held against the window
1/320 sec F6.3 ISO 100.

Processed in ACR, with a bit of gradient filter added to top RHS to reduce the glare effect. multiplied the layer in cs6 and a bit of sharpening and colour tweaking.

DON

[David Stephens]

These are really tough shots to pull off. There's usually a combination of haze and not so sharp window glass, making it really hard to show detail. Also, you're not in control of the time of day that you fly over, in most cases. I'd chalk this up as good documentation of your flight, but not something to put on the wall. I take these also and occasionally a miracle happens, but the usual result is something like this shot.

Raising Contrast may cut some of the haze. A crop that focuses attention on the bottom half of the image might pump up interest a bit. Still, good try and keep trying.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Don, not sure if this has helped, but just adjusting the colours balance/haze and then adding a couple of Curve adjustments, it has pulled out more detail I feel in what you originally captured, but I'm not sure now if the overall colour is what you saw?

Cheers
Steve

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Don,

Steve's RP does it for me, very nice. I remember the red sand Australia has. I have a couple of glasses full here at home :e3
Flew often to OZ, but was always at night, only once flew over your big rock in the middle of OZ at sunset. Was marvelous to see, but sadly camera stored above my head, plane to fast - me to slow! Never thought that we would fly right above the famous spot. OH well, next time comes again :w3

Have a great day

Ciao
Anette

[Don Railton]

Hello All

Thanks you all for responding to what I thought was a doubtful image to post... I went ahead anyway to see if it was of any interest to anyone and cure my curiosity. Steve, as usual, your repost has lifted the image and especially the haze I have had so much trouble with on my last two posts. The green might be a little too strong but the details you have recovered are a huge improvement. thank you for the effort.

David, I agree that taking photos from a commercial aircraft window is difficult and rarely rewarding. If you saw the haze on this RAW image then most would ask "why bother going further"?

Thanks for your comments Anette, I hope you enjoyed your visit to Australia (glad you left some behind...) and got the image of Ayres rock (Uluru) from the ground anyway. I think it would look better at ground level anyway....

DON

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Don...I think you did very well for shooting through the window of a commercial airliner. I tried numerous shots like this of cloud formations over the Caribbean Sea while on my way to Jamaica last winter and only got one useable image. Steve's repost really works best for me. Look forward to seeing more of these aerials!

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Don, you are welcome, be great to do shots like this from the old Catalina, plenty of room to look through in those bubble pods on the side. :w3

Meant to say, just up the ISO to gain more SS so you reduce any vibration, even with an airliner.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Don - you did well in a difficult situation and Steve's rp has taken it up a notch. Often the windows of a commercial jet are so filthy that getting anything worth saving is impossible. Those long haul flights are really tough but hopefully you're racking up the miles and can use them to go someplace fun for pleasure.

TFS,
Rachel

[Don Railton]

Hi Don, you are welcome, be great to do shots like this from the old Catalina, plenty of room to look through in those bubble pods on the side. :w3

Meant to say, just up the ISO to gain more SS so you reduce any vibration, even with an airliner.

Hi Steve, good point about the ISO, and yes, I would love the opportunity to shoot from side pod of a Catalina flying boat (=PBY) or an old bomber with a Perspex nose at ~30,000 feet. There are lots of salt pans in Australia that are quite colourful and would make very good subjects in the right light from ~30,000 ft. These salt pans prompted me to get the camera out in this instance but cloud beat me to that shot... Unfortunately the salt pans don't look so good from 10,000ft (too big) which is the usual limit for private aircraft in Australia, so a dedicated flight to shoot these is difficult to arrange..

Thanks Rachel, FYI my recent NZ trip was paid for by FF points, and thank you Andrew, but be careful what you wish for..! I have others I may inflict upon you all..


DON

[Steve Kaluski]

I would love the opportunity to shoot from side pod of a Catalina flying boat (=PBY) or an old bomber with a Perspex nose at ~30,000 feet.

Don that certain would mean 'thermals', dam cold & draughty in those old crates at that altitude. :bg3:


I have others I may inflict upon you all..

I for one would like to see a different perspective.