Photography
Related: About this forumNew project to share!
An offshoot of general planespotting, I’ve been concentrating on aircraft at 30-40k ft, specifically early morning or late afternoon when the light and shadow adds so much depth and interest to otherwise boring airplanes. The photos I’m sharing today were made with no generative AI. All my photos are of real planes taken from my backyard shot in RAW (.nef) and processed with Camera Raw and Photoshop.
A majority were taken with the Nikon P1000 @3000mm, a real bear handheld. At 3000mm it’s impossible to find your subject, but thank goodness it has power zoom so you can start from a wide angle and power zoom up to 3000mm while keeping the subject in view. It took me a long time to perfect the method. It’s a comparatively slow camera in focusing and can’t match the quality of more expensive glass, has limited menu options, but it gets the job done. The remainder of the photos were taken with the Nikon Z8 160-600 +TC2 @1200mm and D750, or Df with a 200-500 + TC2 @1000mm.
I’m also still beta testing Topaz Labs and find one of the newest features, “Super focus”, to be quite interesting, rather overpowering with a steep learning curve, but useful for the right photo. Some of these photos used it, some used simple denoise and/or sharpen. Taking photos at dawn and sunset can be quite noisy. Some photos have the plane identified but many are not if I didn’t have my laptop with me. Hope you enjoy some of these!
Examples and link to the slideshow, only 36 as of today
https://jamesdevore.smugmug.com/SLIDESHOW-Cruising-in-a-Special-Light

CrispyQ
(39,918 posts)The last one is my fave. It has a shark like feel to it. They're great!
Do you live close to an airport, or just on a route to one?
I live about ten miles from the airport (Tampa). More importantly for these photos, I live directly in the flight path for all flights from the mid-west, Cincinnati, Chicago, etc. inbound to Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Palm Beach. They are still at cruise altitude, can't even hear them. Recently, storms to the east have driven some flights to and from the northeast that normally follow the east coast, much closer to me, giving more opportunities.
Walleye
(41,275 posts)
Trying is a reason to live!
Walleye
(41,275 posts)brer cat
(27,014 posts)Irish_Dem
(71,751 posts)Have you gone to an Air Show and shot the Blue Angels or Thunderbirds?
I have photos from the Cocoa Beach Airshow (Thunderbirds) and McDill AFB Air Fest as well as random military planes shot around the base. Unfortunately, the slideshow is not sorted well, a smugmug problem and something I need to address soon.
Slideshow: https://jamesdevore.smugmug.com/SPECIAL-SLIDESHOW-MILITARY-PLANESPOTTING
Irish_Dem
(71,751 posts)The Thunderbirds and the pics from McDill AFB.
McDill will have air refuelers and cargo.
Those are great airplanes.
HAB911
(9,699 posts)is here: https://jamesdevore.smugmug.com/60-YEAR-JOURNEY-IN-PHOTOGRAPHY/A-LITTLE-BIT-OF-EVERYTHING/COCOA-BEACH-AIRSHOW
MacDill is embedded about the middle here: PLANESPOTTING
https://jamesdevore.smugmug.com/60-YEAR-JOURNEY-IN-PHOTOGRAPHY/A-LITTLE-BIT-OF-EVERYTHING/PLANESPOTTING
Irish_Dem
(71,751 posts)A lot of fun to look at them.
George McGovern
(7,946 posts)HAB911
(9,699 posts)CaliforniaPeggy
(154,388 posts)Thank you so much for this gorgeous glimpse into your world.
HAB911
(9,699 posts)is not as delicious as yours!