Aircraft | Tracking the Light

A sunny September Saturday afternoon in Dublin; what better time to make a visit to the airport. Not to travel to distant cities, but simply to watch and photograph the parade of commercial aircraft.

Lots of different airlines make for a colourful parade of planes.

I used this as an opportunity to test my FujiFilm X-T1’s various auto-focus settings.

The ‘C’ (continuous) setting seemed to produce the sharpest results, but introduced a slight delay from time I pressed the shutter-button until the actual moment of exposure. I found the delay difficult, but so long as I could anticipate the delay I was able to work around it.

Another challenge was trying to keep the camera level while panning the rapidly moving planes.

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Photographing Low Flying Planes from Dublin Streets.

On the afternoon of 15 September 2013, I joined some of my Irish friends along the South Quays of the River Liffey to watch Flight Fest. This free air show was a great opportunity to see a variety of aircraft in action.

Most of the time Tracking the Light focuses on railways, so this should be a refreshing interlude.

I exposed all of these photos with my Canon EOS 7D with either a 28-135mm zoom or a fixed 200mm prime lens. I set the ISO at 400 and most of my exposures were made at a 1000^th of a second. Focusing was tricky, since the auto focus tends to get fooled by sky and some of the planes were traveling quickly.

I was especially interested in the B-17 Flying Fortress and Airbus A380. The variety of flying machines made for a nice afternoon. I used several vantage points all from city streets.

For other views of Dublin, check my Dublin Images Page on this site.

Last year, Dublin hosted the Tall Ships. This year Flight Fest. Perhaps next year they could host Tram Fest on the LUAS? It’s an idea anyway.