aerial photography Archives - Infrared Conversions, IR Modifications & Photography Tutorials

How To Capture Photos Of Famous Landmarks That Are Unique

From the Great Pyramids of Giza to the vast temples of Angkor Wat, famous landmarks around the world are a big part of our travel experiences. It’s no surprise that these iconic places are often full of tourists hoping to capture their own memorable photos. So how can you make your photos stand out? How can you show a place that has been photographed millions of times in a different light? There’s no doubt that in this age of digital photography, that is much harder to do. But with a little bit of hard work and patience, it is possible to capture photos of famous landmarks that are unique. Here are 6 tips to help you on your way.

1. Go onto Google maps

Often my first port of call when researching a destination is Google maps. I do always wonder how photographers of yesteryear were able to research their shoot in an age before the internet. Google maps really is a tremendous tool for photographers to use. Not only can you search on it to find possible locations that you can use to capture shots of the landmark, but can you can actually step in and view it as if you are there. By looking at street view you can move around and do you initial scouting before you even leave your house.

I always spend a considerable amount of time researching every spot by looking at street view. I make notes about possible locations thinking about the direction of the light and possible compositions. This always forms the basis of my shoot at a destination.

2. Look on social media

Another really great tool of this age for research is social media. After I have some ideas for a location my next stop if often Instagram. I look through the various accounts and hashtags that are relevant to the location. One of the best attributes of Instagram is that it allows anyone to upload photos. So you often see photos from locals of a location that may not conform to the usual time of day, season or even location. This is great research and can give you a ton of ideas on how you can make your shots stand out from the crowd.

I also look through accounts of tourists boards and local businesses. Because you may find a new hotel or rooftop bar opening with a unique view of the landmark.

3. Allow plenty of time at your location

One of the big differences between everyday tourists and photographers is the amount of time they spend at a location. The average tourist might turn up, take a few photos and be on their way. As a photographer, I would rarely spend that little time anywhere. How can you possibly hope to capture the best shots if you are gone within a few minutes? Allow yourself enough time at a location to really feel like you know it. Walk around the landmark. Think about the direction of the light and how it will look at different times of the day. Imagine what the shot would look like from low on the ground or high up or with people in the shot. The more time you have at a location, the greater your chances of a great photo.

4. Turn around and look the other way

It can be hard to take your eyes off that famous landmark. But one of the best bits of advice I can give for photographing famous landmarks is to look the other way when you are there. Why is that? It’s not necessary to take photos – although sometimes you can capture nice shots of reflections – it’s to find interesting locations to shoot from. You never know, you might spot a street that can give you a different view of the iconic landmark. Or even a rooftop bar or balcony that you may be able to get to by speaking to the owner. You just never know what you might find if you look the other way.

5. Take risks with your composition

I’m not naive enough to think that anyone will get to a famous landmark and not take the classic eye-level shot. That is a given and you should take the shot. Obviously, make sure it is as good as you can make it. But once you are done with those classic shots, then it’s time to really get to work. Start to look at different angles and compositions that you may never even consider usually. For example, tilt your camera to get a different look to the photo. Or get really close look straight up at the landmark. Maybe even try something creative like looking through an archway, a window or even through peoples legs. The quirkier and less conventional the better. You never know, you might end up with something incredibly unique.

6. Embrace bad weather

I’ll be the first to admit that heading out in the cold and wet is not very enticing. But often these conditions can provide some unique shooting opportunities. From reflection on the ground during and after rain to simply being able to add people with umbrellas into the composition. It can give you a completely different photo than the usual. If you are lucky enough to get snow, mist or fog, that’s even better! Think about how often you see a famous landmark or monuments in these conditions? Not often right. So if you can capture photos during these times they are bound to look different from what exists already.

Seeing an iconic landmark for the first time can leave you breathless. But unfortunately, it can be difficult to replicate that in photos especially in this digital age of photography. But if you are willing to look beyond the obvious eye-level shots you could capture some really wonderful and unique photos. Just do your research and don’t be afraid to experiment and take risks with your shot.

Take your Photography to New Heights

As the autumn leaves fall gently by the wayside and winter sets in, I would like to share a few personal thoughts about why flying small drones to take your photography to new heights is something photographers should consider. The time of year you choose to learn can most certainly add to the attraction.

My colleague, Scott Strimple and I spend a few weeks a year teaching drone flight during our ‘Earth to Sky’ workshops at the Maine Media Workshops and College. With the birth of the Part 107 rules, we can be very specific about the regulations, and help point our students down the right path to passing their Remote Pilot Certificate. This naturally involves some fairly intensive ground school training prior to even touching the controls of the small drone. These lessons are quite overwhelming for someone who has not had any type of pilot training, but there is nothing like opening the door of the classroom and setting off to embark upon your first flight. Most students with no experience are a little nervous, and anxious to do as well as their compatriots. What is especially exciting is when the first flight is above the astonishing Maine beauty with the colors of fall at their peak. The images displayed were taken on the DJI Phantom 4. the link will provide you with all the information on the machine, along with camera specs.

This image was captured by one of our students with our help. He was amazed to see what can be achieved from a small camera lens attached to a flying machine!

Once everyone feels comfortable flying, the next step is to learn to operate the camera and combine flying with photography. The camera on virtual sticks enables the photographer to obtain stunning images from the campus lawn! The concerns and thoughts emanating from a considerable amount of negative press melt away as you capture a bird’s eye view of the beauty surrounding you, and you are ensconced in an explosion of color.

Part of our class involves preparing our students to answer questions, and deal with unhappy bystanders. Even within the drone community, there is generally a huge amount of debate surrounding the legalities. When images are posted, there is always someone who wants to either question the authenticity of an image or pose the thought that the aforementioned image was taken while violating the rules of engagement. It is easy to consider throwing in the towel and moving on to a different form of photography. So what are we to do? Firstly, don’t give up! If you are at all cautious (and it is good to always be cautious) consider what it is you can do without sending your small drone too far away.

Top down, or nadir images are becoming extremely popular (and are among my favorites) as well as panoramas – all of which can be taken from where you are standing. This way you maintain the maximum amount of control of your drone and can easily land if you feel the weather conditions are changing, or you simply don’t feel comfortable anymore. I rarely feel the need to compete when I am flying and will concentrate on my end goals, frequently ignoring any strong suggestion that I should become a little more adventurous. When I learned to fly a Cessna 182 I soon found out the limits of my flying ability, and because my rear end was strapped to the seat, it was easy to comply with my inner voice!

If all you feel compelled to do is use a small drone to hover above you as a tripod in the air, or virtual tripod, you have done more than most. Think about it, when we go out with our cameras, we are limited to the lens we choose. The lens dictates what it is that we see, and how we compose our photograph. The drone enables us to take our images to new heights. While we are still restricted by our choice of lens in the air, we are seeing everything from a new perspective. How adventurous you become is up to your confidence, your flying prowess, and your photographic vision. Remember not so long ago, Photoshop shocked the world with the ability to manipulate images. Photoshop is a powerful tool in the right hands, as is your small drone. Don’t get discouraged by scaremongers – go out and discover what you can create using this wonderful technology.

Nowadays, people generally don’t tend to question a photographer. There is no assumption of impropriety unless the lens is particularly long and the photographer is hiding in the bushes. The same does not apply to those using drones to capture aerial images. It is likely that you may be questioned, and even if there is little doubt about what you are up to, the question will frequently be asked: “what about privacy.” Given time, I believe the curiosity will die down, and there will be less fear involved. While there are many questions and assumptions of nefarious behavior, I would suggest overcoming the obstacles and at least finding a local group of flyers with whom you can spend a bit of time.

I am equally as obsessed with all methods of capture when it comes to taking images. I love experimenting with IR as much as I enjoy flying my small drones. I simply love the flexibility these many forms of creative expression offer me and encourage everyone to keep an open mind when it comes to new technology.

The wonderful thing about attending a photographic workshop is full emersion in one area of choice. Our drone workshops enable our students to learn so very much and by the end of the week, we are able to present an example of the work completed and the challenges overcome. Scott and I will be running several workshops at MMW next year. The dates will be announced in January. We will also be teaching for the first time at Madeline Island School of the Arts, located on the largest of the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior, from September the 18^th to the 22^nd of 2017.

To sum up, it has been quite a year for the drone industry, with technology tripping over itself to be released. Flying a small drone is becoming simpler, and the rules are becoming more clearly defined. I want to encourage those of you with an interest, to try your hand at flying and letting go of the anxiety so that you can simply have fun. Find a mentor in the industry if you have questions. To that end, I am happy to chat with anyone who wants to explore the possibilities. The end goal does not have to be to make money, although I highly recommend taking the remote pilot airman certificate so that you have the flexibility to sell your images or work commercially should you so desire.

Infrared Haze Reduction

Did you ever wonder why IR landscape photos look so crispy sharp? It may not be obvious. But photographing in the near-infrared part of the spectrum has some definite benefits over photographing visible light, especially for landscape photography.

Before we get into the photography portion, let’s take a look at some of the science involved. You might have noticed that infrared light has some ability to penetrate the haze in the air. Why is that? Haze is caused by light scattering off particles in the air. By shooting our photos in IR (longer wavelengths) we can take advantage of some science to reduce the haze that is apparent in our photos.

To help understand the scattering mechanisms, it’s important to understand what I mean by wavelength. Sure it’s related to the color. But why? Light is an electromagnetic wave. All waves can be measured by frequency (like broadcast radio waves) or by wavelength (like light). Frequency in inversely related to wavelength. The color of light depends on the wavelength – the length of the light wave (see the graphic below). If you could see the waves you could measure the distance in order to obtain the wavelength. But the wavelength of visible light is very small. It’s measured in nanometers (billionth’s of a meter). So you’ll need a pretty small ruler. Around the visible light spectrum, the longer wavelengths are associated with orange, red and infrared and shorter wavelengths with blue, purple and ultraviolet light.

Visible light is only a small part of the entire electromagnetic spectrum (EM). You can see where X-rays and gamma rays or microwaves and radio waves lie in the EM spectrum.

Now that the science is out of the way, let’s dive into the photography. What is it that makes the haze apparent in photographs? It’s scattering. But what’s causing the scattering and why? When light hits objects it’s scattered. Blow a little smoke in the air and shine a flashlight on it. What you’re seeing is light being scattered by the smoke particles in the air. But how light is scattered depends highly on the size of the media doing the scattering.

Non-selective scattering is a mechanism that occurs with larger particles (much larger than the wavelength of the light being scattered). This occurs mainly with larger water droplets, ice crystals and similarly sized atmospheric particles. This scattering occurs equally for all wavelengths. So shooting in IR doesn’t provide any benefit over traditional color photography.
Mie scattering is a scattering occurs with atmospheric particles that are approximately the same size as the wavelength being scattered. These particles are typically spherical in nature and are characterized by dust, pollen and water vapor (droplets). Although there is some wavelength dependence, typically all colors are scattered equally. As an example, clouds appear white since the water vapor is being scattered equally across all colors.
Rayleigh scattering is where the magic happens for IR photographers. This scattering occurs mainly on the molecular level, when the particles are much smaller than the wavelength of light being scattered. In the atmosphere this is primarily caused by oxygen and nitrogen molecules. These molecules absorb the light and re-emit it in a random direction, thus scattering the light. However, the amount of Rayleigh scattering that occurs is inversely proportional to the 4^th-power of the wavelength. Knowing this, it is easy to see that infrared light (~800nm) is scattered 1/16 as much as blue light (~400nm).

At ground level, all 3 scattering mechanism can influence the production and of haze. As a result, the haze-penetrating benefits if IR photography are not as strong. Even so, the effects are still quite evident. Take a look at the photo below. The top photo was shot with my cell phone and the bottom with full spectrum camera and IR filter.

A scene photographed with a color camera showcasing the haze on the distant mountains.

The same scene photographed at 740nm. Notice the reduction in haze and improved detail.

I’ve seen the benefit of shooting IR landscapes for many years. However, it is quite shocking to see the difference when shooting from an airplane. There is less dust at higher altitudes. This means that the majority of the scattering is done by Rayleigh scattering. As we already learned, this scattering is highly wavelength dependent. So the difference between visible and IR photos is much more dramatic.

The photograph above is one I shot while flying over central Hungary. It was the first time I’d shot any IR from an airplane. The ground was heavily obscured by haze. After I processed the IR image, I was surprised by the clarity and the appearance of the mountains on the horizon. It’s a perfect example of the powerful haze reduction power of IR photography. This effect is what makes infrared aerial photography such a powerful tool for scientists and those requiring clear images of the ground. Here are a couple of my color vs. IR comparison photos.

Visible Light photo West of Austin Texas

Same photo in 740nm IR

Visible light photo of West Texas, including Guadalupe peak (upper RH side) and Salt Flats.

Same photo in 740nm IR. White Sands National Monument is visible in the upper LH portion of the image, more than 100 miles away.

Hopefully, you pulled something useful out of this blog. But at the very least, I hope you see how IR photography can be used to reduce the haze in photographs. The advantage can be striking and significantly improve the clarity of IR images. I’ve done landscape photography for many years. However, shooting in IR has allowed me to see landscapes in a totally different light (pun intended).

Confront Your Photographic Challenges

Are there times when you feel challenged to complete an assignment, or even to just go out and take some photographs? Tangential activities take on an unanticipated urgency. I have never really understood what drives this onset of dispassion for the task, but I know I have experienced it many times, and I find it helps to set myself a few challenges and hold myself accountable until each of my personal challenges are completed.

Nature photographer Jim Brandenburg is known for challenging himself. Jim decided to limit his images to only one photograph a day for a 90-day period between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice. His project was deeply personal, and the amazing work that developed over the months most certainly speaks for itself.

Here are a couple of ways you can provoke your challenges, and learn a few new techniques in the process:

Join a Photo challenge site – One great site, Photochallenge.org encourages you to increase your photographic skills by committing to a photo challenge. No tutorials, just photographers interacting with each other. The team sets out common guidelines, which are easy to understand and simple to follow. The challenges are specific, such as; capture black and white shots of the human body, or take portraits of people or animals, and then share with others also participating in the challenge. If you are not quite up to engaging at that level, it is still worth visiting the site to view images and to ultimately gain the courage to start interacting online with other photographers.

Commit to taking a tutorial a week – There are many sites that provide free tutorials, such as Iheartfaces as well as subscription based sites like CreativeLive, KelbyOne, and Lynda.com that offer the opportunity to learn a little more about your camera, as well as how to use software applications to successfully edit your images. If you find it easier to learn in a classroom, give yourself the gift of a workshop a year. The secret is to follow through on what you have learned.

Set specific parameters – Make some definitive decisions each time you go out to take images. Consider some of these ideas:

1 – Take only one lens with you. If you do not have fixed lenses, choose a zoom lens focal length and don’t be tempted to change it. This will encourage you to position yourself correctly for each shot. It will also help you to really understand the capabilities of each lens.

2 – Utilize the full frame. Fill your frame with the shot and don’t plan on cropping in post. This will encourage correct orientation, and enable you to make every pixel count.

3 – Decide upon a color or texture and concentrate on images of that color or texture. This makes you evaluate your surroundings and notice many things you may not normally have seen.

4 – While teaching at a photographic conference in Las Vegas, I played around with the color/full frame challenge and spent a couple of hours in the beautiful botanical gardens located in the Bellagio hotel. I started with some fairly simple images and then dug down into the fragility of petals. I found myself down a whole new path involving the combination of shadow and color.

5 – Dedicate a photographic day to simply using your mobile phone, and get creative. There are many apps for editing camera phone images and some of the results are pretty impressive. While boating in Maine, I was able to capture the old Maine Windjammer, the Isaac H. Evans. I challenged myself to use only my mobile phone all day so that I would concentrate on light and composition. It was quite refreshing to have my head up and looking at my subject, rather than staring down the camera viewfinder!

6 – Limit the number of images you take. Imagine you do not have the capability of taking many photographs. Make every image count, and don’t cheat by erasing images!

Sometimes it is important to try to recognize the route of the challenged feeling! Each time I head up to Rockport, Maine to teach drone flight and aerial photography, I find myself having to overcome the inherent fears surrounding the nature of the class. I am not immune to the constant commentary surrounding the use of drones and their various applications. In order to overcome those mental challenges, I remind myself that I teach because I enjoy teaching, and the pleasure I receive from watching students initially grapple with the technology, and then start creating beautiful images is most certainly more contagious than the niggling doubts in my head. I also take time out to go and fly with my teaching partner and hone my skills a little more.

Flying over water takes a little more concentration and awareness of the wind conditions. but the results can be incredibly rewarding. The image above is a single capture, and below, a 5 image panorama created in Lightroom. These were taken using a DJI Phantom 4.

Finally, I have also noticed that as infrared photography becomes more popular, there are many discussion groups debating about what constitutes a good IR image. No matter what my assignment, I carry my converted Canon 1DS with me and find an opportunity to experiment.

It is interesting to compare my results with images taken from the Phantom 4. In the image below, I am actually much closer to the boats in the harbor, but hovering over the water.

I challenge you all to experiment with IR. If you are not yet ready to convert one of your cameras, consider purchasing a filter that somewhat replicates the look and feel, and this will give you a great introduction. I am pretty sure you will soon be hooked. Whatever your end goal, don’t let those perceived or real challenges get in the way and don’t let the negativity of others (or your own doubts) prohibit your creativity.