An Introduction to Aviation Photography

By Vanguard Professional Uros Podlogar

I have been attracted to helicopters and airplanes since I can remember. There is something special about them to me. It was my dream to go to the airport to take photos of airplanes and helicopters.

Towards the beginning of my photography career, my wish come true: I got the opportunity to take all the photos I wanted at the airport. I made some interesting photos, and when I showed them to Slovenia Air Control, they decided to buy four of them. That gave me confidence on my way ahead and made my focus on photography even stronger.

Aviation photography is not one of the easiest fields of photography. The most important thing is that the aircraft should never appear "frozen." That was my first mistake: a Slovenian police helicopter pilot told me that good rotorcraft aviation photography shows that the aircraft is moving. To achieve that, the rotors and propellers must be blurry, which indicates that they are spinning. In practice, that means a photographer must set a slow shutter speed. This slow shutter speed presents a challenge to getting the rest of the aircraft sharp. The saying “practice makes perfect” certainly comes into play here.

The biggest joy of aviation photography for me is air-to-air photo shooting, which enables the most creativity.

Recently I made photos of Slovenian Police Air Support Unit for one of the most known helicopter magazines in the world, Vertical 911. Here is the link to the magazine (the article is on pages 80 to 88). For this shoot, I used Vanguard’s Sedona 45BK backpack. It came in handy for the project since I had to exit and enter the helicopter many times and needed to have my hands free. The lightweight backpack also fits very well, so hiking in the mountains and climbing a few rocks was no problem at all.

Ever since receiving Vanguard’s VEO 265CB carbon fiber travel tripod, I take it along to all my projects. Because it is so lightweight and compact I barely notice it, strapped on my backpack. Tripods are the accessories I use the most. And the VEO 265CB is a GREAT choice to take along everywhere.

Here are some of my favorite aviation photos: