Aviation night shoots: the ultimate guide!
- Kris Christiaens
- Mar 17
- 5 min read
Night shoots are among one of the most popular and challenging aspects within aviation photography. For example, special photo shoots are organized around the world at sunset and in the evenings where static aircraft and/or helicopters are specially lit so photographers can capture them in the most creative way possible. Sometimes pilots also specially run the propellers and rotors of old aircraft or helicopters during special night shoots as this often gives very nice effects. Technically, a night shoot is not among the easiest aspects within photography as we work with slower shutter speeds and external elements such as lighting and a tripod. In this article, I will give as many tips as possible to take the most beautiful and creative photos possible during an aviation night shoot!
Where to go to?
Aviation night shoots are not organized very often and most of the time we have to go to other countries. One of the most important countries when it comes to this kind of photo shoot is England. In the UK, for instance, there are several organizations that regularly organise aviation night shoots at former or smaller airfields or even at aviation museums. The leading organizers in the UK of such photo photoshoots are the Center Of Aviation Photography (COAP), Timeline Events and Treshold.aero. They organise numerous night shoots during the autumn and winter months where you can take pictures of legendary World War II warbirds, Cold War jets or iconic helicopters. If you are a fan of modern military aircraft such as fighter jets or transport aircraft then you should definitely visit the Northolt Nightshoots. Aviation night shoots are also organized in other countries. Often these events are then hosted by aviation museums, collectors of old aircraft or air forces. For example, the Mirage 5 BD09 restoration group in Belgium regularly organizes a night shoot where you can then take photos of several beautifully restored fighter aircraft.
Long exposure festival
Photographing static aircraft or helicopters at sunset or in the dark requires a different kind of photography than during airshows. Unlike the very fast shutter speeds we use during airshows, during night shoots we are going to work with slow shutter speeds of one or more seconds. Because of this, it is therefore recommended to set the camera to its manual mode (M) or shutter speed priority (S). The light sensitivity of the sensor in the camera, ISO, should not be set very high since we work with longer shutter speeds and it is best to keep this value as low as possible. If you notice that your shutter speeds are way too high, 10 seconds or more, then you can always raise your ISO value a little so that you can increase the shutter speed back up a bit. Setting the aperture in your camera for a night shoot like this is often the hardest part. For example, you must take into consider the distance from where you are taking the photos relative to the aircraft if you want to achieve a good depth of field (DOF). In addition, at night you should always be aware of highly illuminated parts on aircraft such as lights that often look best in photos when they have a star-like effect. This so called 'starburst' effect can be obtained by making the aperture smaller (large aperture number) to f/9, f/10 or f/11. Be careful, however, to decrease the aperture because if we do this too extremely, the starburst effect will be too dominating. Also don't forget to turn off the image stabilization or the vibration reduction (VR) because your camera is on a tripod.
Time is not your friend
A major disadvantage of aviation night shoots is that you rarely have much time to take pictures. During these kind of organized photo shoots on old airfields or in museums, you luckily still get several hours but when taking photos of aircraft during military exercises at night, you often only have a few minutes to take photos. Therefore, it is very useful to set up the camera as well as possible before the start of the shoot so that you lose precious time during the shoot itself. It is best not to spend time manually adjusting the correct white balance since this can easily be done in digital post- editing. Another useful tip for working quickly is to consult the histogram after each photo, which you can check on the screen of your camera. Thanks to the histogram, you can immediately see if your photo is over- or underexposed. Once you see that the first photos are good, you can leave the settings and then take as many photos as you want since the external lighting of the aircraft often remains the same during the event. So the conclusion is that time is not your friend during these shoots and you need to spend every minute taking pictures as best you can.
Post-editing is essential!
As with all types of photography, the work does not just stop at taking the photos themselves. Since you can do almost anything in terms of editing when taking photos in RAW, this is also highly recommended when photographing aircraft at night. In a post-processing program such as Adobe Lightroom, you can adjust exposure, white balance or contrast fairly easily and quickly. You can also perform specific operations such as noise reduction or darkening the background. For example, in a night shoot, very often the white balance will have to be adjusted during post-processing since airplanes or helicopters are often lit ait airfields with different types of external lights. The color of the light coming from these lights will often not be pretty and is easily adjusted in post-editing software such as Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop. Something that is very often done while post-processing these types of photos is adjusting or darkening the background. Because external lights are used, the background is often lit as well, and this can be annoying or ugly.
10 tips for beautiful night shots!
Use a tripod
Use manual camera settings
Shoot in RAW
Don't set the ISO too high (start at ISO 250 or 400)
Use longer exposures
Use f/5,6 to f/11 for sharp images with a good depth of field (DOF)
Use the self-timer of the camera to avoid motion blur
Take photos from different viewpoints and angles
Turn off your image stabilization or vibration reduction
Be creative and shoot near water or create silhouettes
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