During my flight down to Okayama a couple of weeks back, we had the luck of passing by Fuji in clear enough weather to see it. Seeing Fuji from the ground is spectacular enough, but seeing it from the air is something really special. Although I couldn’t see it out of my own window (my seat was on the other side) I was fortunate enough to be on a rather sparse flight, so I rushed over to the other side and took as many as I could. This was definitely the best one I got.
By the way, if you’re shooting from an airplane, let me give you a few tips to help capture the view you want. First of all, make sure you get as close to the window as you can with your lens. This will help reduce the visibility of dirt on the window (and there is a lot usually!), as well as reduce glare. If there’s still too much glare, use a jacket, your hand, whatever you can to block as much as possible. You might be able to remove a little glare in post, but it’s better to be correct when you take the shot if you can. Secondly, make sure your shutter speed is high enough to cancel the movement of the plane. Remember, you’re going pretty fast and you’re in a pressurized tube miles in the sky – even though the subject may be far away, there will be some natural shake, so you need to make sure your shutter speed takes care of that. Don’t be afraid to pump up your ISO a little to get that speed if need be. Thirdly, I like to keep things pretty sharp so I shot this around the sweet spot of my lens at f/10. But since you’re so far away, you can push that aperture wider without much penalty if need be. A wider aperture will also cut through the dirt and scratches on the window better. Finally, think about your surroundings. In this shot, I didn’t want any of the plane visible, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes a shot with the wing and engine, or a bit of the window from inside the plane, can add to the effect of the image. The main thing is that you know what is in the frame and what isn’t. Hope these thoughts will help you if you’re ever trying to grab some photos during a flight!
Camera: Nikon D7000
Lens: Nikon 35mm f/1.8
Shot Info: f/10 | 1/250sec | ISO100 | 35mm
