Helicopter Photography Tips | ON SAFARI in Botswana
Photographing from a helicopter with the doors off over the Okavango Delta is simply mind-blowing, but you have to know what you are doing to get the best results! In this video, Pangolin Photo Host William Steel shares his top helicopter photography tips as well as plenty of images.
We organise these sorts of helicopter flights when we are with our guests in the Okavango Delta in Botswana, and if you would like to experience it for yourself, then please visit our website:
www.pangolinphoto.com/photo-s...
Botswana is incredibly flat, so being able to get into the air gives a very different perspective, especially with the doors off!
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro to Helicopter Photography Tips
01:00 Shutter speeds
01:40 Aperture and ISO settings
02:30 Doors off helicopter
03:30 Lens choices
04:20 Altitude Restrictions
05:00 Aerial photography images
Discover why the Okavango Delta should be your next destination for an unforgettable photo safari by visiting: www.pangolinphoto.com/the-oka...
We are Pangolin Wildlife Photography, based in the Chobe, Northern Botswana. When we are not making videos for our channel, we host our guests and clients from all over the world on our Wildlife Photography safaris throughout Botswana and the rest of Africa-and sometimes beyond!
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Пікірлер: 35
Is this something you have tried or would consider trying?
@wilduntamedphotography1260
11 ай бұрын
Would definitely consider doing that
@PangolinWildlife
11 ай бұрын
You definitely should!
@bricepetit7764
11 ай бұрын
Did it twice.... it's nothing but epic!
@rdavidmarks5326
Ай бұрын
Definitely want to do this!!!
Hi Will, we enjoyed the morning we spent with you in the Mara. Sorry you were sick the day we were supposed to be with you earlier in the week.
Beautiful view
Looks Amazing.
@PangolinWildlife
11 ай бұрын
It certainly is!
I used to do commercial photography and lots of aerials, especially for construction companies and oil and gas. Totally agree about removing the doors and watching out for wind gusts. It can also get very shaky sometimes and I once had the front element of my Nikon 15mm lens vibrate lose and fall into the Houston Ship Channel. The world is very different and beautiful from up there!
@PangolinWildlife
11 ай бұрын
Absolutely!
EXQUISITE photos, really beautiful ... thank you ... brings back such memories! Gives wonderful perspective, but nothing quite beats the down-to-earth engagement/immersion of mokkorring thru the swamps, walking on the islands including Chief's Island panga in hand, sleeping in the open, watching out for hippo (so they don't tip the mokkoro) and lion (realizing that sometimes lions actually swim!) and wandering day after day in the wilderness from the shallow swamps to the deeper river courses!
One word Brilliant ☺☺
You are really brilliant Will. Will always remember my trip on your boat.
Important tip about the settings of the camera is have in mind longer lenses require higher speeds to avoid motion blur. Flying closer to the ground also requires higher speeds in your camera settings to avoid motion blur. If under a bright sunny sky a polarizer can be great to saturate color and sharpen shadows, but with overcast conditions or variable conditions the 2 stops of light you loose yo may lose the options of working at lower ISO or avoiding motion blur so only use a polarizer if you have clear sky during your time in the air. If flying with only one camera some lenses like all in one zooms can be great no wider than 35mm and no longer than 400mm. Canon had a 28-300 that was great to have something from a little to wide to a little shorter but perfect for 95% of your shots (Focal lengths for full frame cameras). All cameras on straps, dual cards if camera allows it 128-256 GB if posible with high resolution cameras (36-61 MP), low to medium motor drive modes for fast moving subjects on short bursts. Most important: Safety. Always use a harness with safety strap to the aircraft to secure you during the flight on a helicopter with no doors. If the pilot can't take the doors of better get on a hot air balloon because the glass of a window will ruin your shoots.
@PangolinWildlife
11 ай бұрын
Excellent points thank you.
Loved your video!
@PangolinWildlife
11 ай бұрын
Thank you!!
It was great experience and beautiful to see the world from different angles! Thank you for your recommendation!!
@PangolinWildlife
11 ай бұрын
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for bing part of it!
Awesome! Thanks so very much!
@PangolinWildlife
11 ай бұрын
You're welcome!
It’s certainly one of the fun things to do in Okavango. I did it back in 2017. I used 24-120 on my Nikon D850 and 70-200 on my D 500 cropped sensor body. Auto ISO and f 8 with shutter speed 1/1000s or faster. Had good results.
@PangolinWildlife
11 ай бұрын
Great stuff! Thank you.
That was refreshing, enjoyed this one as it was different :) Thanks
@PangolinWildlife
11 ай бұрын
Glad you enjoyed it!
Hi William! It's Fred here ..... hope you are fine. Back in the days I was fortunate to experience two scenic flights above the delta with a "Cessna-like" aircraft but it was almost impossible to stick the lens through the small top window-opening because of the windy conditions. Those pilots flew way too high and didn't give any advice. Helicopter flights were always on my bucket list at the end of a trip but every time my financial situation in the end just was not insufficient to book me one. What I noticed during these flights I experienced, that the companies that managed them decided what time of the day they flew out, most of the time a tourist routine job. Later on I became aware the weather and the season of the year were also decisive for photographing wildlife. One time I did a morning flight when it was still freezing cold and a flight on the hottest hour of the afternoon a few years later. In both of the situations the animals were hiding under trees and vegetation or even under water so just landscape images was the result. You need a little luck as well and a pilot that knows how too find animals to take good stuff. Have the quality of these flight providers improved and have helicopter flight prices risen after covid? Thanks in advance.....grtz Fred.
@PangolinWildlife
11 ай бұрын
The helicopter is a very different experience to a small plan and a much more photo friendly platform. we tend to go out at first or last light. Its not cheap..nothing to do with flying is these days...but worth every penny!
Thank you, great video, do we need to use Image Stabilization when shooting at these higher shutter speeds?
I certainly hope the helicopter option will be available on my Chobe-Okavango-Kalahari trip beginning Nov 7 this year. I've shot video and stills from copter with doors off and did some amazing work in Arizona. Hope it can happen. Would plan to shoot with 2 Sony A1 bodies with Sony 20-70 G and 70-200 GM glass. And a GoPro 11.
@PangolinWildlife
11 ай бұрын
Hi. Please chat to your safari planner and they can get it booked in for you. or you can book when you are at the camp
hi, im booking a flight for end of September, really looking froward to it but I actually don't have any of those lenses you suggest, only a 10-18mm, 18-55, or 70-300, or 50mm, out of those which would you suggest would be best on a crop sensor camera? thankyou
Are helicopter rides available at Kanana?
I tried "hands-off" photography while riding my motorcycle. Didn't end well. It was on side-stand and I fell off...
@PangolinWildlife
11 ай бұрын
Brilliant!