Today’s aerial photo assignment was the GM Truck Manufacturing Plant in Fort Wayne Indiana. The new 2014 Chevy truck is rolling onto showroom floors and Chevy wants to celebrate. About 50 trucks were parked to form the Chevy logo which they refer to as the “Chevy Bow-Tie.” I was asked to get photos of the Bow-Tie by itself and also to get photos of the entire facility that includes the Bow-Tie.
This facility is enormous and may be the largest building I’ll ever take photos of. We arrived in the helicopter on-site just before 9:00 am (with sunrise at 7:11 this time of year). Morning light is great but a little moisture in the air and glare makes shooting towards the sun an impossibility. I did however manage to get some some good photos from the south-south-west (see above photo), but most shots were taken from the south, north or east. Many of the pictures needed help in post production to reduce haze and bring back detail that was lost in the bright eastern sky. Other photos can be viewed HERE.
Joel Metzger says
Great pics! How do you compensate camera shake from a helicopter?
admin says
I keep the shutter speed as slow as possible while making sure I’m getting sharp photos. The bumpier the flight the faster the shutter speed. This usually means 1250/sec or faster. The slower shutter allows more light to hit the camera’s sensor and thus allows me to use a lower ISO, which means less noise.