Emirates Airbus A380-861 (A6-EUK) arriving at YYZ - Photo by Robson Smith
A winter storm had just tapered off in Toronto and the runway had been cleared after 40 minutes of effort - the first plane to land in the setting daylight (aft...
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A winter storm had just tapered off in Toronto and the runway had been cleared after 40 minutes of effort - the first plane to land in the setting daylight (after 45 minutes of circling the Toronto International Airport - Lester B. Pearson "YYZ") was this Airbus A380 Emirates touching down facing into the sun, with snow vortexes clearly showing -an amazing few moments - image captured in this case by Robson Smith - Photographer.
Enjoy:) - and for more please feel free to visit www.drsmithfoto.ca.
Thanks!
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Enjoy:) - and for more please feel free to visit www.drsmithfoto.ca.
Thanks!
Read less
Jan, 2018Views
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Top Shot Award 21
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DRSmithFoto
January 22, 2018
Thanks - Robson and I were watching this amazing series of moments -and he captured the "feel" of the moment -after about 4 hours of outdoor in the winter storm waiting for this arrival ... after the shutdown of the airport for runway cleaning and the unexpected change of direction for landing planes post clearing...
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
Robson captured this fleeting moment after hours of patiently waiting outside in subzero weather for this Emirates' Airbus A380 to arrive after 14 hours flight time to Toronto's Lester B. Pearson International airport "YYZ". We were located at one end of the longest of 5 runways at over 9,500 feet long - facing due east and slightly angled to the side of the runway. The A380 in this image was about 3-4000+ feet away from us on runway 06L-24R. As there was a reversal of landing direction due to storm/snow clearing of the runways - this plane landed into the sunset and Robson managed this capture hand held focusing and tracking through the holes of a standard wire mesh fencing that surrounds the circumference of the airport.Time
This took place at 5:11 PM EST (sunset officially recorded at 4:49 PM EST Toronto) .Lighting
The lighting was amazing during a brief window of 10-15 minutes time around the last of a winter sunset. Following a winter snow squall, the setting sun to the west was cleared of cloud cover, whilst the plane landing directly into the sunset had a cloud cover over and behind it which helped reflect the sunset colours onto the plane and ground. The colours captured were absolutely incredible and very true to this day and time of the year...Equipment
The camera gear used is part of our very trusted outfits: The body is a tried and true Canon 70D with OEM battery, "handheld" captured using a HOYA skylight filter protecting the Canon EF 35-350mm f/3.5-5.6 L USM lens (20 years old, rebuilt once, with autofocus but no image stabilizer built in). This image was taken at the maximum zoom for this lens of 350mm and used on the crop 1.6x Canon 70D format which is an equivalent 560mm on a full frame 35mm sensor (roughly equal to a 12x pair of binoculars). Image captured to a reliable SanDisk Extreme PRO sdxc flash memory card. Camera and lens were protected from intermittent now squalls we experienced in the four hours waiting for this moment by an inexpensive generic no name raincover/dustcover for camera and lens. We did have backup batteries for the camera - but was not required. Our personal gear reflected temperatures expected and realized of -20 °C (-4.0 °F) with wind chill, and blinding snow flurries at time - we did use a combination of thin and thick gloves and bare hands to allow us to manage the switch between photographing / videoing and keeping warm. Eyewear (sunglasses) were used at times to keep windblown snow and bright sun out of our eyes. Amazingly all camera gear, (body, lens (zoom & autofocus - both for still and videos) worked flawlessly and with enough battery power (1 battery powered this camera throughout 4 plus hours outside ) to take us through 4 hours of photography and several hundred images. I must admit I looked more like a polar bear than a human, although Robson the photographer and a young teenager was "lightly" dressed by comparison:)Inspiration
An ongoing passion for photography, and photographing planes in flight (started about 6 years ago when I was 8), including a wish to photograph all commercial airplane models, airlines and their unique livery. Of special interest is to capture this super-sized Airbus A380 in flight. The Emirates' A380 is the only regularly scheduled A380 to land at Toronto Lester B. Pearson's airport - and does so only twice a week.Editing
Robson the Photographer (14 year young) handled all aspects of this image; from selecting the subject, planning of the shoot, location, timing, logistics, and equipment to be used - right through to post processing and publishing onto Viewbug. The image started out in camera as a Canon CR2 RAW image - ISO 250, 1/1000 second, f5.6 @350mm Adobe RGB (1980) colour space. Using Capture One 11 (formerly known as "Capture One Pro") to process and fine tune the RAW image. Adjustment to this image included: A slight crop to frame the plane more pleasingly (it was 3-4000+ feet away), auto-adjusted for Chromatic Aberration. Ever so slight increase to contrast, reduced brightness, bumped the saturation ever so slightly, and, then reduced the overall brightness and shadow levels range(from 255 to 160 or so). Finally added a touch of clarity and sharpening (this image is from a 20 year old zoom lens). Followed by meta-tagging of the image prior to exporting as a 100% quality JPEG ADOBE RGB and chose "optimum sharpening for screen" setting. Final watermark was created using Adobe Photoshop - using a blank layer to add the watermark text, then flattened and re-exported as a JPEG at maximum quality and selecting "Baseline optimized" for viewing. All in all - the image was up in Viewbug with description added, and meta-tags for Viewbug in about 15 minutes - start to finish.In my camera bag
We are principally day photographers and as such we travel as light and prepared as possible for our typical 4-8 hour+ outdoor photo sessions. We take care to make sure we are weather and emergency prepared. As we typically walk and public transit to our destinations , occasionally kayak, everything is carried in backpacks including food, water and clothing. In our camera bag for Aviation, Wildlife and Dog photography you will find us using a Canon 70D and Canon 7D Mark II body (outfitted with a battery grip holding 2 batteries), along with a choice of our Canon EF 35-350mm f/3.5-5.6 L USM or Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD zoom lenses. Both lenses have there own Arca-Swiss Style QR plates. We also carry a Canon Extender EF 1.4x which we can use on our Canon lens only. All lenses are protected by skylight filters, and, with an optional circular polarizer filter for the Canon 35-350mm zoom lens. We typically shoot handheld as our subjects are most often rapidly moving and in erratic directions. For our architecture, landscape and walkabout city photography we carry the incredible Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L USM Fisheye Lens (which on our crop frame cameras creates a low distortion full frame image at 15mm, and, a rectilinear fisheye at 8mm). Robson uses his Google Pixel phone almost exclusively for all his of his architectural, city walkabout and landscape photography, whilst I will occasionally use an old iPhone 6 - his being vastly superior :) Usually we carry a small MeFOTO GlobeTrotter Carbon Fiber Travel Tripod with the ability to use it as a monopod, also the centre column reverses for close to ground/macro photography. It includes a removable Dual Action Ball Head and Arca-Swiss Style QR Plate. The head is removable allowing us to use in it's place our Jobu Jr.3 Gimbal with Swing-Arm BWG-J3K which is often used for photographing/videoing airplanes in flight, airshows, and for long hours spent in the field photographing birds perched and in flight. Also for extended trips and /or special sessions we will sometimes reach out and include our Canon 50mm f3.5 Macro lens (filter optionally on), and our legacy Canon EF 20-35mm f/2.8L lens always filtered and with it's own optional polarizer. Alway we use our SanDisk Extreme PRO sdxc flash memory cards (we now have 128,64,and 32GB capacities on hand), a couple extra camera batteries. Lens hoods, cleaning cloths, brushes and liquid, neoprene water-resistant lens cases, inexpensive weather plastic camera /lens covers along with gloves for camera operation, battery charger and cables for our phones. If we expect to travel in inclement weather (rain/snow) or kayaking we generally use the waterproof backpacks and sleeves for our gear - as available for kayaking type usage. All told, as when we captured this image, we often carry an average of 30-40 pounds between the two of us - including emergency, weather gear, food and water and our camera gear. AND most important of all - always with great sense of adventure with a good dose of enthusiasm, patience and readiness to seize the moment.Feedback
Always be ready, always be ready for the unexpected and seize the moment at hand. As many times as we have planned for this image - weather, timing, location, circumstances and more inteferred or conspired against us. However Robson never gave up. After many attempts, with many many hundreds of images taken in all sorts of weather over a couple of years at this location, this was the one that worked for Robson. And, this was not the image planned:) Generally we have a destination, subject and our timing and path is planned in advance. That said, we recognize that the trip can be just as important as the final destination so we always walk with our eyes wide open. Often what we set out to capture, is in fact not what turns out to be the most memorable moment or image captured as in this case. Have fun, enjoy and thanks to all for your likes and support!
