Fly by Night

I’m a sucker for big airliners, time exposures, and the angles that offer different points of view than we see in San Diego. While on a visit to Los Angeles, I ventured to LAX where everything with wings and engines departing and arriving to and from all parts of the World can be seen and heard day and night. It had rained almost continuously for the two days prior to my visit, so the air was clean and clear. Just a few blocks away from the airport is a neighborhood on a hill that overlooks half of the airport, so it was just a matter of setting up the camera on a tripod, playing with the exposure until I got what I wanted for the light streaks, and then waiting for the right opportunity to fly by. The exposure was ¼ of a second at f5 on ISO 400 with a 300mm lens. I followed the plane as it took off and kept firing the camera continuously. Only one or two frames with the right light streaking, sharpness and silhouetting was the result.

Howard Lipin

Fly by Night