I’m an aisle seat kind of gal, but every once in a while I’m in a window seat (and I try as hard as I can to avoid the dreaded middle seat near the bathroom). When I know I’m sitting near the window, I’ll ask Peter if I can borrow his point and shoot that has been converted to an infrared camera, and I will pass the time staring at the scenery below me.
If you get a window seat and want to take photos try these tips:
- Pick a seat that is not over the wing. Online sites like SeatGuru can help you figure out where your seat is and if you can get an unobstructed view.
- Try to wipe the window with a damp cloth. I know, your fellow passengers will give you the side eye, but you want to improve your chances of getting something good.
- Don’t put the lens to the window. The plane vibrates and this will cause your images to be soft, or worse, blurry.
- Try to shoot eye-level and keep the back of the camera parallel to the window. This isn’t always easy, and sometimes you end up with too much sky. When I shoot down, I use the Transform feature in Lightroom to try to “stand my pictures up vertically”.
I love flying through the middle of the country and capturing the geometrical shapes below me. I will try to “stand them up” and then will use different techniques to change the colors. Topaz Restyle is still my favorite application. For the pictures below I used a variety of tools: Lightroom presets, on1, AlienSkin Exposure X, and Silver Effects Pro 2.
pamphotography 