Airplane and the Moon…how did I create this photograph?

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At first this photograph might seem as unusual entry to my blog which is all about the nature, landscapes etc. However it can be seen as one portraying the “sky landscape”.This weekend I was at the 2009 Wide Bay International Airshow in Bundaberg, Queensland. Photographing  flying airplanes has presented me with some different problems than I usually face in landscape photography. Trying to lock in fast flying airplane within the frame and to achieve the sharp focusing required different way of thinking and solving problems.

Always on a lookout for a different creative approaches to my photography I have  pre visualised this image. Shiny silver airplane flying towards the full moon which is barely seen in a distance . Only to get to it I had to solve a few small problems.

Firstly, I was on a ground which presented me with the challenge of capturing the airplane flying in a direction of a moon. Secondly, the moon was already high in the sky . With a bit of luck I could get them both within the one frame but both images of moon and the airplane would be to small to have any impact. I needed a close up shot of a airplane and I had to be in a ” pilots seat”  to get the right angle and drama I was looking for.

So, how did I do it? I managed to get underneath the fly path of this airplane(from the safe fenced area?!) and get a good sharp closeup of the airplane as it dropped its landing gear and was descending towards the runaway. The blurred area in the bottom of the frame is actually the roof top of a car parked in front of me . Tele lens nicely blurred it out and in the same time added the another dimension to the photograph. All that was now left was to lower the moon from the sky and position it as it was in the front of the plane . I took one separate shot of the moon and later in the Photoshop did some cropping and layering on the top of the airplane photograph.

Mission accomplished and the airplane has safely  landed on the runaway.