If you were shooting at ISO 1600, that would have definately been the reason for the grain (noise). Question is, why was it at 1600?

Well, the max ISO that you should really ever use in outdoor aviation photography is ISO 400 in my experience. If you were shooting in auto mode (with auto ISO) (?) the camera will have bumped up the ISO to take into consideration the dark conditions.

The polarising filter may have also have had an effect; it may have reduced the amount of light coming into the camera, and so the camera may have bumped up the ISO to compensate. Is the filter really necessary on an overcast day – they are, to be honest, pretty much totally useless on overcast days such as that on which your photos were shot. Polarising filters work best on clear, blue sky days. The filter will have darkened the image (the sky atleast).

For aviaton photography, use your camera in aperture priority mode (not sure what that mode is called on the Canon camera), and set the aperture from between f9 and f11 on good, bright, sunny, blue sky days and down to f7.1 – f8 on cloudy days. ISO should be around the 200-320 (max 400) mark on cloudy days and ISO 100-200 on nice, sunny days.

hope that helps! 🙂

btw, the last photo you’ve posted is really cool!

Wow. What a fantastic series of photos! One of the best collections I have seen on the forum for a while! 🙂

All I remember of FAO airport was the rather yellow terminal building and long, slow moving queues. Is it still yellow?

Excellent shots Paul! Dublin looks a mess – what construction work are they doing? 🙂

ooo! The first shot is very nice indeed, and the AC 773 and the silhoeutte shots are awesome! great work, Adam. 🙂

LHR seems to be playing slightly silly games at the moment. I went two days ago, the days that they the problems at T4; landings were on 27L; they suddenly confused everyone on the Myrtle Ave playing field by changing runways at 1pm, instead of 3pm. That bought an early end to my day at LHR.

Ive stood in front of many police officers with my scanner on, listening to ATC at airports. None of them have ever told me to stop using it – one even commented on how it made me ‘more’ of a ‘spotter’. grrr

I know an ex firearms officer and police instructor who frequently uses an airband scanner, so I don’t think the authorities really have anything against it.

I don’t really have a taste for a certain genre of music – like kev35, I like a huge range of stuff – If i like it, I like it. The only two genres that I don’t generally listen to are jazz and what I would term ‘hard heavy rock’ with people screaming into their microphones – not singing; screaming. What I decide to listen to depends very much on my mood, and I wouldnt be able to get through a day without listening to my music – it keeps me close to being as sane as possible.

I find that I’m a really big fan of film soundtracks, and will usually find myself visiting iTunes after watching a film – I bought the theme tune to ‘Cider House Rules’ yesterday (great film with Michael Caine and that Tobey Maguire dude).

There are a whole load of tracks that mean a lot to me – pieces of music that bring back memories or, just like kev35, provide a back drop to my life.

There is a piece of music at the moment which strikes a real chord within me, and that is the ‘Lindburgh Palace Remix’ of Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’, which is top of the chart at the moment. The first time I heard it, I was pretty close to having a car crash and dying or being seriously injured – a taxi journey to an airport at 5 am with a few friends, the taxi driver fell asleep at the wheel for a second or two doing 50mph on a single carriageway, and the car mounted the curb. After this happened, to keep himself awake, the driver opened his window and turned on the radio – ‘Umbrella’ was the track that came on. The music has come to symbolise that whole day for me.

Never has something turned myself and my 3 friends who were with me into such quivering wreaks. Never have I seen them so scared.