Non Aviation Photography Thread

[Dave S.]

Took this from the window of my hotel room in Washington DC.  Had to use the sill of my open window as a makeshift tripod.  I mean really, who goes to DC without a tripod?  Obviously, I did.  But I won't make that mistake again.  I would have really enjoyed going out at night and shoot photographing the monuments at night, when they were illuminated.

Anyway, my first toying with b&w, and the subject seemed appropriate.

[Stephen Marshall]

Couldn't sleep tonight so I thought I would explore a bit of the campus.  The hallway is part of an old unused elementary school.


Nighttime Hallway by unmannedpilot, on Flickr

[Jbong]

Took this from the window of my hotel room in Washington DC.  Had to use the sill of my open window as a makeshift tripod.  I mean really, who goes to DC without a tripod?  Obviously, I did.  But I won't make that mistake again.  I would have really enjoyed going out at night and shoot photographing the monuments at night, when they were illuminated.

Anyway, my first toying with b&w, and the subject seemed appropriate.

Awesome Photo Dave.

[cpasley]

Couldn't sleep tonight so I thought I would explore a bit of the campus.  The hallway is part of an old unused elementary school.

Creepy ,like the scene from a horror movie ,can you hear childrens laughter?

[F-16_fixer]

Another one from my trip back to Ohio

[Bubak]

[Bubak]

[wingsnstuff]

I've been trying to get a good shot of a Hummingbird for years and have failed on every attempt.  Very nice shot.  Excellent composition.

[jslugman]

Superb shot!!!

[Bubak]

Thank You!

[Dave S.]

Okay gents, bear with me on this series.

This is where that gas dynamics class pays off, and why I always try to sit in a window seat on the wing.  During my flight from Denver to Phoenix, I once again observed the ever-cool Mach wave (aka shockwave) on the top of the wing.  As you can see (hopefully) in this three shot series, these are three shots that are progressively zoomed in on the Mach wave on top of the wing.  The pictures don't really do it justice, but it's super cool to see in person.  I've drawn the circle around the wave to help you try and locate it.

1) In the first picture, it's really only the refraction of the black 'Do not walk outside...' line that indicates the presence of the Mach wave.
2) I've zoomed in (using my 100-400 and bumping into the poor lady in the seat next to me) and you (hopefully) can just make out the 'disturbance' in the black line.  This refraction is similar to the effect you see when you put a straw into a glass of water.  Where the straw meets the water, you'll see this 'bend' or kink in the straw that doesn't really exist.  What you are seeing is an effect caused by the difference in densities between the water and the surrounding air.  Anyway, back to the images...
3) Here, I've had to switch to manual focus in order to get the Mach wave itself in focus.  Within the green circle, you'll see a nearly vertical line that is the Mach wave.  This wave is much easier to identify if you click on the picture to show its full size.  The low resolution 'thumbnail' does a pretty good job of masking the wave.  The wing itself is now completely out of focus.  This wave is actually located pretty close to the window.  In the first two images, the distortion of the black line occurred because you (I, or the camera actually) was looking through the Mach wave itself and seeing the wing behind it.

Hopefully one of you guys will get a kick out of this as much as I do and I won't have wasted everyone's precious viewing time.  So, the next time you're on a commercial flight and you happen to sit on an overwing seat, you can gaze outward and try to find the Mach wave on top of the wing.  This set of photos was from an Embraer 190, but I've also witnessed this same phenomenon on the following aircraft: MD-80 series, 737, A320 and a 747.

I've found the best time of day is when the sun is almost straight overhead.  Then, you'll most likely see a long, thin shadow that begins near the fuselage, about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way back from the leading edge.  It extends from near the fuselage to almost the wingtip.  As the plane encounters turbulence, you can see this shadow sort of dance around and move fore and aft.

If this is too geekery, don't flame me on the forum - just PM me.

Okay, here are those photos...

- Dave

[jslugman]

Wow, you really ARE geekier than I am.      Actually, I enjoyed it and am now looking forward to me next flight to check it out.

[Dave S.]

James,

Thanks for the compliment!

You should see the looks my wife (and now my daughter too) when we fly together.  I think they now enjoy boarding near the end of the line (at least on Southwest flights), so that, darn, there aren't three open seats together and Dad has to sit in that row far, far away.

- Dave

[scottcolbath]

Did me some NASCAR today........












S.C.

[Jbong]

Doing a little Air to ground Friday.


Safeway tailgate set-up by JasonKPHX, on Flickr


University Of Phoenix Stadium by JasonKPHX, on Flickr