"Have you got your camera with you, a Lynx is coming to refuel later and I need some new pictures on the wall!" The dialogue with the SAR field office manager in Warnemünde in February 2017 went something like this. From March 2019, the two of them really got going and the HelispotterMV profile was created on social networks. Only the Helicopter of the navy. In the end, however, there are also photos of police helicopters and companies with air rescue duties. But mainly the naval aviators. As marines, this is almost a matter of course.
Some people ask themselves: Why photograph helicopters? Simple!
On the one hand, it is the fascination of the technology and the apparent ease with which pilots manoeuvre their helicopters. And the other aspect: they help people and are special, and that is what we want to show. The hashtag #nachihnenkommtkeinermehr was devised for the SAR pilots. It sounds casual, but it has meaning. If no one flies because of bad weather, then the naval aviators come. Message in the chat group, SAR is coming in to land. Sea Kingfinally once again. That means logging out, jacket on, glasses on, ear defenders in.
Camera with eleven images per second, Kalashnikov mode. Battery. Check. Lens?
The King is big, so it has to be a wide-angle, but also lightweight telephoto lens. Stay flexible. Wind direction? Where is the sun? Sensor sensitivity 100 or automatic, avoid noise in the image. Short shutter speed. Then take the known positions and kneel down, otherwise the King will knock you over. Three minutes to go until landing. The King comes audibly closer and prepares to land. The photos will later show how the exhaust fumes flicker in the air as it exits, and how a powerful soot emission reveals that the pilot has intercepted the helicopter in order to gently touch down the nine tonnes of aircraft. The loading gate is open, the on-board mechanic, a familiar face, looks out and waves. One or two more photos as the King rolls past. In the video recorded at the same time, you can hear a heavy rush of wind and grass flying through the air. The engines are switched off and the crew refuel the helicopter. When everything is ready, they greet each other and make small talk. If permitted, close-ups are taken. Then with an ultra-wide-angle lens and tripod to show the helicopter in detail. Pitot, tail rotor, squadron emblem, sometimes an oblique image composition. Sharpness and blurring by playing with the aperture. Creating sun stars by photographing against the sun. Lens flares in a steel-blue sky over Warnemünde, the eye-catcher. The finish photo! After a coffee with Warnemünde ice cream, the time of departure draws near. The SAR flies to Barth to practise autorotation. After take-off, a spectacular film-like flyover. Great, everything saved!
It is not only the Sea Kingbecause the Sea Lynx is very popular for focussing through the camera's viewfinder. At events such as the Hanse Sail, both helicopters in the Flying Display produce impressive, dynamic images and videos that not only please the photographers. As a result, a photo in which you unfortunately see enough grey in grey becomes something very special in post-production. A little sharpening, perhaps a radial filter, a graduated filter or a preset are all that is needed. In special cases, image composition is used to create a spectacular scene with the helicopter in front of a replaced sky. The aim is to present and advertise something that will encourage younger followers on social networks to join the navy and aspire to the cockpit to become part of something special. To this end, the posts are integrated into a free-moving network of "navy influencers" who want to authentically show what makes our navy so attractive.
Lieutenant Captain Daniel Angres is an object officer in the Naval Support Command, amateur photographer and co-founder of HelispotterMV.
English 
German
0 Kommentare