david allio

Jets Above the Mojave Desert | ©2012 David Allio

While exploring in the Mojave Desert near Arizona and Nevada border, I happened to look up into the clear desert sky and see these two airplanes on intersecting paths. The Southwest Boeing 737 appeared to be on approach to McCarran Airport at about 5000 feet while the contrails were being created by a high-flying Boeing 747 at about 35000 feet. As each jet airplane was moving along a different flight path, they created a rapidly changing challenge of composition.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.  Would it be a more compelling image if the 737 were captured before, flying across, or after passing the 747 contrail?  What shutter speed would be adequate to freeze both jets moving at high speeds in different directions?  What f/stop would be necessary for the proper depth of field for the airplanes at different altitudes?

Consider that the 737 was probably moving at over 200 miles-per-hour and the 747 was flying along in the 400-500 miles-per-hour range, each tick of the clock brought a significant change in their relationship within the viewfinder. Right or wrong, several decisions had to be made regarding the composition and exposure.

The results of my decisions are shown in this photograph created using a Nikon D60 with a Nikkor AF VR Zoom 55-200mm f/4-5.6G IF-ED lens set to 200mm with an aperture of f/8, a shutter speed of 1/1000th of a second, and a film speed of 400ISO. This over-exposure by two-thirds of an f/stop allowed for details in the shadows of the airplanes.