12 Tips for Photographing from a Helicopter with the Doors Off

Photographing from a helicopter, especially one with the doors off, can be a fun and challenging experience that yields incredible pictures. Here are my top tips for photographing from a helicopter to make your first time a breeze!

Safety First

First and foremost: listen to your pilot and all safety instructions. Flying in a helicopter is different than flying in a plane and flying in a helicopter with doors off is different than flying with doors on. Keep yourself and everyone else safe when photographing from a helicopter by following all safety instructions.

When It Rains, It Pours

Much more so than planes, helicopter flights are weather-dependent, so if you’re grounded, it’s for a good (read: safety) reason. Is it a bummer? Sure. But it’s for the best. Plus, bad weather doesn’t always yield the best photos, so you’re likely not missing out on much.

Plan Ahead

You won’t be able to change batteries, memory cards, or lenses mid-flight, so start with your lens of choice, a full battery charge, and a large empty memory card.

Choose Carefully

Because you can’t change lenses mid-flight, you’ll want to choose your lens carefully. I’m a fan of a 24-105mm lens for photographing from a helicopter because it gives me a wide option as well as some room to zoom.

Strap In

When flying in a helicopter with the doors off, camera straps are a must (safety-conscious outfitters won’t let you fly without them). Get a phone strap for your cell phone if that’s what you’re going to shoot with. In the same vein, don’t have anything loose in your pockets, and wear shoes that lace onto your feet securely. You don’t want to risk anything dropping out of the helicopter. Leave anything you can on the ground so you have less to stress about.

Bad Vibes

While you’re photographing from a helicopter, don’t rest your camera against the frame of the helicopter. You may think that will steady you, but in reality, you’ll be getting vibrations from the helicopter, which will negatively impact your images.

Speed Wins

When it comes to shutter speed, that is! You’ll want to shoot with a fast shutter speed because the helicopter will be moving quickly. Don’t be afraid to bump your ISO in order to be able to use a faster shutter speed.

RAW

If your camera has the option (all DSLR and Mirrorless Cameras do) shoot in RAW. You want the dynamic range that RAW files give you as many times as you’ll have a bright sky and land or other subjects that are potentially in shadow. Shooting RAW gives you the latitude to deal with that in post.

It’s Polarizing

If you’re photographing with the doors off, you won’t need a polarizing filter to deal with reflections on the glass, but you may want one to boost the sky or reduce haze on the water. You’ll still have the front bubble, so wear dark clothing to minimize your reflection in that if you want to shoot any shots through the bubble.

Expect the unexpected

You may not always be in a position to get the best angles or the perfect shot. I tend to shoot a little wider than I would normally to leave room to crop. If you’re on a private flight, you may be able to ask your pilot to come around again or from a different angle or hover, but if you’re on a shared scenic flight, you get what you get and you don’t get upset. I like to look for interesting graphic patterns in addition to iconic shots and landmarks.

It Can Get Hairy

Long-haired folks: braid your hair. Seriously. A ponytail is not enough. The first time I flew doors off I went with a ponytail and then spent three hours afterward detangling my hair. The motion of the rotors will have your hair whipping around and cause teeny, tiny micro knots that are a huge pain to get out.

Shoot a lot

Unlike film, digital is cheap. You’ll be in flight for a limited amount of time, so take a lot of images while you’re in flight, especially if it’s your first time. They won’t all be perfect, but you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

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