60D on a helicopter tour over Grand Canyon

Hello everyone,

I've just come back from a great trip around California and Nevada, in which I had a chance to fly a helicopter from Las Vegas all the way to the Eastern Rim of the Grand Canyon. Here are some pictures I took with my 60D and 17-55 f/2.8.

More pics can be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/62015899@N07/sets/72157626423821309/

















I've done a bit of reserach before going and I'd like to share some tips that I found useful:

• Use a polarizer to cancel out the reflections in the window. Don't forget to turn it 90 degrees when going from horisontal to vertial frame. It's a good idea to practice this beforehand
• Wear black/dark clothing to keep the reflections at a minimum. I should have also brought a dark cloth to cover up shiny/light parts of the cockpit (like armrests and seats)
• It's a good idea to make sure the windows are clean on the outside before taking off
• Keep the shutter speed rather high, things move by at an incredible rate.
• Don't rest the lens on the window or rest your back against the seat, this helps keep the vibration low.
• Prepare your gear before the flight, cause you won't have a spare second to change lenses, memory cards etc.
• Don't focus too long on one scene, because the scenery changes really quickly and a new opportunity might be coming along.

And finally - try to look around, since no camera can capture the sheer excitement of flying with a bird's eye view on land below.

Regards,
Ivan

I had a look at the whole set on Flickr, pretty nice actually. It looks like the birds eye view is the way to go. Well done
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Warren

Very nice photos....i think i like the 1st one best...thank you for sharing these wonderful photos

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WT Jones said:

I had a look at the whole set on Flickr, pretty nice actually. It looks like the birds eye view is the way to go. Well done
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Click to expand...

The "way to go" is to climb down into the Canyon. I did this many years ago, and slept down on the bottom next to the Colorado River. The view from the top pales in comparison to actually being inside, which is like visiting another planet - magnificent.

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Sam K., NYC

BTW - those helicopter pics are lovely despite what i said.
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Sam K., NYC