Boeing 737-700 (N455WN)

Catching the departures of the 23 aircraft that RON at RNO means arriving at the airport by 5:30 AM, but it's worth the loss of a couple hours of sleep to get the early dawn and daybreak shots.

Alright now, I have to know - what settings are you using in that light to create a good shot? There doesn't appear to be much noise and the aircraft is nice and crisp, the movement is sweetly blurred and the lighting gives the right impression for the early morning.

Excellent shot, Gary.
I am going to take a wild flying guess here. ISO 600, f/4, 1/1000 sec.

Gavin & Viv ... Hey, guys, howdy! Here's the info re: settings. Viv, 2 out of 3 so very well done. (Grin)
First, to explain a bit, RNO is positioned between two mountain ranges. To the west, the Sierra Nevada; to the east, the Virginia Range. As a result, on clear (non-cloudy) days, both at sunrise and then again at sunset, when the sun is either just appearing or finally disappearing at the earth's horizon, it is "behind" one of those two mountain ranges. Thus, even tho there is some sun, because the mountains are blocking it in its earliest moment of dawn or its final moments of dusk, the airport and the city are in darkness. After several years of "trial and error," I've figured out the settings I need when taking shots at those "first light" and "last light" moments.
ISO? 800. That's the highest I go. Yes, I do get a bit of noise at that setting but it is minimal. PS has an editing tool that performs "REDUCE NOISE." Using that feature does, in fact, reduce the noise that occurs at an ISO 800 setting .... the important thing for you to do is isolate (with the magic wand) just the area you want to use the REDUCE NOISE feature on (such as just the sky). REDUCE NOISE simultaneously degrades the pinpoint clarity of everything it is used on, so if you REDUCE NOISE of the entire photo, the sharp clarity of the main object (the SW in this pic) is also degraded. So use the magic wand to outline and isolate the area you want the noise reduced on, and the main object remains sharp and clear.
f/4.5 for this shot, but I vary it between f/4.0 and f/5.0 depending on how much darkness. My primary problem here at RNO during twilight / nighttime hours are those da_n High Pressure Sodium lights. I've heard that RNO has a retrofit to LED lighting in the plans for the future but I've not heard any date given for that retrofit. When I'm shooting from the east as seen here, those crummy HPS lights backblast every pic with that lousy yellow lighting and turn the aircraft in the foreground into just a shadow. If I adjust to illuminate the aircraft in the foreground, the HPS lights blow out everything in the background. When shooting from the west, the HPS lights give everything in the foreground a yellow "overcast" and the aircraft in the background is always poorly lit ... and the mountains in the distance, from either direction, cannot be discerned at all. As a result of the above circumstances, I need a very, VERY slow shutter.
Shutter: 1/80th for this shot but I vary it from 1/40th to 1/160th. I have no option but to use a slow shutter. If I were to go to ISO 1600 I could use a faster shutter but I'd had more noise and I'd have to increase the % of REDUCE NOISE; thus, simultaneously softening the original clarity too much. If I go higher on the f stop, the combination of those High Pressure Sodiums and the sky getting brighter but the airport not at all illuminated by any sunlight means I lose much (or all) of any interesting background(s). The only way I can get a distinguishable, sharp, and crisp shot of the moving aircraft AND some background with it is with a very slow shutter AND a good steady, straight pan that stays smoothly with the moving aircraft. I fire in burst mode, a minimum of 3 per burst, a max of 4 per burst. Less than 3 cuts the "successful single capture" percentage from 66% to 50%; a burst of 4 seems to result in a "successful single capture" percentage of 50% (BUT with 2 out of 4 chances), and a burst of more than 4 is usually useless because it is really difficult to hold a steady, smooth pan more than four shots on a moving aircraft because human hands are not steady platforms AND backgrounds lighting conditions change rapidly anyway as the aircraft moves along. BTW ... I do NOT use a tripod. My opinion (purely personal, of course) is that putting a camera on a tripod and having the photographer remove his / her hands from the camera (and going off to eat a sandwich, smoke a cigarette or nurse on a vape, or use the restroom) and then returning to say, "Wow, look at the picture I took" is a lie since the photographer was not "hands on" with the camera when the shutter fired. So I never use a tripod.
Hey, guys, I hope this info helps. Certainly, if you try these settings, you'll find you must adjust for the circumstances at your locations, but perhaps this info will give you (and any other adventurous photogs) a "starting point" .... and maybe save you the "trial & error" stuff I went thru. (Fingers crossed for ya.)

Thanks Gary. I can't even pan well enough in good light to get a result at that shutter speed - never have actually even when I was young and fresh. I don't use a tripod either, (or monopod, as one guy I know does), more a hindrance than a help I reckon. I used PS 'reduce noise' on a few of my recent uploaded pics to get them to at least a reasonable standard for posting - very handy tool.

Gavin ... Those shutter speed ranges I mentioned were only for night and twilight pics. And actually, panning in low light at those slow speeds isn't all that difficult. I'm an old f--t with old man shakes but I can get 'em OK. Give it a try. (The beauty of digital is that it costs nothing but time to try something and if it doesn't work just hit the TRASH button.) Try it with the sun down below the horizon but still early to mid twilight (not total darkness). Try two bursts of 4. That gives you 8 chances of getting one good one. ISO 800, f/4.0, 1/100 shutter, aim (thru the eyepiece, NOT via the screen) and get a focal point, smooth pan with it, SNAP< SNAP< SNAP< SNAP<, finger off the shutter, then refocus, SNAP< SNAP< SNAP< SNAP<. Viewing thru the eyepiece results in a far, FAR smoother and more steady pan. Use autofocus. BTW, your camera's autofocus works best when you aim it at some area of contrast on the plane (such as a place where there is colorful paint on a light color background). Let's use the titles on the Southwest in my pic. The title SOUTHWEST is in white on dark blue fuselage paint. Because I was trying to snap this in very low light, everything is rather dark and A/F works best with light/dark contrast, so I needed to give my A/F as much "help" as possible by finding a strong area of light/dark contrast. Autofocus works best when it is aimed at distinctive contrast. So I aimed at the bottom of one of the white letters in the SOUTHWEST title, where the white meets the dark blue. Even tho the side of the jet facing me was not highly illuminated by daylight, the A/F easily detected the stark contrast between white and dark blue, "read" the distance, focused, and I panned as I snapped a 3-shot burst. As the plane swept by, I re-aimed at an area with strong contrast, the A/F refocused, and I clicked another burst. I ended up with 3 3-shot bursts; a total of 9 pics, which gave me very good odds of getting at least one keeper. (I ended up trashing 4 and keeping 5 and of those 5 I posted one here and sent the best one to an extremely important recipient agency. I don't get paid with $ for my pics because I refuse to accept $ which makes me an amateur photographer, but I do receive other forms of compensation that are, let's just say, "quite valuable.")

That's a really nice looking shot, Gary!

Thanks Greg. I suspect from your words we may be somewhere in the same age group but I've rarely been able to make a steady enough pan at low shutter speeds, younger or now. Got no probs with A/F and understanding contrast and I NEVER use the monitor screen for this type of photography. I photograph trams (streetcars as you'd call them) and I use it when necessary (over fences) but that's presetting the focus, holding it, and just let the camera run as the tram passes. I can generally get two or three then that are useful but for aircraft, viewfinder is the only way to go. All that said tho, I will keep trying panning because all the work that higher ISOs cause is a grind:)

Beautiful photo!

Thanx, BigAl. (Wave)

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