Aviation

This grounded Buccaneer aircraft was photographed at sunset. Multiple images at varying exposures were blended together to create a detail-rich high dynamic range image. The lighting and composition make this a great shot, but the addition of the pilot really elevates it into something special.

This Swiss Air Force Super Puma was captured as it fired a barrage of flares. It’s incredibly sharp for an image captured at 1/125 sec, with a 35mm equivalent focal length of 262mm. We also love how the flying flares appear to look like wings!

This F/A-18 Super Hornet belongs to the Blue Angels – a renowned US Navy flight demonstration squadron. Not only is this a superbly sharp example of a jet in flight, but it’s been captured the moment water vapour has appeared on the wings. It can be difficult to convey movement when photographing a jet, since there’s no propeller, but the water vapour conveys a sense of speed.

This image of an Avro Lancaster is dripping with atmosphere. The lone crewmember emphasizes the immense size of this World War II bomber. The lighting and smoke makes the scene appear cinematic, which complements the image's strong sense of narrative.

This portrait of a Hurricane pilot sitting in the cockpit performing a pre-flight routine is pin-sharp from front to back thanks to the narrow f/13 aperture. The black and white overlay really complements the World War II fighter's historic status.

This image of a P-47 Thunderbolt is a classic in-flight photograph of an aircraft. Crucially the 1/200 sec shutter speed was slow enough to blur the propeller and convey a sense of movement. A touch of golden light reflecting off the clouds completes this fantastic image of this classic American fighter.

We ask that high-resolution images are submitted to all of our NPOTY competitions. However, we had to leave a review of this stunning photo of the Red Arrows. The golden lighting reflecting off the aircraft, plumes of smoke and clouds makes for a perfect setting. If that wasn’t enough, we just love the composition, with the smoke curving back into the right-hand portion of the frame and the diagonal formation, perfectly framed in portrait orientation.

Nowadays it’s a real privilege to be invited into the cockpit of a commercial airliner. This stunning shot depicts the interior of an Airbus A340-600 during its landing approach into Tehran's international airport. The lights within the cockpit and the city beyond immediately draw the viewer’s eye and we’d argue this image wouldn’t have proven nearly as effective during the day.

This magnificent mono image of the Red Arrows is proof aviation photos don’t always have to be close-ups. This wider composition conveys the enormity of the aerobatic team’s white smoke trails, which pop against the brooding sky. It makes fantastic use of negative space, and despite their diminutive size within the frame, strong silhouettes clearly define each Hawk aircraft.

This image of the Red Arrows aerobatic team expelling blue and white smoke is beautifully composed. The seven Hawks are clearly defined as jet-black silhouettes and a fast shutter speed of 1/2500 sec has frozen the billowing plumes of smoke.

We wanted to mention this photograph of a P-51D Mustang because of its perfect propeller blur. ‘Prop blur’ is essential if you want to convey a sense of movement when photographing propeller-driven aircraft. Any amount of blur is better than a frozen propeller, but peak prop blur (only created when using a slow enough shutter speed) will create a perfect circle, just like the example here.

The Red Arrows are synonymous with the UK, so it’s fitting that this image depicts the nine-strong aerobatic team flying past the London Eye, a structure that’s also synonymous with the UK. Both the Eye and the Hawk jets are tack-sharp and the super-fast 1/8000 sec shutter speed has frozen the red, white and blue plumes of smoke.

Aviation images don’t have to be entirely focused on aircraft. This wartime plane has been used as a backdrop for a vintage-style portrait. We like how the subtle off-white tones of the model’s outfit complements the muted colour palette of the aircraft behind.