Generally speaking, when shooting from the air, paragliding is easier than hang gliding for taking photos Because you're sitting in a harness, you can attach equipment before you take off in such a manner that it's reasonably accessible With hang gliding and other sports where your body is in a more awkward position for accessing and taking photos, it will take some forethought and practice to be able to effectively get to your gear and use it Photography in any sport, paragliding included, where your space is tight, access is limited, and dropping equipment is disastrous requires some thinking and practice to become proficient at shooting While you may be accustomed to whipping out your camera and shooting quick shots in other sports, in these situations it's not so simple.

Interview: Marc Chirico

As part of writing this book, I visited Seattle Paragliding to get some photos and tips about shooting in the air Located on the side of Tiger Mountain, on Seattle's East side and very close to my home, on any nice day I see 10, 20, and even as many as 50 paragliders soaring above the mountain Catching the thermals spiraling as high as they can for as long as possible, on clear days they get breathtaking views of Mount Rainier Marc Chirico, the owner of Seattle Paragliding and veteran paraglider, has seen many years of exciting paragliding action and has a good personal perspective of what makes for good photography of paragliding — whether it's done by professionals or amateurs.

At the training facility, which is located in the top floor of an old barn, we sat in paragliding harnesses suspended from the ceiling to talk about how the sport can be photographed.

What advice would you give about choosing position.

Try to get good action sequences on launch, and get the whole picture of the glider, pilot, and detail of the situation. However, I also like to key in on the pilot and his or her relationship to the ground; when people shoot they tend to get back too much and try to only get the entire thing, and they end up losing the personal moment as the pilot breaks freeof the Earth.

© Marc Chirico

A self-portrait of Marc Chirico, taken at 5,600 feet with his camera on the end of a pole

What kind of equipment do you prefer?

When taking passengers with equipment in a moving sport like paragliding, I don't think you normally have the stability for long-lens shots. Wide-angle shots are much better, typically. We push more for family-style digital shots with auto-focus or the focus set on infinity. I also like using a camera on a 6-foot pole with remote or timed activation to get a shot of a body in the abyss or myself flying.

What about getting the shots?

Try to take advantage of the terrain and the light. The first shot that comes to mind is when the sun is in your face (not above) and you get a silhouette at the 'golden hour'.

I also like 'perspective' shots taken with relation to topography and/or meteorological conditions. When taking a shot, even when handheld, it's nice to show it against a vertical rock face to show contrast and the frailty of the human body against something exposed. I like high-held shots with nothing underneath, and also cloud shots where you have a crisp blue sky against a sun-side cumulous. Another favorite is when there's high contrast, such as between an oppressively dark cloud with a bright ray of sunshine shining through.

Consequently, safety and accessibility are the two essential factors you'll need to add to your mix of steps to good digital photography if you intend to shoot while soaring above the Earth.

Taking photos of hang gliders and paragliders from the ground can yield some spectacular shots, whether they're taking off, aloft, or landing Figures 7-1 and 7-2 are two such shots, one of the paraglider in flight and the other of one landing In Figure 7-3, you can see a smaller-sized, lower-resolution snapshot of a tandem flight coming in for a hard landing.

When shooting from the ground, use your telephoto lens and position yourself so that you can get shots with features such as a mountaintop, cloud, or trees in the image to add perspective You can get shots of gliders by themselves, such as in Figure 7-2, but these should not be the only images you shoot Try to include the gliders with other gliders, and include as much perspective as you can.

If you're shooting from the air, your perspective and position may be limited to where you're flying A tandem flight where someone else is operating the glider is optimal for shooting because you don't have to worry about flying; instead you can concentrate on photography However, if you're flying as well as trying to shoot photos, do as much preparation work as you can to ensure your access to equipment is even easier.

Watch for good positions where you can get other gliders in flight with a nice background whenever possible Photos that make it appear that another glider is close to the trees or a cliff always add drama and interest to the photo — even if it's an illusion caused by your telephoto lens.

Figure 7-1. This photo of the paraglider aloft is a nice perspective, looking straight up. The emphasis of exposure on this shot is more on the canopy than the pilot.

Figure 7-2. Landing shots, when they show both canopy and pilot, should be exposed so that neither is over- or underexposed. Unlike shots where you're trying to really show the entire glider aloft, shots such as this can be a bit tighter; you don't have to worry if the entire canopy isn't in the photo.: © Marc Chirico

Figure 7-3. This is a lower-resolution still image captured from a video. While a snapshot, it's a fun photo with motion and energy.: © Marc Chirico

When taking shots from the ground, be sure you expose the images for the glider and not the sky or background An alternative would be if you wanted to silhouette a glider against a bright background such as a cloud or near-direct sunlight To do that, set your camera on a very fast shutter speed, such as 1/2500 or faster if your camera features speeds that high.

To get photos of pilots landing or taking off, you'll want to be set for stop-action photos by using a manual focus to ensure your camera is running as fast as possible. For cameras with shutter lag, make sure you time your shot so that you depress the shutter button before the "moment of truth" when the pilot lands or releases from Earth; this takes a bit of practice and, undoubtedly, you'll miss a few shots before you get your timing right.

Don't be too anxious to shoot tight shots at first; focus on getting your timing down and a well-focused image before closing in on a pilot's face. Set your exposure on someone standing at or near the landing zone or takeoff point, and make sure you're on manual mode for all settings — shutter speed, aperture, ISO, and focus — to have your camera operating as fast as possible. You may be able to use the flash, as well (this is especially useful if there's any backlighting that might cause problems); however, double-check with whomever is responsible for the landing or takeoff operation to be sure he or she doesn't mind the flash being used.

When in-flight, to get a good exposure of a glider, you should not rely on your camera to do it automatically. It tends to expose for the entire scene, which may be very much brighter than the exposure you'll want to have to get a good view of the pilot and possibly the canopy. If you have the ability and time while aloft, take some experimental shots and then make adjustments accordingly; however, to begin with, set your camera before you take off by taking shots in as similar a light as you can to what you think it will be while flying.

Silhouette Shooting

Here's some general steps you can follow to get a good silhouette shot:

1. Set your camera ISO to a lower sensitivity, such as ISO 100 or ISO 200. This limits the amount of digital noise in such a bright photo.

2. Try taking an automatic setting just shooting at the brightness. Check your LCD and read the information about the shot; see what settings your camera "chose" for the image.

3. Set the aperture (f-stop) and shutter speed manually to the numbers from your automatic shot. Chances are, you'll want your camera on its fastest shutter speed, whatever that is.

4. Using the settings from step 3, shoot your subject against a bright background, such as a bright light, cloud, or the sun.

5. Check the image and make adjustments. If the subject is too visible (not enough of a silhouette effect) and the background is too dark, try making the shutter speed faster or making your f-stop higher. If the image is too dark overall, open your f-stop a bit (make it a lower number).

© Marc Chirico

A silhouette of a paraglider with the sun low in the sky.

High-contrast images with a glider against a sky or cloud are often excellent candidates for playing with artistic effects in image editing packages, such as seen in Figure 7-4.

As Marc Chirico points out, shooting with a telephoto setting probably isn't very useful when flying unless you're trying to get a shot of something on the ground. Plus, in this mode, your camera and your shots are more susceptible to motion and, unless you're set for very fastshots, you may end up with blurry images. If your camera has an image stabilization feature, it's a good idea to use it when you're flying no matter what settings you use.

Figure 7-4. In Photoshop Elements, I used the Poster Edges filter with some adjustment to color balance to achieve this effect on a photo of a paraglider.

If you're skydiving, you'll need to protect your equipment because of the speed and wind factors. If you're shooting other skydivers, you will want to jump behind them and slow your fall some, taking shots of them with a wide to medium lens setting (telephoto is really tough). If your camera has a multi-shot setting, use it and take as many photos as you can without maxing out the buffer. Another angle is for you to jump ahead of the other skydivers and shoot them coming toward you either at the same rate of speed as you or a bit faster.

You can also shoot skydiving from inside the airplane by attaching yourself to a harness and leaning out of the plane as the jumpers go off the wing. They fall quickly, however, so you'll only be lucky to get one good shot of them if they've released from the plane.

If you're jumping, once your chute is open, you can get photos of other skydivers more easily, similar to paragliding.

You'll want to use a harness system of some kind that allows you to fix your camera snug against your body, yet enables you to release it to take photos while still attached to the harness Some pro photographers have devised ingenious camera systems that attach to their helmets and other out-of-the-way places.

For parasailing, your position may very well be rather limited if you're on the boat. If so, work to document the event: the takeoff, ascension, some good shots aloft, and then the landing. If you've got buildings, mountains, or other objects behind the parasailer, try to get a nice perspective with both in the photos for good contrast.

For skydiving, it's tough to change your camera's settings once in freefall Instead, have the camera set ahead of time to a setting based on shooting out of the airplane or from the ground before You can try an automatic setting, as well, although this can be risky if you expose for a wide shot with your subject only being a relatively small part of the image As a result, the subject may turn out too dark if the shot automatically adjusts for the surrounding sky If your camera has the feature, using a spot meter-type setting will help you set it for a specific subject.

As I've said, unless you're a pro with high-end equipment, I don't advise using telephoto settings while skydiving; they're far too difficult to focus, stabilize, and center on a subject. Instead, shoot a midlevel setting at the very most and, in some cases, use a wide setting. If you're using an SLR, using a lens in the range of 24-70mm will be a good choice. Also, SLR telephoto lenses are large and cumbersome, which may be difficult to manage while skydiving.

Obviously, you won't be changing flash cards while skydiving That means you'll want to use as large a card as possible, and, because you're shooting subjects on a wider setting, you'll want to use a high megapixel shot because you'll probably need to crop the image later (you'll also need to crop because poorly framed and/or centered shots while skydiving are very common).

Remember, also, that you can obtain some spectacular shots from the ground, as well — especially if you're shooting someone coming in for a landing. When doing so, first set your camera for another skydiver or hang-glider pilot on the ground and be sure you have a good exposure. Then try that exposure on another person as they approach and touchdown at the landing zone.

For parasailing, you'll most often be shooting low to high, most likely from the boat (see Figure 7-5). When doing so, remember that the sky is very often brighter than your subject, meaning backlighting is a risk in getting good shots. You'll want to make sure you have set your camera manually so that it is exposing a person's face and body correctly, not the sky. Inside the boat, there is less light on a person than when he or she is soaring above, so take this into consideration. If you simply set the camera for the person in the boat, it may be a bit too much exposure, so increase your shutter speed by one level and, perhaps, decrease your aperture by one or one-half stops.

A telephoto setting might be used for one or two shots when parasailing; however, a wide perspective of the entire boat with the person behind it in the air is also a very good shot to take.

Figure 7-5. Shooting from the towboat and capturing the boat with the parasailer and nice background scenery makes for a well-composed shot, which was taken in Tahiti.: © Wernher Krutein

Shooting from the ground, try to get more than just straight up from immediately below the climber, although images shot straight up can be cool especially if the climber is in a tough spot, as in Figure 7-7. If possible, get as far to the side as you can and shoot with a good angle to be able to show the person across and up the wall with a narrow depth-of-field shot.

Some indoor facilities will have midlevel and upper decks where you can observe climbers; these also are good spots from which to get good shots. However, remember that getting height is something climbers love to do, so you don't want to just shoot tight shots of them against the wall where you can't tell how high they've ascended. Also, a negative angle, where people attempt to climb up and backwards at the same time (for example, to scale an overhang), which is very difficult, makes for great shots. If you can get to the top of the rock or climbing wall and shoot down at an angle or diagonally, as in Figure 7-8, at a climber coming up the face with a lot of distance between him and the ground, it makes for an exciting image.

Figure 7-7. A climber negotiating a difficult move at an indoor facility, shot from the ground with a telephoto lens: © Amy Alden Timacheff

Figure 7-8. Shooting down at a climber from above and from an angle – whether shot from the top of the climb or while climbing it yourself, indoors or out – can be especially dramatic.: © Harry Haugen

Positioning yourself while climbing can be tricky, especially if you're free climbing (meaning you're not using a rope or harness) and have no way to steady yourself other than leaning into the rock face or wrapping your leg around a nearby tree trunk. You want to be in a position where you can access your equipment but you still may have to keep a grip with one hand on the wall. This may actually be easier on some outdoor climbs than on a climbing wall because natural rock faces (with some exceptions, of course) typically offer more spots (including trees and shrubs) where you can stop and rest without holding on with both your hands (see Figure 7-9).

The main thing to bear in mind when shooting climbers is that you want to present a broad set of images that show the various aspects of the ascent: the rock face, the difficulty of various aspects of the climbing, teamwork in belays, coming down if there's a rappel at the end, and so on. For positioning, this means you may have to do more work than some other climbers if you're working to document the climb, or that you may have to take an alternate route up in order to be far enough away to get good shots from above, across, and below the others.

When shooting from the ground, use a telephoto lens or setting on your camera to get up-close shots of climbers Additionally, however, shooting wide shots to get full perspectives of climbers high atop a wall is impressive and can even be breathtaking So, if you are shooting with an SLR and can afford to carry the extra lenses, do.

Figure 7-9. Natural rock faces sometimes offer spots where you can stop without having to hold on; this can be a good spot from which to take photos of other climbers.: © Harry Haugen

Now, if you are climbing with an SLR, you may want to carefully think about what kinds of shots you want to get Because if you want both close ups of climbers and wider shots to include the landscape of the rock face, you'll need to carry multiple lenses with you That will be in addition to everything else you need for the climb If you are seasoned climber, you know it is best to travel as lightly as possible, and attempt to take only what you'll really need — every additional ounce in a climb makes it tougher Also, remember that if you're carrying food or drinks in the same pack as your camera gear, you want to be sure nothing can break open and spill or expose your gear to undue humidity.

Carry your equipment as close to your body and attached as firmly as possible. A camera swinging from your shoulder or neck while climbing is not good for you or the camera. Harnesses, such as those made by LowePro and other companies, use soft neoprene straps to secure your camera to your body; however, also think about how the camera is positioned against you in case you are going to be very tight against the rock face or climbing wall.

Because natural rock is an abstract form — meaning there are no precisely straight or geometric angles — you can shoot a distorted view such as you get with a fisheye or wide-angle lens and it can really look fantastic. However, if you shoot too close to a person with a very wide-angle lens (for example, 15mm), he or she will look very distorted and not particularly attractive; consequently, you should shoot wide shots with people in them from far enough away that the climbers are in the shot but not taking up more than about one-third to one-fourth of the image (or less).

Point-and-shoot camera quality, megapixel size, and electronics have improved vastly in the past few years, and the photos you can get with them are remarkably high quality. While to get truly commercial or fine art-quality images you will still need an SLR with an array of interchangeable lenses, for the average person, point-and-shoot cameras are a great place to begin shooting digital — especially if it's when you're dangling on the side of a rock face draped with karabiners, a chalk bag, and other hardware and gear as in Figure 7-10. The risks of dropping components, breaking them, and the sheer burden of carrying SLR equipment on a climb is such that your photography standards have to be pro level before you'll want to bother ascending with big gear.

Another factor that helps with photography in precarious positions is that point-and-shoot cameras have, in many cases, nearly full-manual operation — similar to what you find on an SLR — where you can set all of the controls, including shutter speed, aperture, and ISO to get good photos While they may not have the range of an SLR, and the operation may in some cases be a bit more cumbersome, they nonetheless provide many climbers with all the photography they'll ever need — at a fraction of the weight and risk.

Regardless of whether you're using an SLR or a point-and-shoot, you'll want to shoot in semi-manual or full manual mode While more tedious to learn and use at first, this will ultimately give you much better image quality and control over your photographs.

When shooting on a rock face in daylight you can disable your automatic flash unless you're shooting into dark spaces where a fill-flash might be useful. Generally speaking, automatic flashes tend to go off a bit too much when they aren't necessarily needed, and flash shots are rarely preferable over a naturally lighted exposure if there's enough ambient light to support it.

Figure 7-10. Climbers carry enough gear that the portability, accessibility, and image quality of a higher-end point-and-shoot camera is perfectly suited to climbing.: © Harry Haugen

When shooting at indoor climbing walls, whether you're on the wall or off, the light may be such that you'll need to use a flash. Some walls, such as the one at REI in Seattle (the largest indoor free-standing rock wall in the world) are surrounded by glass that allows lots of ambient light to get in; however, this isn't always the case. You can set your camera to a high ISO; if your images get sufficient light and the digital noise isn't too bad, that may work for you. Otherwise, using a flash may be necessary (if you can reduce the intensity of your flash — many external flashes offer this capability — it's a good idea because, while you may need some flash, you probably won't need to use it at full power).