Aircraft night photoshoots: your ultimate guide

With the nights drawing in, Aviation News’ Martin Needham looks forward to the start of several months of tripod-based antics with this guide to getting the most from a night photoshoot

The date was January 29, 2009. The place, RAF Northolt. A gaggle of between 50 and 100 photographers, uniformly clad in high-vis jackets, were standing hunched behind cameras and tripods, the cold, still, winter air broken only by quiet chatter and the slapping of DSLR mirror mechanisms.

Museums are popular locations for night photography events, offering opportunities to capture out-of-service aircraft after dark. This Tornado GR.1P has been a star of past nightshoots at South Wales Aviation Museum and is appearing under the floodlights at another event in November

Current military aircraft are a regular feature at events held at RAF Northolt and RNAS Yeovilton, with the French Air and Space Force being particularly big supporters of events at the former

Several event organisers permit aircraft to run their engines at night. This adds a sense of movement to pictures of propeller-driven and rotary wing types

The date was January 29, 2009. The place, RAF Northolt. A gaggle of between 50 and 100 photographers, uniformly clad in high-vis jackets, were standing hunched behind cameras and tripods, the cold, still, winter air broken only by quiet chatter and the slapping of DSLR mirror mechanisms.