I have a fascination with the Airbus A380. If you’ve ever flown in one you’ll probably relate, but the thing is just so massive it doesn’t seem like it should be able to fly. At the same time, though, I’m hard-pressed to think of an airplane with a smoother or quieter ride.
(now, granted, I might be a little biased because I’ve only ever flown on the A380 in First Class on Singapore Airlines, Qantas, Singapore Airlines again, Etihad, and Qatar, but still)
I’m based in Dallas, and the annoying part about Dallas is it’s kinda right in the middle of the United States, which means it’s kinda close to everything. Which means there are innumerable narrowbody jets that take off and land from DFW: countless 737s, hordes of A321s, and unfortunately more and more gross old US Airways A320s. There aren’t that many “interesting” jets. Even American’s 777s get old after a while. If you’re looking for variety, you’ll see an assortment of longhaul aircraft from Korean Air, Lufthansa, Emirates, Etihad, Qatar, and (during the summer) a British Airways 747. But there’s only one A380 that takes off and lands from DFW Airport: the Qantas nonstop to/from Sydney, Australia, at one time the longest flight in the world.
I’ve taken lots of pictures of this A380 coming in for landing, but really loved this one from just a couple of hours ago. I think there’s something beautiful about the negative space above the aircraft and the symmetry of the four engines. It gives it a sense of motion for me, I just wish you could’ve heard the noise it made as it flew past! Anyway, such a powerful machine deserves to be Picture of the Week again, don’t you think?
For the photographers: I took this with my Sony a6500 (affiliate link, this company may pay me a commission should you buy something after clicking this link, thanks for your support!) with the Sony 24-70GM attached (affiliate link, this company may pay me a commission should you buy something after clicking, thanks for your support!). EXIF data says the lens was at about 33mm, f5.6, ISO 100, and a shutter speed of about 1/1000 of a second. I love taking pics of planes with the a6500 because it shoots at up to 11fps so I end up with lots of frames to choose from, which is very important when you’re trying to find the perfect plane pic.
Post processing was pretty light on this one, the only thing I did was adjust the color on the bottom of the jet, which was really really yellow for some reason, I brought it to where it looked a little more natural (I think). As always, any questions please let me know!
