Over the Everglades

A few weeks ago I rented a helicopter to do a photo tour over the Florida Everglades.  I wanted to create some abstract images by shooting straight down at the patterns of land and water. After some research I chose an area of the Everglades in the far southern end, right across from the Florida Keys. I was using a Nikon Z7 camera with the new Z 24-70mm f/2.8  S lens. This combo with its high res sensor and built-in image stabilization to dampen the vibration from the helicopter was perfect for the job.

The photo immediately below was taken on our way to the site and shows a water spout coming from a cumulus storm cloud in the distance.

The doors were off the helicopter and once we located a suitable location for my project, the pilot would bank the helicopter in tight circles over the area so I could point the camera straight down. The samples below are some of the results.  

It was a sunny day with a good number of puffy clouds to case shadows on the terrain below. That resulted in the contrast of dark and light areas that gave the shots some interesting volume. 

Drones are not allowed to fly over the Everglades so a helicopter was the only way to go. Plus, I always feel like I have more control over the composition when I'm in a helicopter. In any event, it would have taken a massive professional movie drone to come anywhere near the camera quality of the 100MP Nikon Z7.