Beginner Airshow/aircraft advanced processing

Major

Major

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Tom
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Hi.

What tricks/techniques are good to know when it comes to aviation photography? What could improve the final product, give it more punch? What should/could be included in workflow for a bit more "arty" pictures?

Till now my approach was rather simple - basic post processing all the way, like adding salt to the food. Sometimes however I feel that my photos could look much better if I knew what to do with them, how to enhance them. I have few thousands of RAWs from RIAT and all the time in the world, so even if someone could suggest good book about advanced use of Camera Raw/Photoshop or just give me name of techniques/tools I should learn about, I'll be grateful :).

Cheers
Tom
 
Sometimes it just a levels adjustment that’s is needed. It depends on the conditions on the day of the event
 
Thanks a lot you both - for links and input.

Wave, that's what I mostly do, after short fun with Camera Raw, I adjust levels, get rid of any dirt I had on the lens/sensor and that's about it. While for most photos it works, for some it's not enough :).
 
Affinity photo is a photoshop type pixel editor which you can do amazing things with if you want to go further than just a little editing,its for me a lot easier to work with than photoshop,modern,being updated regularly,a lot of videos on the Affinity website teaching how to use etc with a good backup forum,its a one off price of around £50 though they have sales from time to time.its available for windows and mac and Ipad,
worth having a DL demo at least
 
Thank you again mate.

I just tried Capture One again - tried last year, but it didn't work on my laptop. Now trying to figure out how to use it :)
I'll have a look at Affinity too.
 
Obviously this depends on the exposure and conditions but typically I find that decreasing exposure, increasing shadows, upping contrast than adding luminesce and saturation is needed.
 
Major said:
Hi.

What tricks/techniques are good to know when it comes to aviation photography? What could improve the final product, give it more punch? What should/could be included in workflow for a bit more "arty" pictures?

Till now my approach was rather simple - basic post processing all the way, like adding salt to the food. Sometimes however I feel that my photos could look much better if I knew what to do with them, how to enhance them. I have few thousands of RAWs from RIAT and all the time in the world, so even if someone could suggest good book about advanced use of Camera Raw/Photoshop or just give me name of techniques/tools I should learn about, I'll be grateful :).

Cheers
Tom
Click to expand...

Well if you posted some pics you didn't think was 'arty' may be we could give it go at making it look 'arty'. Post processing can certainly make things look nicer but the basic picture and composition needs to be there in the first place.
So I am not sure if any one could give you general/blanket guidelines to making airshow pictures 'arty'

but then what do I know, I converted the colourful red arrows to b&w ;)

20594581388_9606d5a703_b.jpg
 
Well, I have one photographer I look up to. I know he shoots with gear worth more than all kidneys in my family, but I won't believe his body spits out images like that :)

70349a565bcfa1545556f5ecaac07a95.jpg

That's one of many, that's what I'd call 'arty'. Tried in the past, but couldn't figure out 'how'...
 
Major said:
Well, I have one photographer I look up to. I know he shoots with gear worth more than all kidneys in my family, but I won't believe his body spits out images like that :)

70349a565bcfa1545556f5ecaac07a95.jpg

That's one of many, that's what I'd call 'arty'. Tried in the past, but couldn't figure out 'how'...
Click to expand...

I don't like that wing tips have been cut off but I can see why you consider this 'arty' :)
In this picture he has go this composition and angle sorted. He might recovered some shadows and/or highlights in post and increased clarity+contrast but without the initial picture this wouldn't be possible if you 'see' what I mean
 
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I think I do :).

Having fun for a while with Capture One and I liike it a lot. While effects still can't be considered 'arty' by any meaning, I think this processor is much better than Camera Raw. So much to learn yet, but I see it will be worth it :)

_DSC0987-(2)_1024 by Tom Major, on Flickr
 
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Major said:
Well, I have one photographer I look up to. I know he shoots with gear worth more than all kidneys in my family, but I won't believe his body spits out images like that :)

That's one of many, that's what I'd call 'arty'. Tried in the past, but couldn't figure out 'how'...
Click to expand...
That's a HDR/tone mapped image... just not really heavily done like so many others are. Something like this done with shadows/highlights adjustment in PS (plus a couple of masked curves adjustments). Just a quick edit to demonstrate... probably overdone, I usually do the first time through.

View media item 13180
 
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Could be overdone, but I see perfectly what you're on about @sk66 - thanks for your time and hint about tone mapping, I'll look it up.
 
Once you get something you like you can always save a preset and use this as a base for most images, or even set up up for importing.

If you have some "special" photos, you can go a bit further with them if you like?
 
Major said:
Hi.

What tricks/techniques are good to know when it comes to aviation photography? What could improve the final product, give it more punch? What should/could be included in workflow for a bit more "arty" pictures?

Till now my approach was rather simple - basic post processing all the way, like adding salt to the food. Sometimes however I feel that my photos could look much better if I knew what to do with them, how to enhance them. I have few thousands of RAWs from RIAT and all the time in the world, so even if someone could suggest good book about advanced use of Camera Raw/Photoshop or just give me name of techniques/tools I should learn about, I'll be grateful :).

Cheers
Tom
Click to expand...

Hi Tom,

Great that you are asking. I'm going to answer honestly here, and you or others may wish to disagree or ignore my advice. Sometimes you need to go on a journey to experience the learning curve...

I think hesja takes some awesome photos, but personally I am not a fan of the processing. Unfortunately things like tone mapping give that instant gratification and 'wow' factor that in this age of swiping though photo feeds at high speed jump out. The reality is though a very garish digitised look, with halos and colour shifts all over the place. The best photos of any genre, whilst having a signature look, are processed in a more timeless manor for me. Accurate colour and lighting (to how the eye may have seen it) but with the processing being used similarly to how you describe, to enhance the photo. As the photo is a message from the photographer to the viewer I always think the processing should amplify how the image makes the photographer feel.

Which gets me onto my important point that with aviation photography, like any genre, the work that turns a snapshot into a photograph begins in camera. The creative use of aperture and shutter speed, light and composition are all part of making an image of something you love into a photo that will stand out because it means something. You can then enhance this shot with the processing.

I will quickly say looking at your flickr that the stand out brilliant shot on there is a picture of (I'm guessing yours!) missus. It is in the vertical and just brilliant, the colour of the lipstick and hair, depth of field use, soft processing and sharpness of the eye are important but the connection between the photographer (and then the viewer) and your subject is clear to see. Apply that sort of thinking and feeling to your aviation pictures, rather than just snapping them and wanting to tone map them and you will get some stuff you can be proud of...

As brief point though, a lot of your stuff on flickr appears slightly underexposed. They may not be, and it may be a processing decision from working on a too bright a screen of course, but they lack a little pop that additional exposure would give. Not too much of course because you don't want to wash the images out or lose the highlights.

I think if you really want to photograph aircraft well and artistically you need to shoot them in better light. Unfortunately airshows are in the summer, so you get a lot of heat haze (causing softness) and the sun is high in the sky with the subject usually a long way off. There are airshows in better conditions, the shuttle worth collection do evening shows and I think MAKS in Russia is early evening too. Or of course, whilst not strictly an airshow there is Axalp every other year and you see some awesome stuff from there.Failing that RIAT in July on the Friday night some validation displays run on into the early evening and a Spitfire normally goes up in gorgeous light about 8pm too...

I include below some examples of aviation images that are taken in better light, which will either require you to get to an airbase when they are night flying, or during winter;

GR4SunsetTouchdown by Craig Hollis, on Flickr

F15E by Craig Hollis, on Flickr

Lakenheath Sunset by Craig Hollis, on Flickr

F-22A Raptor by Craig Hollis, on Flickr

As you can see, it gives you the option of either shooting directly into a colourful sky silhouetting the airframes, or shooting across the light to accentuate the shape of them.

Another option is to get yourself into a unique position, like the Mach Loop to show the aircraft within a landscape low level;

Panavia Tornado GR4 ZD720 086 by Craig Hollis, on Flickr

Eurofighter Typhoon T3 ZJ812 BK by Craig Hollis, on Flickr

Moving onto airshows, my advice is to track the subject at nearly all times because moments of magic can happen and you need to be blasting frames off when they do;

650C3691 by Craig Hollis, on Flickr

C27J by Craig Hollis, on Flickr
 
Also, don't be afraid to shoot backlit shots, it can turn mid greys into mid silvers (but don't blow the sky);


Turk F16 by Craig Hollis, on Flickr



P1-1-5 by Craig Hollis, on Flickr



Black Eagles by Craig Hollis, on Flickr


Seriously, rent the longest lens you can find that helps;



Viggen by Craig Hollis, on Flickr



BAC General Dynamics F16-AM Fighting Falcon FA-123 Blizzard by Craig Hollis, on Flickr



HAF 'Zeus' Lockheed Martin F-16CJ Block 52 Fighting Falcon by Craig Hollis, on Flickr


Alternatively make the subject small in frame and use the sky to lead into it;



650C1632 by Craig Hollis, on Flickr



Rafale by Craig Hollis, on Flickr
 
Display teams photograph well with primary colours in the smoke;



Patrouille de France by Craig Hollis, on Flickr



Red Arrows by Craig Hollis, on Flickr


My biggest tip is to shoot in adverse conditions. In the following images the rain on the ground acted as a giant reflector for the light from above that was getting through;



_MG_0902 by Craig Hollis, on Flickr



B-583 Danish Air Force Lockheed C-130J-30 Hercules by Craig Hollis, on Flickr


Here it holds back the highlights letting you expose for the details better, and adds texture to the image that tells a story;



86-0159 by Craig Hollis, on Flickr



Eurofighter EF-2000 T3 ZJ813 BL by Craig Hollis, on Flickr


If after looking at any of these you decide that you don't want to tone map the heck out of your photos I am happy to answer any questions on processing.
 
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