Not Happy With this picture

[currymonster]

Hi, I really only take aircraft pictures and have never really been too happy with any of the airbourne shots I take. I have a 30D and a 50D it does not matter which camera I use I still get the same results which I really think is down to my own inability.

I have tried all manner of settings,metering,etc..
This attached attempt is a classic example, and is straight out of the camera shot RAW with of course no in-camera editing applied, the only thing I have done to this photo is to convert from RAW to Jpeg so I can easily post it for you to look at.

No matter how much I try to edit in photoshop I dont ever seem to match the quality of photo demonstrated by my fellow aviation photographers.

Things that make me unhappy with this are
1) Very dull flat colours
2) Soft but guess alkl shots straight out of the camera will be
3) Underside of aircraft always shadowed, even in good light as this one was
4)Engines inside just black


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3605/3528240246_4deb077cff_b.jpg

Settings from exif are:

Camera Model Canon EOS 50D
Firmware Firmware Version 1.0.1
Shooting Date/Time 10/05/2009 12:29:57
Shooting Mode Aperture-Priority AE
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/400
Av( Aperture Value ) 8.0
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
Exposure Compensation 0
ISO Speed 100
Auto ISO Speed OFF
Lens EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM
Focal Length 275.0mm
Image Size 4752x3168
Image Quality RAW
Flash Off
FE lock OFF
White Balance Mode Auto
AF Mode AI Servo AF
Picture Style Standard
Sharpness 1
Contrast 0
Saturation 0
Color tone 0
Color Space sRGB
Long exposure noise reduction 0:Off
High ISO speed noise reduction 0:Standard
Highlight tone priority 0:Disable
Auto Lighting Optimizer 0:Standard
Peripheral illumination correction Disable
File Size 17712KB
Dust Delete Data No
Drive Mode Low-speed continuous shooting
Live View Shooting OFF
Was wondering if any of you more experienced could point me in the right direction please.

Many thanks

Steve

[Desertraptor]

RAW always needs editing
Contrast, saturation, levels and then what ever artistic layers you might want to add
You used aperture priority here and typically should have used shutter priority is used for moving subjects. For jets you want a pretty fast shutter speed. For fast moving jets anything above 1/500th sec

[PhotosGuy]

It's not sharp & I'm guessing your panning process is part of the problem:
see post #5:
Panning Question (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=589433)

As for using Av/Tv, I don't use them for shots with a lot of sky. Why?
Post #47 (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showpost.php?p=5191658&postcount=47)
Click the "Thread: (thread title)" link at the top-right if you'd like more info on the subject.

Otherwise, there's nothing wrong with that shot that some PP wouldn't help. In color managed FF3, it could use a bit more contrast. Be aware that what you're seeing here is probably not what some of the rest of us are seeing? Take a look at: Firefox (3.0.4) + add ons (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=602787)

[PhotosGuy]

Oh, & that image is in the aRGB color space, instead of sRGB.

364816


You'll get more help if you turn on "Image Editing OK" in your user prefs.

[currymonster]

Thanks for the very helpful quick replies guys, I'm impressed by the edited version of my shot

Thanks

Steve