Advice appreciated on air show pic

[rick barclay]

The colors look a littled washed and it's a bit soft, I know. I would like to know how I can improve the picture quality. EXIF==shutter 1/250, f/18, ISO 250, lens 100-400mm, metering--spot. I've already run it through levels and sharpening in PS CS. Thanks for your suggestions.

[rent]

i would do f/8 at a higher shutter speed so motion blur can be minimized; this would probably allow you to shoot at iso100 as well so noise will come down too. probably not much you can do with the washed out sky due to smog or the environmental conditions. you might want to use Select/Color Range to isolate the sky and darken it a bit.

-alex

[rick barclay]

Thanks for the quick reply. I understand about the higher shutter speed, but wouldn't downstopping to f/8 narrow the DOF and thus contribute to blur? Also, a faster shutter
would call for some exposure compensation, wouldn't it?

One of the problems I've encountered here is that the bright sky is preventing me from lightening the jets in PS, because that adjustment will blow out the sky. I need some kind of tutorial that would allow me to adjust the jets while leaving the sky alone.

Is spot metering appropriate for this type of speed shooting, or should I have done something else? Thanks again for your help.

[Croasdail]

Your probably way to far away to worry about the DOF being too narrow... there are some DOF calculators floating around and there should be a chart with your documentation too for you to validate this with... but after a certain distance - it is huge at most any f stop.

[rent]

croasdail is right, you would have enough DOF @ f8 to cover critical parts of the planes at this kind of distance, of course, provided you are focused dead-on.

i usually use evaluative metering especially when the aircraft fills the scene. i think i'm just too clumsy to use spot metering because that requires making sure that little circle is pointed at the right place. this usually messes up composition and leads to not getting the shot at all for me.

try this for the sky problem: in PS, go to Select/Color Range. use the eye dropper to select the sky. this should select all the light blue area in the picture, you can then make it darker or bluer. it may take some practice but it's very doable. check out one of my pix for which i applied the same technique: http://www.mosaicreality.com/pix/CRW_0706_darkersky.jpg (f8, 1/250, iso100, 300mm/f4 + 1.4x)

good luck!

-alex

[Hellashot]

All you have to do is lighten the shadows - 47%, darken the highlights - 20%, and add midtown contrast - 11% and you'll end up with a much different looking image!

[PhotosGuy]

One of the problems I've encountered here is that the bright sky is preventing me from lightening the jets in PS, because that adjustment will blow out the sky. I need some kind of tutorial that would allow me to adjust the jets while leaving the sky alone.

You could shoot in RAW & there are tuts on "Post Processing" for that.

i usually use evaluative metering especially when the aircraft fills the scene. i think i'm just too clumsy to use spot metering because that requires making sure that little circle is pointed at the right place.

OTOH, the exposure for an aircraft on the ground is about the same as in the air. Try "M" next time, & shoot RAW.

[intechpcx]

If you've got PS CS, I'd use curves to bump up the brightness of those planes (pull up at about the lower quarter and drop back to the standard line at about the 1/2 mark or a little above) and then up the saturation a little to make up for what you lose in the curves. Other than the slight blur, that photo looks like it should be pretty decent if you work it.

[rick barclay]

Thanks for the suggestions, folks. I'll give them all a try. I need to get more into PS. Just a note for PhotosGuy: I do always shoot in RAW.

[hauff]

I have never had the opportunity to see these jets so I'm not sure of their exact color. I concentrated on the sky and smoke and let the blue and yellow sort of do it's own thing from there. I only had the jpg above to work with and I adjusted curves, saturation, contrast and then ran the pic through Noiseware to smooth it a bit.

[Hellashot]

Originally Posted by hauff

I have never had the opportunity to see these jets so I'm not sure of their exact color. I concentrated on the sky and smoke and let the blue and yellow sort of do it's own thing from there. I only had the jpg above to work with and I adjusted curves, saturation, contrast and then ran the pic through Noiseware to smooth it a bit.

The shadows can be lightened in your pic to make the planes look quite a bit better.

[Matatazela]

This may be totally off, and I appologise if it is, but shooting from the other side would put the bulk of the planes in bright sun, rather than in shadow.


This would make the sky "bluer" and the colours brighter, thus requiring less post processing.

I realise that airshows with tons of supersonic metal hurtling around are restricted, so it may have been impossible to move to a better spot!

[Macsgrafs]

What a great capture apart from the obvious problems. If you don't mind me saying, ignore the info about the same exposure on the ground as in the air..CRAP! Always over expose by 1 1/2 to 2 stops when shooting aircraft flying, I know the sky blows out a bit, but it really makes the aircraft stand out, treat it similar to how you would shoot snow.

[PhotosGuy]

..CRAP! Always over expose by 1 1/2 to 2 stops when shooting aircraft flying...

Think I'll put that in the "I learn something new every day" file.

[DwightMcCann]

Yup, PG, I'll try to remember that, too ... makes good sense.