Aviation photography - post-processing troubles

[kydenW]

Hi there, I'm new to this forum and would appreciate any advice I could get on post-processing. I'm an amateur aviation photographer and have used the Jetphotos forum however the users there tend to be quite blunt and still being new to this it's not particularly helpful. As an example I'd hope to learn from, I have two images attached - a raw image and one I've 'attempted' to process. Any feedback/advice/tips would be appreciated.
Thanks!
- Kyden

 

[jeffashman]

Howdy and welcome, Kyden! What software are you using for PP? The PP'd image looks nice, but rather tightly cropped, the jet needs room to fly. The lighting on the aircraft looks good, given that it looks to be a fairly overcast day, but the PP has yellowed the whites a little.

 

[kydenW]

Hi Jeff, thanks for your reply. The image shown was edited in Darktable; I've been experimenting with Affinity Photo for the last couple of days, which is new to me.

 

[480sparky]

It's best to leave a bit of empty space in front of the aircraft to visually give it 'someplace to fly to'. This isn't a post issue, it goes back to the image capture. Don't try to frame things perfectly in-camera, shoot a bit wide and give yourself the ability to crop in post.

 

[Strodav]

Leaving room in the direction of motion is a great suggestion. Looking at the first image, the fuselage looks white, but more warm in the processed image. You probably want it to stay white as it‘s expected. I also recommend masking the green background and darken it a bit, and / or desaturate green, to make your subject pop a bit more. You might also try softening the green background. I would brighten the plane a bit more as well. You might be able to make the sky a bit more dramatic by masking, moving the sky towards blue and increasing contrast While playing with exposure.

 

[dxqcanada]

I agree with the replies ... the plane needs to be going somewhere ... the background should not be important ... you might also want to take a shot at panning.

 

[phkc070408]

I do aviation photography as well. although I don't post off of my FB page. I agree with what's said above. The picture is cropped too much and, in this case, the jet is the only subject and should draw the eyes of the viewer to it.

Note that the subject theory above isn't always the case. If you had a plane taking off right next to a gorgeous city skyline, a national monument, or anything that you want viewers to also notice, by all means, make them part of the subject as well. Only use this approach when you's taking a picture of "a plane at this location," if you follow me.

As a mid-level hobbyist, some of my best plane pictures have nothing other than an overcast sky in the background.

 

[PJM]

The airplane colors in the first are much better although it could be brightened just a bit as already noted. I like the darker sky in the first one. You might try dehazing it just a bit to make it more dramatic.

Hope to see more of your work.

 

[kydenW]

Thank you everyone! I really appreciate all of your suggestions and I've tried my best to take them all on board. Here is my attempt at incorporating as much advice using Affinity Photo (allowing the use of masks.) I'm fairly happy - but open to any more feedback

 

[Original katomi]

You have done well on the revised edit, there is still the issue of no space for the plane to fly into. Which is a capture not a pp issue

 

[kydenW]

Thanks. Here is another image I've just processed with more room around the aircraft - is this an appropriate crop?

 

[smoke665]

Hello and welcome. Since you have your photos marked okay to edit, I wanted to show you what you actually have. It isn't a bad shot, just needs some clean up. Haven't used Affinity, so not sure what of my edits will cross over. The biggest issue I found when I downloaded was an incorrect color temperature. In LR I dropped the temperature -10 and raised the tint +34. Then increased the White Point +10 and decreased the Black point -40. The remaining adjustments were Exposure +16, Contrast +7, Highlights -66, Shadows +40, Clarity +7, Dehaze +21, Vibrance +10, Saturation +1, Medium Contrast tone curve, Sharpening 40, Masking 70, Luminance 19. Then I took it into PS and stretched the canvas to give a little nose room (needs more, but I was lazy). Back in LR to touch up and add a vignette. This was from your low resolution JPEG, so if you have the raw file, you can turn it into a great shot.

 

[kydenW]

Thank you very much for providing me with that brilliant edit for reference. Most of the setting didn't apply to Affinity too well but having a good image as a reference made things a lot easier and I feel I've learned more about exactly what each adjustment does. Not perfect... but here is my attempted revised edit - let me know what you think

 

[smoke665]

Thank you very much for providing me with that brilliant edit for reference. Most of the setting didn't apply to Affinity too well but having a good image as a reference made things a lot easier and I feel I've learned more about exactly what each adjustment does. Not perfect... but here is my attempted revised edit - let me know what you think
View attachment 270881

Looks much better. Here's a little tip on editing. The proper order of adjustments is to make any exposure adjustments first, then set your white balance, then set your white point and black point.

 

[kydenW]

I think there is some difference between a real plane spotter (ultimately more interested in "collecting" as many aircraft types, versions, names of companies, etc. as possible) and photographers who are much more concerned with composition, colors, etc. It's the difference between just recording what you see and actually photographing. You can remove a small color cast when editing photos, and it may also be advisable to work with a calibrated computer monitor, but a tight crop is an issue that you have to solve while taking the photo.

I don't really mind the background and I don't think you should emphasize clouds or darken the green bossage, that would take too much attention away from the plane in my opinion, what I did do is make the bossage a little more horizontal and add a bit of motion blur to suggest speed. The aircraft must have space and that is why I added a large section at the front near the nose and a little extra space at the back. What I do find important is the shadow (I have lightened it a bit) under the wing and the slightly too light rear part of the aircraft and the blue color at the bottom of the aircraft. These are all very small changes that may be barely visible, but do contribute to the overall experience.

Made a little edit of your jpeg image, but not in Affinity, of course this is nothing more than my personal opinion, not every person is the same and not everyone will think the same about everything. Let me say that the basics are not bad at all, on the contrary, photography is really nothing more than learning, a lot of trying and finally the experience you collect over the years, good luck with your plane spotting and photos.

View attachment 270888

Thank you for the advice and your edit - that's extremely helpful. I will take on board what you've said and as I've only been at this for less than a year, I'm happy with how I'm grasping the basics so far.

I have tried to make yet another edit using what you've said - let me know what you think