Ok, I give up... what the heck am I doing wrong?

[MarcusM]

I saw the first shot and wanted to play with it since it says your photos are ok to edit. Here's what I came up with:

ORIGINAL

EDITED

Here's what I did:

1. Levels: dropped down the mid tones a bit.
2. Curves: took out some blue; there appeared to be too much
3. Brightness/Contrast: bumped up the contrast a bit
4. Hue/Saturation: bumped up the saturation a bit

 

[DeadEye]

Defog with unsharp mask. 20 60 0 setting

 

[MarcusM]

I pretty much gave this the same treatment as the one I did above. Hmm...after looking at my preview mine might be slightly oversaturated, but you get the idea. You just have to play with the various settings:

ORIGINAL

EDITED

 

[shorty6049]

well, i figured I might as well try as well.... The building in the middle isnt perfect... i just felt like the main thing that -I- felt was wrong with the photos, is that the sky just looks very washed out. I just adjusted the levels on the photo (as 2 layers) and then merged them at the end

 

[JIP]

After all the other suggestions and attempts at fixing this honestly your real problem is you shot these at the wrong time of the day. No matter where you are shooting from noon is a bad time to shoot. I say this is noon because of the short shadows but please corrct me if I am wrong. For a scene like this the best time to shoot a scene like this is what they call the "Golden hour" or the "Magic hour" which is 1-2 hours before or after sunrise or sundown. If you shoot at most any other time of day especially if it is a very crisp clear sunny day you are going to get results like this.

 

[sabbath999]

Was it an open sided helicopter?

If not, you were shooting through glass that was coated for the advantage of helicopter glare, not photography. Dollars to doughnuts that's where the haze is coming from.

Shooting through non-photographic glass is tough to start with, even without the vibration & whatnot.

 

[manaheim]

^^^ Ok, all major improvements and I got a lot of great ideas from it that I employed here.

I also got a really odd tip from the nice nice lady at the local Pro camera shop. She said she fought with haze issues for years and one day, just for laughs, tried the photoshop Auto-levels and was amazed to find that it actually got her like 90% of the way there. I was baffled. However, I see that at least one of you did this with some solid results as well.

She also said that, to some degree, this is just a problem. If there is any significant moisture in the air when you do an aerial shot, you're just going to have this problem. She did mention that the polarizing filter I got would help with some of the washout I was experiencing, which is good.

One question... Deadeye...that looks really solid. When you say "defog"... do you mean you just used unsharp mask to defog it? I tried your settings and didn't get quite as positive a set of results.

Anyway, after yet ANOTHER session employing your tips and feedback, this is what I've come up with... (please forigve the addition of the frame... my batch script at home in photoshop is setup for this and I was too lazy to strip it.)

== 1 ==

== 2 ==

== 3 ==

What does everyone think? I think they are -way- better, thanks to y'all... :hail: I do think there is some limitation to what I can do with these just because there simply was some haze, I did have some camera shake and focus issues, etc... but better!

So what have we learned for aerial shots...?

1. Try to use Aperature priority if possible, and crank it way up to reduce shake.
2. Use a polarizing filter if a sunny day to saturate and reduce glare.
3. Watch your inifinty focus point (still working on this one...)
4. Try to go out on as low of a humidity day as humanly possible.
5. Don't fall out. :lmao:

You guys rock! Thanks!

 

[JIP]

You need to add another one about not shooting at noon. If you had shot at a better time of day you would not have half the problems you had in your images and the washout issue would almost be eliminated.

 

[Sloane]

You're seeing both pollution and atmospheric haze in your shots both of which are contributing to a slightly washed-out look. Next time use a polarizer-especially where you have a lot of reflective surfaces like the glass in all those buildings.
Your colours will be more saturated and vibrant and the sky will appear a much deeper blue. I keep a polariser on pretty much all the time.

Agreed.
IF you keep in mind that
1) a CP will require up to 2,5 stops extra exposure (so set a high ISO) and
2) that a CP is great for landscapes, skies, foliage, and reflections, but
3) that a CP sucks at skin tones, and in combination with wide angle lenses (blotchy skies).

 

[Alpha]

Try to use Aperature priority if possible, and crank it way up to reduce shake.

Shutter speed priority, not aperture. The reasons for this should be obvious. If the shutter speed drops below a certain value then the shots will start to blur.

 

[chrisburke]

bit of fun with photomatix

 

[manaheim]

Shutter speed priority, not aperture. The reasons for this should be obvious. If the shutter speed drops below a certain value then the shots will start to blur.

hmm... yeah, good point. 'course if the aperature is set wrong ill get not enough DOF.

You need to add another one about not shooting at noon. If you had shot at a better time of day you would not have half the problems you had in your images and the washout issue would almost be eliminated.

Actually, this was at like 4:00 PM if you can believe that. Regardless, harsh sun is obviously going to cause issues.

Agreed.
IF you keep in mind that
1) a CP will require up to 2,5 stops extra exposure (so set a high ISO) and
2) that a CP is great for landscapes, skies, foliage, and reflections, but
3) that a CP sucks at skin tones, and in combination with wide angle lenses (blotchy skies).

Yeah, though in this case I think that would have been ok since there was SO much sun... though 2.5... that might be a lot. I wonder. hmmm... I'll have to go try it again!