Opinions needed please …

It’s blurry and slightly out of focus..no offence but it looks very amateurish

I have to agree, unfortunately. I know it would look better if more time were spent on it but such a level of digital manipulation is fine in something like photography for advertising, where you’re transforming an original photo into something completely different. It doesn’t really have a place in standard aviation photography though and besides, no serious aviation photography site on the net would accept it. You either capture it almost right first time or end up with an unuseable image.

If you take 500 photos in a day and 490 of them are no good, you have to accept it as being a part of learning the medium you’re using, whether that’s film or digital. It’s annoying, it’s difficult, but it’s just the way it is. 🙂

Paul

It’s blurry and slightly out of focus..no offence but it looks very amateurish

If the image is over-exposed, adjusting the Levels won’t actually help.
Paul

True, if detail is lost. On the shot in question the detail of the machine isn’t lost. I reckon I could pluck out the aeroplane (With quick mask in zoom mode or magnetic lassoo), Levels or curves or a filter applied to the sky, then E-plonk the aeroplane back in, crop it to suit and it would be a different shot.
The crop would be square, and I’d rotate the image so that the nose to tail was at 45 degrees, going corner to corner. In this case, rotating it to suit artistic licence is acceptable, as the background is just sky and nobody would know it had been rotated. I did this in 2 minutes on CS2. So the quick masking is awful, but you get the idea.

Thanks everyone, I can remember one of their points was over-exposure, I think I was lucky when I got this shot as it was the first time i’d shot aircraft properly with a DSLR instead of a normal digital camera.

Paul – I shall have a look and see which one I think is best, cheers for your help 😉

If the image is over-exposed, adjusting the Levels won’t actually help. If you’re shooting JPEG you need to keep a close eye on the histogram on your camera to make sure you’re not blowing pixels out.

Heslop01… Getting your images accepted onto the likes of JP is simply a matter of understanding exactly what it is they want. You’re generally working to very high standards and in most cases it’s ‘technical’ photography as opposed to ‘artistic’. As Old Shape says, the focus has to be perfect, the exposure perfect, composition perfect, etc. It takes time, but with practice you can learn these things remarkably quickly. I’m sure he won’t mind, but I’ll use fellow forum member Adam Spalding as an example. He hasn’t been shooting with a DSLR long at all, yet already his work is at a very high standard consistantly. He has a very natural ability with a camera and a willingness to learn and improve, which is why he’s progressed at such an impressive rate. The recent non-aviation images you’ve posted have been superb, so you clearly have that talent as well. It’s just a case, again, of learning what the main sites require.

Here are two tutorials I wrote for the site I screen for. Hopefully they’ll be of some use.

http://www.photos.aero/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1549

http://www.photos.aero/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=398

Also, if you want to select an original image as it came from your camera and email it to me at [email]paulmnichols@hotmail.com[/email] I’ll do an edit and describe, step by step exactly what I did. If you do, be selective. Go through them and send me what you consider to be the sharpest and highest quality photo you have.

Hope that helps. Let me know how you get on! 🙂

Paul

What we think looks good is often not what others want.
Compare your pictures to some of the images on this very site. Wow factor…..yours or theirs?

How very true m8 😉

To start with without sounding too critical, there is more sky than plane although it is a good shot, I feel you would need to fill the frame more. I think a bit more contrast as well. Add a bit more life to the shot and you will be on a winner. 😉

Hi all.
This photo I took back in Lanzarote in February, but, to my dismay, sites such as airliners and jetphotos have rejected it each time i’ve put in for it to be accepted. Can anyone please tell me what you think is wrong with it? If so, do you know how I could correct it (I have photoshop CS2). Thanks all.

It’s slightly over-exposed. Play with the levels on CS2.
Now, the rejections……..
What is this picture actually doing for the Aircraft or Airline? It’s not a rare A/c or a rare airline.
Wheels half-up is always an uncomfortable view (For me anyway). You can’t see the trailing edge working, or any other piece of kit that could be tagged (Such as Engine spinner, wheel bay, tailplane). I don’t think Airliners or Jetphoto will be enlarging it to see if there is noise or such, because they exist only for full screen telly viewing. But focus still has to be tack sharp.

I hated writing this, but the truth hurts, I may even be wrong but I bet some of it isn’t……you will feel now as I felt when my 10 best pictures (Which have won competitions and such) were rejected by an agency that sells pictures.
What we think looks good is often not what others want.
Compare your pictures to some of the images on this very site. Wow factor…..yours or theirs?