More competition winners there, Nick! Great stuff – as always.

Very nice pics Bruggen 130 , the 1st pic especially , very good timing for the intruder to be so perfectly framed by the mitchell ‘s undercarraige !

spike

I think you mean the A26 Invader. I’m the Intruder here.

I too was at Kemble – and there was a disabled area there (I am disabled). I have some pictures on my website [click].

Disabled area or not, you have to arrive very early at a show to secure a good position anywhere along the flightline.

But more shows must learn to ban windbreaks, step ladders, etc.. From my point of view the only acceptable item is a chair (or wheelchair/disabled buggy).

Displays should also start and finish earlier so that it is possible to go to the stands once flying stops. Something I cannot do because of the amount of time it takes me to get around. I always simply arrive (on my own), take my chair to the flight line and return to my car for my cameras and cooler bag containing my drinks and lunch. I like to be onsite no later than 8am, so I have a very long wait. Going to the loo is difficult, I have to pack up my cameras and take them with me. 🙁

Nicely composed all of them – I especially like the Invader shots.

But they all seem a little dark, so some detail is lost in the shadows.

Using something like Photoshop or PS Pro you should be able to brighten them up somewhat.

Hope you don’t mind, but I’ve taken the liberty of brightning one of them – let me know if you object:

Obviously working with the original should give even better results than this.

I go about it in different ways for different needs.

Always keep the originals untouched – so that you can revisit it later as your needs change.

For Windows desktop wallpaper I do the following:

Check whether the image needs rotating. If it does then I use VERTICAL references, such as lamposts and church spires or the sides of builds to ensure the image is level. You can’t rely on any horizontal references – the ground may undulate on airfields in particular.

Using photo manipulation software (I use PS Pro, but Photoshop is just as good) I crop the image, again in the vertical plane only (making the image tall and narrower) putting the subject left, center or right (rule of thirds) by dragging the hightlighted area left and right over the image. Taking care to ensure that the width of the image is still greater than 1920 pixels wide.

Once the image has been cropped I resize in the width only to 1920 pixels, retaining the relative aspect ratio – this ensures that I won’t get odd looking pictures once I crop in the vertical domain.

And indeed, that is what I do next. I set the crop tool to 1920 pixels wide, but only 1080 pixels deep. You can then drag the outlined area up and down to place the subject in the top, middle or right, as required.

Doing it like this allows you to place the subject anywhere in the frame you like for compositional purposes. Although some compromise may have to be made based on the subject’s positioning in the original image.

I will then save the finished image (although I may do some further processing to enhance the image) in a directory set aside for edited images, taking care not to over write the original.

If I need an image for the Internet (such as posting here, or on my own website) I will use this cropped image as a basis for that purpose. Usually, 1920×1080 works out as 800×480 and a simple resize is all that is needed (plus a little extra sharpening). But sometimes I might re-compose the image to close in on the subject a little more.

Hope this helps.

Pre cropped image

Post cropped image

Love the A26 Invader – a rare opportunity to see it here. I believe it’s holed up in Scandanavia somewhere usually.

That MAN ON the other side THE FENCE get’s around a bit.