I usually have set steps in an editing process. Here is an outline, with a step-by-step look on how I would edit a photo, to give you an idea of what goes on. It varies a lot between different shots though.
Here is the original:
Now the horizon needs to be put level. I can do this with the aid of the light posts in the background.
Now it gets cropped, so that the photo is better composed and the aircraft is roughly in the middle of the frame.
From here it gets sharpened, to give a more ‘crisp’ look, and gives the details more of an ‘edge’ (can’t think of a better way to describe the effect)
Then it’s time to add a bit of saturation and contrast, to make the colours in the photo a bit bolder and livelier.
Finally, I do a few subtle adjustments with the colour balance, levels etc, to brighten the photo up where it needs to, and make the colours look as life-like as possible. We are left with this:
Im afraid I didn’t have time to actually take screenshots of the process to illustrate these points clearer. But hopefully this will give you an idea of a fairly standard editing process.
A lot of it can also come down to personal preference. For example, some people like to saturate their photos highly, whereas others prefer it a bit less in-your-face.
Hmm very hard choices. I’ll go with my top 5 too…choosing the top 1 is impossible.
Ok, well lets start with my most popular/famous of the year. Taken at LHR. (For anyone living in Germany, pick up this month’s Aero International magazine for a look at the photo in print. It’s part of the Top 20 photos of the year)
Now from the same day, probably my most successful sunset shot.
And here’s quite a different one. The quality isn’t great at all, but it was a very unique moment as this BA 747 had a go-around during sunrise at LHR.
A recent shot, from ACE a couple of weeks back.
And finally, a tough choice. I didn’t immediately think of putting this one. There are plenty more from ACE I could choose, and also one or two from my trip to MAN last week. But it got a bit of attention at the time, and it’s still one I’m quite pleased with. It could do with a re-edit, but I’m too tired! Taken at the MAN forum meet, back in August.
Thanks very much again everyone!
Shadow1 – The A320 was actually at sunrise. Hehe bet you didn’t think we were that mad, sitting there waiting for the Sun to appear above the horizon ready for our first shot 😀
Hey, Wannabe….I emailed Michael and he caught my flight landing, wonder if you caught it. It was on the 15th G-FCLB from BHX????
Here we go! I think Mike caught a better one. This shot only just kept it self out of the recycle bin. Hope you like it anyway.
Forgot to add another of my favourites!
Taken quite literally at sunset. Proven by the fact that you can see the Sun and the horizon, reflected in the fuselage.
These are just about 20 or 30 shots out of 800 or so that I took, so there are likely to be more at some point in the near future.
Many thanks for the comments so far people!
It’s been a long time since I posted any shots, I’m glad to be back. My batch from MAN this week should be on their way soon.
These are only a very small selection out of all the shots I took. If I go through another big editing spree soon, I will come back and upload some more. But for now, I’ll finish off with these:
(Oh yeah and I forgot to mention, ACE = Lanzarote/Arrecife for those who do not know)
And two of my favourites:
(The above two look especially better on the airliners/net/jetphotos.net links below, without the compression necessary for the forum)
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