All great shots, with good composition and an eye for different images and feelings. I'd add a little punch to #2 which feels a bit flat -- seems like you were trying to protect the afterburner's color and tone -- and I'd go to the trouble someday to mask out the sky in #6 and brighten up only the airplanes which are rather dark. But those are small nits to pick... they're all great. #1 and #6 are my favorites.
Have you checked out the "Mustang Air-to-Air" thread on this forum? You might consider reposting a few of these, or others, in that thread. We'd love to have you.
Thanks for the great feedback, Rodolfo. It is exactly what I was looking for. I'm not very handy with Photoshop, so I have no idea how to even mask out the sky in #6. Time to fire up a Google search...
I have seen the other thread you referred to, but I noticed that it really moves fast. Since this was my first air show attempt, I thought that starting a thread might get me more feedback. However, I'll definitely take your advice and post a couple of these and maybe some other ones in the "Mustang..." thread.
Yes, posting your own separate thread is generally going to get you more feedback. In addition to that, MATA is more of a community where you can get feedback if you want it, but we're not very focused on C&C... more on sharing. But the expertise and knowledge in that group is very, very deep and broad; and if you're looking for people to guide you a little, then that's an excellent place to start.
Masking out a sky is not for the faint of heart. Essentially, what you're doing is digitally following the outline of each aircraft with a pen tool, or some other tool, to "cut" the shape of the aircraft out of the sky. It's not difficult, but it's very, very time-consuming. Then you can keep the aircraft and the sky on separate layers, and adjust each independently. The #6 image just seems cool enough to be worth the effort, because I think you have a real winner there.
For #2, it's a lot easier. If you'd like, I can do a little retouch of it and post it here in the thread to show what I mean... just a little brightness and vibrance/saturation, plus some contrast and some sharpening, and Bob's your uncle. That's a 30-second editing job.
Disclaimer: this is a rough, two-minute job in Photoshop. Mask out the airplane, and then tinker with contrast, brightness, levels only on the airplane. Leave the nice sky alone. I'm no Photoshop expert, but this is an idea of what I meant... hopefully I did a decent job without hacking it up too much.
Ok, I can definitely tell the difference. Your edits make the plane "pop" out of the sky much more than in the original I posted. Appreciate the quick tutorial, Rodolfo.
Essentially, what you're doing is digitally following the outline of each aircraft with a pen tool, or some other tool, to "cut" the shape of the aircraft out of the sky. It's not difficult, but it's very, very time-consuming. Then you can keep the aircraft and the sky on separate layers, and adjust each independently. The #6 image just seems cool enough to be worth the effort, because I think you have a real winner there.
