This was a plane doing aerobatics, far enough away that even at 600mm the images were way too small. Plus they were hand-held (Sigma 150-600 C) so extreme cropping just brought out the flaws in the IQ. What to do?
Answer in this case: do what cropping was reasonable, and then fill the frame with a whole bunch of images (in this case 9)! I sent the image to the pilot, and he said it was pretty cool.
I actually arranged it on purpose with the lighter sky in the middle and the darker skies on the outside. Seems like it still worked -- i.e. the different sky colors didn't bother me and maybe even added a bit, making the image a little less monotonous. Making the skies match is beyond my ability anyway: I played around with it and in the end left it alone.
The colors are not the problem, the boundary makes it obvious that its blended. Not a problem to blend, probably have to assume that anyway given that so many planes in such non formation positions and so close would not seem feasible.
What about a smoothed out transition?
Actually, this works fine as is, but we are all duty bound to offer suggestions I guess.
Thanks, Ben. I appreciate all the suggestions. That's the great thing here...I go in thinking A, B, and C and come out learning about D,E,F,G and H, mostly things I wouldn't have thought of.
Personally with such an image that we know is out of the bounds of reality the lighter portions look more like areas where the planes were added vs. something that would exist there naturally.
I like the artful way that you arranged the planes in your composition. I also think showing these stunt planes in various mid air positions highlights the maneuvers they were performing. Fine concept and execution, with excellent suggestions above.
Thanks Steve -- there was method to the arrangement and I'm glad it was at least a step in the right direction. Thanks too, Karen and Kent for the Photoshop tip -- always appreciated.
That is pretty cool. Two things I noticed that make you image look a bit static: airplanes being too close to the frames and the lack of blur on the props. Use a slower SS to get the feel of the props rotation otherwise they look like they are falling out of the sky.
Socrate
Socrate -- thanks for the comment. What sorts of shutter speeds work well for this? After I made the composite I think I deleted the individual images and don't know what SS I used.
beanpkk wrote:
Socrate -- thanks for the comment. What sorts of shutter speeds work well for this? After I made the composite I think I deleted the individual images and don't know what SS I used.
Thanks,
keith
Keith, you should never set your SS higher than 1/160 sec. It also depends on the rotation speed of the props. Remember that slow SS requires a good panning technique. Here are two different examples of SS 1/160 and as you can see you get two different renditions of the props rotation. The first one actually needed a slower SS, but it works for the second one. If I had to give you one SS to set it would be 1/125. Practice your panning though
Socrate