Air show part 2...

[OldClicker]

Since the concept seemed to go over, I cleaned it up a bit. How does it look? Good enough for competition? Lighting look consistent? Too closely cropped at the top? – TF

[caleb]

are the planes in this one bigger than the last? i'm not sure about the smoke, but an opacity change could fix that easily

[Frog]

Now that's one great composition.
Great job!

[Didache]

It's a cracker of a shot. I don't know about the competitions in your area, but if I were judging them this would definitely get a look-in. I think the crop is fine. I wouldn't take any more off though.

Cheers
Mike

[OldClicker]

caleb - I had to look, but yes they are quite a bit bigger. Is the smoke too much?

Frog & Mike - Thanks. It will be one of my three for next Thurs.

TF

[caleb]

I think the planes are a little big, if they get scaled down the smoke may very well look ok. Lighting looks great, nice job

[jetrim]

Terry,
What I would do concerning the smoke (assuming planes/smoke are on their own layer) is to take the eraser, set the size to approx. Same size as distance between the smoke trails. Then set the opacity to 100% and the hardness to 0% and run down the center between the trails. This will give a very soft, believable transition at the edges of the trials while maintaining good body near their centers. Beyond that, this is a spectacular shot with a very high "wow" factor and lots of creativity - the first two criteria used by APA judges.

[OldClicker]

Terry,
What I would do concerning the smoke (assuming planes/smoke are on treir own layer) is to take the eraser, set the size to approx. Same size as distance between the smoke trails. Then set the opacity to 100% and the hardness to 0% and run down the ceter between the trails. This will give a very soft, believable transition at the edges of the trials while maintaining good body near their centers. Beyond that, this is a spectacular shot with a very high "wow" factor and lots of creativity - the first two criteria used by APA judges.

So I do this on the 'smoke' layer where there is transparent between the smoke or on a layer where there is blue between the smoke? - TF


EDIT: Trying it, I can see that only on the smoke layer does it make sense. - Thanks. - TF

[OldClicker]

Terry,
What I would do concerning the smoke (assuming planes/smoke are on treir own layer) is to take the eraser, set the size to approx. Same size as distance between the smoke trails. Then set the opacity to 100% and the hardness to 0% and run down the ceter between the trails. This will give a very soft, believable transition at the edges of the trials while maintaining good body near their centers. Beyond that, this is a spectacular shot with a very high "wow" factor and lots of creativity - the first two criteria used by APA judges.

100% opacity? Completely erase the edges? Here they are at different opacities.

100%



75%



50%



25%



TF

[caleb]

75% looks good to me, although it's a little small to see the edge details (which is where the problem was)

[jetrim]

I think you missed the 0 hardness part. Think of it like a cone - the point in the center is 100% opacity and it gradually has less and less opacity til you reach the outside edge of the eraser. So in effect you are creating a simple gradient mask without all the extra gymnastics.

[OldClicker]

OK, I guess that I just had the eraser too close. Here is the latest. - TF

[jetrim]

At this resolution it looks very good - much better than the original posted in this thread :thumbsup:

[caleb]

agreed, well done

[Greg McCary]

I agree with Mike....Good luck.

[OldClicker]

Follow up - PRINT OF THE MONTH! Thanks to all who taught me so much with this image. - TF

[jetrim]

CONGRATULATIONS! That's excellent news, and well deserved!