Sparky...

[wingman]

I wonder how many more quality pictures were taken of Sparky this year as compared to previous years with Brant at the controls...

I sure am glad that the new kid got a quality ride, and that he did so well with it! Thanks Steve S. and Brant!

Neal

[wingman]

Re: Sparky...

[RCoulter]

Re: Sparky...

That nose-on shot is sick Neal! Nice job

[ignomini]

Re: Sparky...

Nice shots! Here's how he looked from the uh...nosebleed seats.

[sierra fox]

Re: Sparky...

Certainly not the "quality" of yours Neal!

[wingman]

Re: Sparky...

Looks good to me -- Now one thing I've been doing in recent years as digital quality has improved is to crop much tighter. My original for the lead shot in this thread had the airplane about the size of the one in your shot, or even smaller. I'm not willing to schlep around a Victor-type lens, but the same effects can often be obtained by cropping IF the photographer's technique was good enough in the original capture.

If the original shot is sharp enough these digital images can stand considerable cropping especially for web use. I've been criticised at times for cutting off wingtips and tails, but I like the dramatic stuff -- stuff that makes the viewer say WOW!, and tight cropping often really makes the difference between "That's nice" and "WOW!"...

This comment is just a very general $.02 worth -- not a comment on or criticism of any specific image...

Neal

[sierra fox]

Re: Sparky...

Looks good to me -- Now one thing I've been doing in recent years as digital quality has improved is to crop much tighter. My original for the lead shot in this thread had the airplane about the size of the one in your shot, or even smaller. I'm not willing to schlep around a Victor-type lens, but the same effects can often be obtained by cropping IF the photographer's technique was good enough in the original capture.

If the original shot is sharp enough these digital images can stand considerable cropping especially for web use. I've been criticised at times for cutting off wingtips and tails, but I like the dramatic stuff -- stuff that makes the viewer say WOW!, and tight cropping often really makes the difference between "That's nice" and "WOW!"...

This comment is just a very general $.02 worth -- not a comment on or criticism of any specific image...

Neal

Thanks Neal, i sure would like to attend the Wingman Guru School, unfortunately, the shot you mention is not crisp enough to crop, not many of mine are, here's one from outta the camera (no crop), soft as it may be.

[wingman]

Re: Sparky...

It's not that bad at all -- for web use especially. I played with it a bit -- hope it's OK (I saved your watermark!). Again you can get away with stuff on the web that you cannot in a 8x10 print. The web is a VERY low quality medium for images. Stuff that is clearly too soft to make a great print will often make up into a very nice web image.

Neal

[sierra fox]

Re: Sparky...

Cool! Looks like i'm over saturating too, that's one of the many great quality's of your work is the colors are real, after 10,000 images from Reno this year, i get overwhelmed and tend to over process sometimes. Oh well, these tips will prove beneficial during my second attempt at the pylons in 09.

Really appreciate your guidance Neal

[wingman]

Re: Sparky...

One more point -- Doing what we do with objects booming by at 400 mph is (for me at least) VERY difficult. This makes it (for me at least) a very low percentage operation. If I work hard and don't drink too much Scotch during the evenings I can get maybe 50 or 60 great sharp perfectly exposed images out of likely thousands of button pushes. (This is pure guesswork, but you get the drift here). Never judge your work by the fu*kups or almosts or "I should have got that". If you got 50 great shots, it's nobody's business but yours how many shots you took to get them. Good is good. If you come back from Reno with 10, or 30 shots you can get all warm and moist looking at then you're a good photog, at least in my book.

My financial future in no way depends on my Reno photography, so I'm quite happy if I get 30 or 40 great images -- how many more than that is anybody gonna want to look at anyway??

Neal

[wingman]

Re: Sparky...

I didn't touch the saturation at all -- I lightened it some with levels, then increased contrast selectively with the curves tool (and just a bit of the shadow/highlight tool) and a very light use of unsharp mask. Took less than 5 minutes.

Try it yourself...

[sierra fox]

Re: Sparky...

I didn't touch the saturation at all -- I lightened it a bit with levels, then incresed contrast selectively with the curves tool (and just a bit of the shadow/highlight tool) and a very light use of unsharp mask...

Try it yourself...

Very good, making dinner, will give it a whirl later, thanks again

[sierra fox]

Re: Sparky...

One more point -- Doing what we do with objects booming by at 400 mph is (for me at least) VERY difficult. This makes it (for me at least) a very low percentage operation. If I work hard and don't drink too much Scotch during the evenings I can get maybe 50 or 60 great sharp perfectly exposed images out of likely thousands of button pushes. (This is pure guesswork, but you get the drift here). Never judge your work by the fu*kups or almosts or "I should have got that". If you got 50 great shots, it's nobody's business but yours how many shots you took to get them. Good is good. If you come back from Reno with 10, or 30 shots you can get all warm and moist looking at then you're a good photog, at least in my book.

My financial future in no way depends on my Reno photography, so I'm quite happy if I get 30 or 40 great images -- how many more than that is anybody gonna want to look at anyway??

Neal

Those are words to live by and i'm guilty on all counts from time to time, by the way, it was great shooting with you at the pylons on Sunday too, along with Mr. Larsen, great company, for sure

[wingman]

Re: Sparky...

I ate already so I can play.

Please post your results, or questions if you're not happy with what you get. You've got the advantage here, because you have the full pixel original to work with. I just had a little web image.

Neal

[sierra fox]

Re: Sparky...

I like this a little better. Here's another one with about 50% crop, similar to the one you mentioned earlier, i think it was a better shot to begin with.

What photo program do you use?