Pima Air and Space Museum, Tucson, AZ

[wingsnstuff]

Very Nice Shots Tom

[Kens Aviation]

At the June 30 meet at Pima, a few of us talked about background clutter.  I've been messing with photoshop to see what can be done after the shoot.  Let me know what you think!

[Scott Youmans]

At the June 30 meet at Pima, a few of us talked about background clutter.  I've been messing with photoshop to see what can be done after the shoot.  Let me know what you think!

Ken, Just a thought from the peanut gallery.  I think it's a good strategy for deemphasizing the clutter.  I wonder how it would look to leave just a little color in the background.  The stark difference between the color and monochrome tends to give the brain a clue that something has been manipulated.  Worth a try maybe.

Shooting this aircraft from the front was also a good strategy considering the canopy situation!

[Scott Youmans]

Columbine

[cpasley]

Wow Scott great backdrop, really a good "typical" Arizona summer/monsoon kinda shot, I really like it

[Scott Youmans]

Thank you very much Chris!  Mother nature has a real knack for improving airplane photos.  You can even leave the airplane out and still have a pretty nice shot!

[Joe Copalman]

Ken, Just a thought from the peanut gallery.  I think it's a good strategy for deemphasizing the clutter.  I wonder how it would look to leave just a little color in the background.  The stark difference between the color and monochrome tends to give the brain a clue that something has been manipulated.  Worth a try maybe.

This is what I like about Lightroom - you can control hue, saturation, and luminance on individual colors, allowing you to de-emphasize background colors (usually yellows, oranges, and greens) while making your subject "pop" a bit more, yet still look more or less natural. 

[Scott Youmans]

Odd Bird - Admittedly strange photo.

[Scott Youmans]

Hustler

[Joe Copalman]

Hustler

"There's . . . SOMETHING . . . on the wing!"

[Scott Youmans]

Hustler

"There's . . . SOMETHING . . . on the wing!"

He's actually holding one of those speed wrenches.  Kind of looks like he's pointing at something, perhaps where a bird left its mark.  This was posed for Chad Slattery who was taking photos from a very tall (over 100 feet!) lift at the time.  Top part of lift has been conveniently removed.  His photo was on the cover of Air & Space a few years ago.

[Scott Youmans]

Convair T-29B

[Scott Youmans]

Fallen Star

[Jeff D. Welker]

Fallen Star

This is such a totally cool image Scott. The monochrome, composition, depth of field, etc - all exceptional.

[Scott Youmans]

Thank you very much Jeff.  Was thinking of you when I posted it.  I keep running across this image as I browse my photos and am always drawn to it.  There is something about this once proud aircraft just sitting on some old tires and pallets that pulls at the heart strings.  Even in its deteriorated state it remains dignified.

This is the same T-33 that is now on display indoors at the museum.  It was in a few movies during its Hollywood career, thus the "Fallen Star".  Photo was taken with a Nikon 80-400 on a D3 at about f/6.3 and 310mm.  The somewhat soft background was a result of the focal length and aperture.  I really wanted to like that lens but I found the zoom to be very stiff and the edges to be soft.  Nicely made though.  I've seen many excellent photos taken with the same lens so maybe I had a bad copy.