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Aerobatic Precision
Aerobatic Precision
bobonacus


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Best of 2008 (Advanced Editing VII*)
Camera: Canon EOS-40D
Lens: Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS
Location: Farnborough Air Show
Date: Jul 20, 2008
Aperture: f/9
ISO: 400
Shutter: 1/1250
Galleries: Transportation, Military
Date Uploaded: Jan 9, 2009

 This was before I discovered shooting in RAW so the original is a JPG. I also shot this in shutter priority @ 1/1250 ISO 400 ... also it's at f/9 so I could have shot in av @ f/5.6 and ISO 200 ... stuff you learn :)

Open JPG in Adobe RAW
Up exposure, blacks, clarity, contrast
Open as smart object
create 3 extra smart object layers via copy
create exposure for sky on one layer to make it darker
exposure for aircraft on another much brighter and increased reds
exposure for part of the smoke trails increasing saturation used layer masks to only show the portion of each exposure
strong noise ninja pass on the sky layer
two curves layers
flatten all (create a print file)
resize
noise ninja
border
save

This was one of the outtakes from my free study blue ribboner :)


I don't expect this to do as well as the first one, the aircraft don't have quite as much impact in this, it would be nice to be able to have a larger image as at 720px there is not enough detail, but I'd love above a 6 ... and some favs of course, though I expect the standard of competition to be very good ....

Post
Fantastic, when I saw the score hovering at abouy 7 dead I knew it wasn't enough for a ribbon but I hoped for a top ten finsh so 5th is fantastic :)

Thanks for all the great comments and favs and congrats to all as there were loads of fab images in the challenge

Statistics
Place: 5 out of 531
Avg (all users): 7.0476
Avg (commenters): 8.2174
Avg (participants): 7.0809
Avg (non-participants): 6.9483
Views since voting: 5018
Views during voting: 447
Votes: 231
Comments: 36
Favorites: 17 (view)

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AuthorThread
 02/03/2010 08:36:35 AM
great image and finish..
loved the BR winner too!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/29/2009 04:16:43 AM
WOW! incredible sharpness, composition, details and colors... i like this shot very very much!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/29/2009 12:33:49 AM
beautiful.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/26/2009 10:16:03 AM
I loved your free study and I love this one as well, one of my ten votes! Congratulations on your HM.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/24/2009 11:04:14 PM
What an incredible shot. Congrats!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/23/2009 04:26:57 PM
Incredible shot. Congrats on 5th!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/23/2009 02:44:04 PM
Knew this amazing shot had to be yours and knew it would do well. Excellent work, Robert. Congrats.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/23/2009 01:57:28 PM
Congrats on the HM. Well deserved in my opinion.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/23/2009 08:54:03 AM
Great work and great finish!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/23/2009 03:22:01 AM
Congratulations on an amazing shot!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/23/2009 12:16:54 AM
Incredible image! Congrats on an amazing finish in the toughest challenge of the year, and getting a 7! Well deserved. :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/23/2009 12:09:31 AM
congrats!! glad this did so well.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
01/22/2009 09:17:22 PM
Wow. That was my first thought when this opened. Its like they are coming right for me. Not sure if what wows me is their precision or yours, but your impeccable timing, DOF, sharpness and colors really push this to the top. Impressive. 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/22/2009 07:50:54 PM
simply awesome
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/22/2009 07:44:34 PM
fabulous and well timed capture!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/22/2009 07:34:43 AM
An excellent capture of an aerial display. One of the best I have seen. 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/22/2009 01:17:48 AM
Most airshow shots suck, not this one, well done!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2009 10:01:45 PM
Very nice lines and colors.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2009 09:34:35 PM
You have rated 372 of 531 images in this challenge and this is the second best so far. I'd love to see this one ribbon (again).
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2009 09:20:54 PM
how nice to have the grey clouds for contrast. I think they work better than a clear blue sky would have.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2009 06:49:34 PM
Wow! I can't imaging how you were able to capture such a stunning shot! Amazing line, pattern, color, composition... wonderful! 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2009 03:14:20 PM
Perfect framing on the formation, I love the way the smoke trails are all visible. The angle of the formation is also nice and consistent with the flow of the smoke. Really well done.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2009 06:37:36 AM
8 - I'll say (to your title). The cloud capture gives this an added extra too.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/19/2009 06:56:28 PM
Fantastic! That's quite amazing how they are nearly in a straight line
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/19/2009 10:38:39 AM
Awesome capture - color - photo! 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/19/2009 07:57:29 AM
totally as awesome as the first one, sharp and clean and amazing capture well done
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/18/2009 05:35:07 PM
Are you talking about them or your great ability at capturing this? It's wonderful, sharp and just so cool.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/18/2009 11:59:11 AM
Another familiar image, but no less impressive. Graet framing here.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/17/2009 09:19:51 PM
Thats a good shot. Was this an out take of a ribbon winner?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/17/2009 05:14:55 PM
Great capture here 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/17/2009 10:51:18 AM
cool shot...love the colors and the tonal value of the sky...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/17/2009 06:34:35 AM
great capture
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/16/2009 10:23:31 PM
outstanding stuff- the colored smoke, the formation of the planes - the cloudy sky providing a canvas for the event
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/16/2009 07:18:04 PM
Hey , I've see this before!! excellent capture , well composed , 8
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/16/2009 02:11:22 PM
So nice！10.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/16/2009 12:28:29 AM
EXCELLENT CAPTURE.......
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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