Plane Landing at Dublin Airport C+C

[Skittle]

July 16, 2008 at 10:11 pm

[Gulp] Ok this post is a lot of firsts…first post on here, my first images uploaded to Flickr, and one of first few images with my new Canon 450D. :oops:

I’ve just got the camera recently and I’m a complete beginner, luckily I work with a member from here, Martin, and he’s been giving me some tips.

Here’s the picture I took with the camera:

Here’s the picture after I done some small edits in Photoshop (another first)

Now I know the fence looks crap, but it was the best position I had and it was the best I could do with the 18-55mm IS kit lens I was using.
In the second picture I increased the exposure by nearly +1.00 but I can’t understand how it got so under-exposed. :?

If I’ve posted in the wrong area – forgive me
If the picture is crap – tell me
If there are any other things I could do to make the picture better – educate me
(p.s. I’ve bought Scott Kelby’s 7 point System book for Photoshop, which I will read soon).

Thanks for taking the time to reply…

Skittle

[Pixelle]

July 16, 2008 at 10:35 pm

Hi, Skittle and welcome to PI. You’ve done well with so many firsts.
I agree that where they have put this fence makes it harder to get a shot. You must have been up on the bank.

I wonder if it would be better to wait for the plane to clear the buildings behind?

[MartinOC]

July 17, 2008 at 3:03 am

Welcome to PI Skittle,
You have done well here.
I agree with Pixelle, that a bit of daylight between the plane and the building would be better.
I think the fence is ok, it fits in with the picture doesn’t bother me at all.

The exposure problem I would say comes from the having a bright-ish sky and dull grass.
The camera seems to have exposed for the sky as (at least on my screen) it has more texture in the
first photograph and is flatter in the second.

I’m not so much of a landscape shooter so others probably have better strategies, but I would think
that you might want to keep the sky from the first combined with the plane and land from the second.

Many ways to do that in PS, for example add a brighten adjustment layer, and then a layer mask and
with a soft eraser bring back some more texture to the sky.

I hope this helps,

Martin

[Pixelle]

July 17, 2008 at 12:33 pm

to wait for the plane to clear the buildings behind?

Oops!! Just noticed the title says “plane landing” :oops:

[Skittle]

July 17, 2008 at 1:00 pm

Thanks for the comments guys!

I never thought of putting some space under the plane. Now that I look at it, I just realised that it’s hard to see the under-carriage. I did take a set of the plane landing, so I’ll check my earlier pictures to see if there’s one with the plane a little higher in the sky.

When I know a little more about Photoshop, I’ll try the things you were all mentioning about the masks and layers.

Skittle