Tech Friday: airplanes as art

Today I would love to share some airplane art with you. We got up at 4:00 a.m. in order to be on the flight line when the sun came up. With good direct sunlight we were able to shoot some airplanes on the tarmac. This morning I concentrated on color and design, reflections and shapes.
Airplanes are beautiful works of art, well at least to me, the shapes and forms are functional, yet a pivotal part of their design. I enjoy flying, but when I can’t be in the air, I love just looking at airplanes. Anyway this is an area where I have no problem doing a lot of “processing” of images.
Increasing saturation, contrast, selective darkening and lighting of areas all to make the image more effective.

The image to the
right is a simple
composition of
the airplanes red
striped design
reflecting in the
shiny surface of
it’s aluminum
clad wing.

The opening
image at the top
of the page is the
side view of a
P51 Mustang
I’ve photographed many times, but this morning the light really accented the colors and I shot it
tight to keep the viewers attention on just that color information.

Talking things even further directly below, I used a program called Topaz in conjunction with HDR to make a painting effect for this row of AT-6 Texans.

One trick I Iike to use with cars, airplanes, trains, anything that we know moves is to shoot it head on to show the actual form of the object, the Russian MIG 21 below was a good subject for this effect, the shot below that is the same MIG 21 with the three quarter approach to head on.

The MIG above also got some HDR and Topaz filtration to change its appearance from a straight
photo. Below, the same Mustang featured at the top shot from a different angle, once again emphasizing the wonderful reflective qualities of it’s aluminum skin.

Lastly, photography is all about light and the shot below was just a wonderful set of warm early morning light reflections on a Maul and the buildings windows behind it, making for a great design.

As I’ve shared in past blogs entries, light makes the image by showing form and texture, and by revealing the beauty of it’s own reflection.

Having a day to day, moment to moment walk with our Lord is also the process of having the Light of the world guiding and watching over you. I am blessed to do this kind of work for a living and I thank God everyday that I can enjoy the company of good people at work and then go home to such a wonderful family at home. Amen.

the pilgrim

*Photo Note: All images with D700, and the 70-300 AFS lens.