[flyXwire]

Originally Posted by hworth18

Very nice pics Mark.. As always....

I'll second that!

[mhackl]

Originally Posted by stalag8611

Wow, some really great photos. Would you mind sharing what camera you use? I have a 5 MEG Canon, and even though I have a good file of my collection I haven't been able to get close to your shots.

These were taken with a 3.2mp Fuji Finepix 3800, this is a horrible camera!
I have had to create an environment around the camera to get decent shots. It's a decent daytime "point and shoot" but really horrible at anything else. The environment is what makes these pics. I have a new 8mp Olympus, but I haven't had chance to learn it yet. For now I'm shooting with whats familiar.

Florescent Lights - I have read that these are bad for photography but they are working for me in this case. When I have tried photo lights with this camera I have had trouble with over exposure. This is either due to my lack of experience or a cruddy camera.

Reflectors - I use copy paper folded in half (tepees) to provide 45 degree reflection underneath wings and so forth. I know, I usually get a good laugh from this fact too but it seems to work rather well.

Photoshop - My photos don't look like this strait out of the camera. I have to do some post-processing. Often my pure whites come out slightly blue and I have to correct that in Photoshop. It's a great program and worth learning.

[mhackl]

Originally Posted by PappyB

Love the heat shimmer effect from the exhaust, too -- very cool!

Thank you, I was quite happy with that too.

For the Photoshop folk:

How I did it
I created a new layer by copying a small piece of the background behind the aircraft using the lasso tool w/ 5px feathering. I then blurred this new layer and applied the "Crystallize" filter found in the "Pixelate" section of the filters menu.

[mhackl]

All images posted are for the collector’s benefit and may not be reproduced for commercial use without the written consent of On Mark International, Inc. USA

The most important thing about creating these pics
Don't erase the background from the original photo, allways extract!
The original background is very useful eventhough your putting a new background in its place. For example, the shadowing underneather the model is from the original photo. I use the original background as a multiplying layer over the new background to get this effect.

[STARMAN 352ND]

Nice....like the moving background pics.
JP