Uniformity FINAL EDIT ADDED

[Weather Watcher]

When you take a number of shots of the same aircraft at an airshow do you try to make the sky uniform in post processing or do you treat each image as an individual shot? If you try for a uniform sky how do you do it? The examples here are of the Lancaster at the first Old Warden show this year. I know that the sky is different in different directions and elevations but should I have tried to produce a more uniform set of images? Thanks for any opinions/advice.
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Avro Lancaster (c)

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Avro Lancaster (b)

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Avro Lancaster (a)

[sdad]

Instead of leaving it till later, why not only work with the piece of sky you like at the time of shooting? That is if you wish to pursue this line at all. How would you do it without advice from here?

[Hammy]

I can understand your reasoning behind wanting a uniformity to the sky in your images, however, I can't help but think it might be an exercise in futility where you spend hours of your life in photoshop for very little reward...

Light is infinitely changeable and whilst similar, even images from a sequence panning with one aircraft on one pass will throw up variations in the colour of the sky. You're not just dealing with a single patch of sky here; you're dealing with the ever-changing position of the sun in relation to it, any potential cloud movement (both in the patch of sky you're photographing and around where the sun is), how your camera 'reads' the light and calculates exposures accordingly, and the aircraft you're photographing and how its shape/size (how far in/out you need to zoom) and colour scheme might also affect the camera's metering. The wider the field of view you pan through in order to photograph an aircraft increases the complexity of this.

Personally, I take each image as a single entity rather than part of a sequence and edit accordingly - so long as the aircraft's colours look accurate, I don't care how the sky looks.

Martin

[Weather Watcher]

why not only work with the piece of sky you like at the time of shooting?

Because I want images of different aspects of the aircraft, which I can only get from different places in the sky.

[Weather Watcher]

I can understand your reasoning behind wanting a uniformity to the sky in your images, however, I can't help but think it might be an exercise in futility where you spend hours of your life in photoshop for very little reward...

Personally, I take each image as a single entity rather than part of a sequence and edit accordingly - so long as the aircraft's colours look accurate, I don't care how the sky looks.

Martin

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I think I agree and normally I would treat each image as a seperate entity.
However in this case there were no clouds in the sky and looking at my images of the Lancaster in sequence or side by side feels wrong in some way.

[jingernut]

I know that the sky is different in different directions and elevations but should I have tried to produce a more uniform set of images?

Surely that is only a question you can answer? It's not something that there is a yes or no to answer that someone else can give you.

[cg_341]

Personally, I take each image as a single entity rather than part of a sequence and edit accordingly - so long as the aircraft's colours look accurate, I don't care how the sky looks.

This is exactly it for me, especially the bit I have emboldened.

[Weather Watcher]

Surely that is only a question you can answer? It's not something that there is a yes or no to answer that someone else can give you.

I was looking for opinions - so far it seems that treating each image as an entity is the way to go.

[Weather Watcher]

Personally, I take each image as a single entity rather than part of a sequence and edit accordingly - so long as the aircraft's colours look accurate, I don't care how the sky looks.

This is exactly it for me, especially the bit I have emboldened.

I normally treat images this way (although colour accuracy is very difficult to judge after the event). It was just that in the examples I have posted above, it struck me that the skies were more different than I liked when viewing the images side by side. I wondered what others thought.

[wallace]

A manual white balance, a good colour profile and a consistent exposure, which is easier said than done.

There are so many variables you just have to do the best that you can.

I'd say that Lancaster B could benefit from a better white balance. There is a very strong blue colour cast in the deepest black, an RGB value of 20, 40, 65, make them equal and the picture isn't that bad

[Weather Watcher]

A manual white balance, a good colour profile and a consistent exposure, which is easier said than done.

I'd say that Lancaster B could benefit from a better white balance. There is a very strong blue colour cast in the deepest black, an RGB value of 20, 40, 65, make them equal and the picture isn't that bad

You are absolutely right - the more you look the less you see. I'll have another look at that shot.
Thanks

[Weather Watcher]

I've removed the blue cast as suggested and think think the image looks a lot better. I did have to use masks and use different white balances in different parts of the photo, so with my processing skills (or lack of) it's not something I would consider doing often. Any comments would be welcome.
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Lancaster (new edit)

[Mooshie1956]

That looks a lot better . I'm like you though not an expert on editing, I just do the minimum possible.

[John_E]

It looks on my phone as though there’s now a halo around the Lanc, the area immediately outside of the edges of it are brighter than the rest of the sky.

[Weather Watcher]

That looks a lot better . I'm like you though not an expert on editing, I just do the minimum possible.

Thanks

[Weather Watcher]

It looks on my phone as though there’s now a halo around the Lanc, the area immediately outside of the edges of it are brighter than the rest of the sky.

Thanks for the comment - I agree it is more obvious on some screens than others. I've gone back and had a final attempt.
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Lancaster (Final edit)

[rockfordstone]

this used to be one of my pet peeves, but in reality, different angles of shooting and different settings mean the sky will turn out different

these days i compare them side by side in light room and try to line them up but ultimately to me the subject is most important. It is infuriating i'll give you that