C17 Globemaster in Low Level flying on a Saturday

[A380_sully]

After seeing a posted heads up of activity in LFA17 and only 1 1/2 drive away I high tailed it up to Smaithwaite with my usual partner in crime. The morning consisted of 2 x AH-64, C17 & 2 x AW101's. Unfortunately the AH64's puled up off the lake and disappeared before Raven Cragg, but thankfully the others came along to make it worthwhile. Unfortunately my vantage point wasn't ideal as the C17 decided to try and do an impression of Moses and part the waves leaving me somewhat high and wide, but there you go. The light was the harshest I've ever shot in and to be truthful I don't think I mastered the conditions.

Only a few as my eyes are on stalks.....

1)

2)

3)

C&C and advice about settings when shooting in such harsh light would be more than welcomed. Everyday is a school day!

Cheers,

Kelvin

[McG]

Looking at a sun position app for photographers, the sun would have been roughly directly overhead the lake from a southerly direction at about the time the C-17 came through. A couple of hours later and you would have had better lighting on it as the sun would have been further round.

Given the conditions I think you’ve done well.

[Tommy]

I'm only on my phone, but honestly, that 2nd shot is a peach. Maybe pull the shadows out slightly, but I think that's as good as most could hope for from there.

[A380_sully]

Looking at a sun position app for photographers, the sun would have been roughly directly overhead the lake from a southerly direction at about the time the C-17 came through. A couple of hours later and you would have had better lighting on it as the sun would have been further round.

Given the conditions I think you’ve done well.

I wish the pilots would look at the sun position app, unfortunately we can only go for the pass and deal with the light as we find it. I think I faulted in spot metering as the focus point landed on the bleached upper wing surface to under exposed the image a lot. I cannot pull any more shadows out of the image. If it ever happens again I;ll try evaluative metering.

[sdad]

What does "pull the shadows out" mean?

[McG]

What does "pull the shadows out" mean?

Lift the shadows using Photoshop or Lightroom to make the detail more visible and reduce the amount of shadow.

[sdad]

"Lift"
as other programs are available, does this mean to make the dark parts lighter and maybe add contrast? Is this done automatically or do you have to mask the chosen area first?

[sovietjet]

I suppose he means to use the shadow/highlights tool and move the slider on the "shadows" higher. This makes all dark areas lighter, but overdoing it will also cause halos so use it with caution. Alternatively, in RAW editor you can bring up the shadows and darks as well. Simply all these functions just brighten up the dark parts of the image while leaving everything else mostly the same.