How do I choose a winner?

[mutley 4,498]

I have been asked on a couple of occasions how I choose the winning shot.

As a rough guide:

The first thing I look for is relevance to the the subject and adherance to the rules, then composition of the shot, (In most cases chopping wing tips or the tail off an aircraft is not a good look!!).

Even with the oldest machines you can set the graphics quality to the highest resolution, set up the shot, snap it, then revert to your original setting if it gives you performance issues. That's what I used to do when entering competitions. It is quite obvious to me that some of the shots are staged, especially when a flying shot shows the ASI reading zero!

I know there are entrants who have megabucks machines that produce photo quality shots but that is not the be-all and end-all, as far as I am concerned.

FS9 has been a winner on many occasions, Dodgy Alan always comes up with an interesting shot and I think he has won two or three times! I have seen his machine and it is an antique in PC terms!! (Apologies Alan ) but still produces great results.

So in summary:

• Relevance
  
• Composition
  
• Interest
  
• Quality
  

I hope that goes some way to help you on your quest for a winning shot.

PS All previous winners are in our Screenshot Hall of Fame gallery here

Cheers

Joe

[needles 1,013]

And I thought your better half made the final choice. I will reserve the bale of hay I had in reserve for a later date.

[mutley 4,498]

Only if I can't decide between a couple of shots! Carrots are good too

[ddavid 149]

And I thought your better half made the final choice. I will reserve the bale of hay I had in reserve for a later date.

Guess I'll make cider out of that bag of apples I was storing...

Bests to L!

Cheers - Dai.

[mutley 4,498]

Cider! Best offer yet :wootmesalia:

[hurricanemk1c 195]

Some Guiness maybe? (Obviously, I can't buy it, but I could send you the money!)

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

As Joe says, my machine's an old one, its been pretty well updated along the way so has nearly aTB of disc space so plenty of room for the hundreds of aircraft in my hangar.

Another couple of tips I would like to offer as a semi-pro photographer

Firstly, As jo rightly says , Composition is important. Once you have you subject framed , look for intrusions. For instance, If your setting up a fairly pastoral scene, something like for example a bright red car down in the corner is going to draw the viewers eye to that point and detract from the finished result, (if the aircraft is flying let it turn a few degeress to lose the offender! If again you are shooting something like a Sopwith Camel, Unless its supposed to be in a modern setting you wouldnt want a jaet contrail carving the sky in the same frame.( If you like the backdrop but not the trail, hit the slew button and wait a few minutes, the trail will dissappear as AI aircraft continue normally in slew mode, once its gone, revert back to normal and continue with the shot) that way you can get a good pic without having to edit anything.

Another thing to ask yourself is this, look at the picture, and ask "Would you like to look at this permanently on the wall or in a calender?" If the awnser is NO, then its probably got something not quite right. the devil is in the detail

the last thing to look out for is lighting, think about what you want to achieve and then set your time, weather and season accordingly, then if you want to show a coulorful aircraft off try and get the sun somewhere on the same side as the camera to show her colours, (obviously grey dark shots you can do the exact opposite, but lighting is still as important.

In the photography game you only have that one chance to get it right, no computer tricks can save you (digital pics can be edited but youre still stuck with the same basic pic) with 35m which I still use from time to time you dont have that option, you HAVE to get it right, Especially if you're doing a wedding for instance!

Hope this helps guys.

[mutley 4,498]

There we have it, tips from the maestro, thanks Alan, that certainly gives food for thought and I agree with your comments wholeheartedly.

[PanzerFodder 0]

Good advice Gents .

I got this tip from Joe (Mutley) a while back, and it's helped me out a lot with regards to making screen shot's.

A thing that used to bug me a lot when making screen shots was waiting for the Red Text in the top right corner of the screen to disappear when zoomimg in and out, some times I missed the moment! and the shot I wanted had gone .

To get rid of the Red Text altogether.

Add the following line to the end of your [MAIN] section of the FSX.cfg file.

HideInfoText=1

Cheer's...Graham...

[mutley 4,498]

Works in FS 9 too

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

I would add that where I mention things like red objects etc detracting from a pictures centre of attention, this mainly applies if youre showing the aircraft in an otherwise clean environment, IE over a landscape or clouds etc. HOWEVER if objects are in CONTEXT with the picture then try and include them within the centre ground somewhere near the aircraft. for example, red huts etc may often be found in Arctic ground stations so if the aicraft is passing over one try and get it within the frame of the aircraft rather that out on its own at the edge of the picture, Airfield scenes by there very nature include a lot of brightly coloured objects, these can bring the picture to life but try to make youre main subject the dominant focus of attention in the picture, ie if youre showing off an airliner you wouldnt want it to be overshadowed by having a dirty great airgate or truck taking up more frame space than the airliner itself. Including some objects can bring a picture to life but ONLY if they can be relevant to the main subject.

Re Joes remark about chopping off wings and tails etc. I agree it can be dissapointing if most of the aircraft is visible only to find when the final pic is shown youve missed the last couple of feet of a wing etc. HOWEVER if you are going to bring up detail on the aircraft itself it is better to delibirateley and OBVIOUSLY close crop the picture to do that rather than make it look like careless photography. with many shots like this I tend to zoom in until all of the tail and if possible all of the engines are in the picture and then just leaving off the outer wing panels, (see my pic of the Constellation in last months com to see what I mean) This gives the picture a more dynamic feel and makes it obvious to the viewer that your centre of attention is the detail on the aircraft rather than an overall distant view with a missing wingtip, With most aircraft its the fuselage and tail that give the machine its identity as it were, (thats why many museums show only these components as the wings of a big airliner simply take up too much room).

Finally if you want fine examples aviation photography, look up the work of people like John Dibbs. His pictures are simply amazing and will give you some fine ideas. Hope this helps