Helicopters

[DanielB]

Whirlybirds today, both civilian and military:


Bell UH-1H Iroquois 560 (G-HUEY) - North Weald, May 2017 by Dan B, on Flickr


MD902 Explorer G-HAAT - Hertfordshire Air Ambulance - North Weald, February 2017 by Dan B, on Flickr


Westland Wasp HAS1 XT787 / G-KAXT - Westland Wasp Historic Flight - Old Warden, June 2016 by Dan B, on Flickr


AgustaWestland Apache AH1 ZJ196 - Army Air Corps - IWM Duxford, September 2011 by Dan B, on Flickr


Eurocopter EC130 G-WCKD - North Weald, May 2015 by Dan B, on Flickr


Westland Sea King HAR3A ZH544 - IWM Duxford, October 2012 by Dan B, on Flickr


RAF Benson Families Day 2009 by Dan B, on Flickr


RAF Benson Families Day 2009 by Dan B, on Flickr

 

[Kodiak Qc]

•


For some reasons, this is less well achieved
than your recent plane set I commented on.

On most, tonal and WB tweaks will do the trick.

 

[DanielB]

Feel free to illustrate what you'd do with them - I only have a very simple workflow.

 

[Kodiak Qc]

Feel free to illustrate what you'd do with them

I thought of that. Dan…
but your edit says "NO"!

 

[DanielB]

Ignore that- I just invited you to.

 

[Kodiak Qc]

•


Thanks Dan, these are suggestions…
you could do better with the RAW.

Some are subtile others less.

​

 

[DanielB]

Thanks. I like the change to the Puma, would you mind explaining what you did with that one?

I think with the Sea King and Air Ambulance, you've rather lost the soft, warm tones of the autumn/winter lighting in which those images were taken. The air ambulance was about 15 minutes before sunset in February.

I don't shoot RAW btw. I shoot jpegs and my work flow doesn't really involve too much correction - some minor levels/contrast adjustments, sharpening, removing dust spots and that's about it really. I keep to a simple, basic workflow as I generally like things to look natural.

 

[Kodiak Qc]

I don't shoot RAW btw. I shoot jpegs

This ends any discussion as you've thrown away most of the
data that is necessary for proper PP.

Captures are always RAW. When you choose to write in jpg
only, RAW data is deleted by the camera. Unretrievably.

For example, the step to render an organic look to a mineral
capture is omitted. Some level of sharpening, saturation etc
decisions are left to the camera, you have little control on it.

Maybe you will reconsider, I hope so, that jpg decision.

 

[Fuji Dave]

A nice set of shots Dan, good rotor blur too. My pic is the great Apache shot a great and mean looking helicopter indeed.

 

[holty]

great shots
where were they taken at an air display ?

 

[DanielB]

great shots
where were they taken at an air display ?

Images from Duxford and Old Warden were, yes. RAF Benson images were pleasure flights at the station Families Day, and the ones from North Weald were just weekend visits to watch stuff coming and going at the airfield.

 

[jpgreenwood]

Brilliant and sharp, with just the right amount of prop blur. What settings were you using? I cannot master sharp photos with prop blur.

 

[Major]

Good looking pics, however, I'd pull the shadows little bit more, they just look too dark in few places.

Would be worth trying to shoot them with a bit slower shutter speeds too, to blur that main rotor.