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Boats and planes have alot in common and when the two got mixed back in the early 1900s there have spawned some ....interesting designs. However I can say, that the Grumman Albatross is certainly one of the better ones in my opinion, although I do have a soft spot for the flying radiator - google that (think RJ Mitchell - spitfire designer).

Anywho, onto a real mans flying boat, or more elgantly referred to as a Seaplane or Amphibious plane. First time i have ever seen one of these in real life and probably the last, there is only a few flying in the world (note this is a late model one). This one is destined for commercial work in WA.

There are obviously challenges for lighting a machine of this size, i thank Suren for his help here.

Critique more than welcome - good, bad or fugly.







and yee little tug.

Nice work....I cant be certain but from this screen at work some of the whites in #1 are a bit blown...I'll check and edit (if necessary) when i get home

Wierd looking plane

None of the plane images are totally doing it for me - the second is probably my pick of the plane. I do like the last of just the tug but those lines behind the cabin need to go and probably even the building lights on the right.

Did you paint this with torch? any strobe involved (e.g. in the cabin of the tug?)

aim54x wrote:Nice work....I cant be certain but from this screen at work some of the whites in #1 are a bit blown...I'll check and edit (if necessary) when i get home

on teh first they are a bit hot, but not blown ( i hope), i mainly tried to get a white colour rather than a blueish white.

Remorhaz wrote:Wierd looking plane

None of the plane images are totally doing it for me - the second is probably my pick of the plane. I do like the last of just the tug but those lines behind the cabin need to go and probably even the building lights on the right.

Did you paint this with torch? any strobe involved (e.g. in the cabin of the tug?)

any reason why not, composition? angle maybe? lack of scale?

yeah its a bit weird...but not as weird as some aircraft i have seen. Its a got a titanium wing spar (the important bit in the wing) though which makes it cool.

lit with multiple light sources, no strobes.

Hey there... just getting to these tonight after a long drive...

I think all of these suffer from a scale and composition problem.

Nothing wrong exposure and lighting wise but for this sort of image I believe you'd need to be up much higher (which of course might not be that easy) and get a shot taking in much more of the entire plane. Tricky stuff really. The tug work well though.

Hi Gerry,

The paint on these made it tricky to light I think. I think a metallic car is much easier because it gets this intrinsic glow but these seem to just look flat. The other issue is that we can't get above it which adds to the 2D effect.

#1 Tricky one to compose. I think I'd go for a more 3D look.
#2 is my favourite from this lot. I reckon you can shave off a little from below. I think the tug leads to the plane nicely.
#3 Perhaps get rid of the background lights? Nice detail on the engine.
#4 Nice and even which shows the Tug quite nicely. Nice touch with the light on top.

I guess I gave my feedback about these during the shoot. I think to improve these, you need backlight (for more 3d effect) and scale (it's sort of there but you can improve).

I don't have a technical knowledge of the area so I am sure I am missing stuff on those engines, landing gear etc. My comments are just to improve the pictures technically; not for technical pictures. Infact, I didn't even know the name of the aircraft until you posted it! PS: They seem to be behind on the naming of these things as well as the tech. Albatross sounds so mellow and fat.

biggerry wrote:any reason why not, composition? angle maybe? lack of scale?

I'm not exactly sure but I think it's a combination of being too evenly lit making everything look sort of normal and flat and also the composition/angles.

The first for instance is just straight on the side and all brightly lit. The idea of backlighting sounds like it has merit as I think would leaving some parts of the plane in shadow and graduating the light.

Whilst #3 is down low and kind of close with the wide I'm feeling like none of the plane is actually close but I'm not sure how I'd introduce some foreground perspective to make it more 3D - it's like I'd need to be close to that prop/engine to do it.

In #2 perhaps a little closer to the tug and a little to the left (so I can see a little more of the front/body of the plane), or even a shot from on top of the roof of the tug looking straight down the nose of the plane - as close and wide as you can - no idea how you'd light it tho.

thanks for the feedback guys, i needed to mull over these a bit before responding...

Mj wrote:I think all of these suffer from a scale and composition problem.

Nothing wrong exposure and lighting wise but for this sort of image I believe you'd need to be up much higher (which of course might not be that easy) and get a shot taking in much more of the entire plane. Tricky stuff really. The tug work well though.

hmm, a higher point of view would be good.. one problem at this location is hat there is alot of clutter around so it is a matter of trying to isolate the subject somewhat...i do hear what you are saying though.

surenj wrote:Hi Gerry,

The paint on these made it tricky to light I think. I think a metallic car is much easier because it gets this intrinsic glow but these seem to just look flat. The other issue is that we can't get above it which adds to the 2D effect.

you may well be right there, whilst the paintwork is new and clean it did come across very flat...

surenj wrote:#1 Tricky one to compose. I think I'd go for a more 3D look.
#2 is my favourite from this lot. I reckon you can shave off a little from below. I think the tug leads to the plane nicely.
#3 Perhaps get rid of the background lights? Nice detail on the engine.
#4 Nice and even which shows the Tug quite nicely. Nice touch with the light on top.

#2 is also my favorite... i think it was good that the tug was there, added a bit of colour, depth and interest to the scene..

I believe the torch on the orange light was indeed you idea, so - nicely done to you

surenj wrote:I don't have a technical knowledge of the area so I am sure I am missing stuff on those engines, landing gear etc. My comments are just to improve the pictures technically; not for technical pictures. Infact, I didn't even know the name of the aircraft until you posted it! PS: They seem to be behind on the naming of these things as well as the tech. Albatross sounds so mellow and fat.

thats cool, we all take pictures with different visions on mind, none are more valid than others in my opinion just a different take.

Albatross, well it is a pretty fat slow plane so i think it could be appropriate - they do have weird names for aircraft though...

Remorhaz wrote:I'm not exactly sure but I think it's a combination of being too evenly lit making everything look sort of normal and flat and also the composition/angles.

The first for instance is just straight on the side and all brightly lit. The idea of backlighting sounds like it has merit as I think would leaving some parts of the plane in shadow and graduating the light.

Whilst #3 is down low and kind of close with the wide I'm feeling like none of the plane is actually close but I'm not sure how I'd introduce some foreground perspective to make it more 3D - it's like I'd need to be close to that prop/engine to do it.

In #2 perhaps a little closer to the tug and a little to the left (so I can see a little more of the front/body of the plane), or even a shot from on top of the roof of the tug looking straight down the nose of the plane - as close and wide as you can - no idea how you'd light it tho.

possibly working with less rather than more might have been better here - i do like the idea of the view from up on teh tug - that would have been cool.

I do find with teh UWA you have to work a bit harder to nail the composition since things (even big things) can get lost in teh frame). Possibly using a longer lens 30+mm on #2 may have been more pleasing...

cheers for the feedback, appreciated...

I do like all of those shots

They convey what the Aircraft looks like , they are sharp and i love the lighting

I was at the Oshkosh airshow last year for a week and saw 4 of these gathered there, they all flew, i managed to get into one of them for a look see

I love flying boats

well done

Cheers

Nikon boy wrote:I do like all of those shots

They convey what the Aircraft looks like , they are sharp and i love the lighting

I was at the Oshkosh airshow last year for a week and saw 4 of these gathered there, they all flew, i managed to get into one of them for a look see

I love flying boats

well done

Cheers

the inside of this one is pretty sweet... all white leather and best of all, i could stretch my legs out