Spitfire MH434

[Dave Humphries]

Spitfire MH434 - first of a series, if you like


Nikon D5000 + Nikon 70-300mm VR: at 70mm, 1/750s, f/8, iso200 (201-41176)
F11 and click image to see at 1,599px × 993px

I started with the shot of this beauty in the flowers for Katy

Taken just under the safety fence, using Live View and the flippy LCD screen to focus and compose.

You gotta love how this venue parks the (sadly few) displaying planes for ease of access and with such an uncluttered background

Cheers,

[Bobobird]

Very nice shot.

[Snarkbyte]

Yep, I like! The Spitfire is an exceptionally beautiful airplane, and finding one in setting like this is a rare treat. Very nicely done, Dave, please keep them coming.

[jiro]

Congratulations, Dave. You nailed everything here.

[epmi314]

I agree it is perfect in all aspects. A very well framed shot!

[Dave Humphries]

Bobo, Al,

Thank you.

Willie, Scott,

I think 'perfect' is going a bit far; I can see a couple of admittedly minor things I should have done differently - a slight shuffle to my right, so the far wing cannon wasn't behind the prop blade tip and I am unsure about the predominant foreground flower, maybe that shouldn't be there?

Never-the-less, thank you all for the kind words, I am encouraged to show more (tonight),

[Sahil]

A very nice shot, Dave.
Very well composed & a very nice perspective. Love it

[Donald]

I can see a couple of admittedly minor things I should have done differently

Okay, points taken. But .........

Over and above what's been said above, what stands out for me is the richness of colour and tone. And I think that starts with a perfect exposure.

[KeithH]

A really nice shot of this iconic aircraft Dave.

[Dave Humphries]

Thank you all for the continued good feedback

The exposure was quite good Donald, only the red channel went to clipping, losing detail in the (already out of focus) flowers and the wing leading edge, when I tried recovering it in PP, it spoiled the rest, so I came to a small compromise and let it blow.

It did have a generous helping of fill light to get detail into the underside of the wing, but having shot at 200 iso, that wasn't an issue.

The composition is just a small crop on the full frame (not even a rotate), I got that fairly nailed (makes a change )
This was about the fifth attempt at the same shot to get it right in camera.

Additionally, I had to clone out a badly placed (and bright green) weed/plant.

It had some Clarity, Vibrance and LCE with USM, but the only proper sharpening applied was after the downsize 90%, 0.3px and 0 threshold if I remember.

Processed in Elements 8 with ACR for the RAW conversion.

[Wirefox]

The very best of aeronautical pron Dave. And all designed by a man with a cardigan and a pipe in his garden shed. Beautifully captured too. I am off to put Land of Hope and Glory on the radiogram.

[Katy Noelle]

Spitfire MH434 - first of a series, if you like



I started with the shot of this beauty in the flowers for Katy

AhHA! (I wondered....)

Wonderful, Dave! I can't help it - I love planes, trains and automobiles and in a field of yellow flowers, too.....

You know, also, a few of us Americans get all choked up when they think about Britain in the second world war.

Off to sing another rousing round of "blue skies over the white cliffs of Dover".

oh, and, do we get to see more, I hope?

[Dizzy]

Beautiful restoration done to that ol' Spitfire. We get to see at least one a year at the local airshow, but this year they didn't stay long so no chance for pictures.

I like the angle you shot it from, also, as it shows the gear bays and wing details.

Mike

[Dave Humphries]

Wonderful, Dave! I can't help it - I love planes, trains and automobiles, too, and, in a field of yellow flowers, too.....

That's a relief, i wondered if I had chosen badly

Yes more to come, looking for the next now, but so many to choose from
(is it possible to even take a picture at a 'bad angle' of a spitfire?)

[arith]

The very best of aeronautical pron Dave. And all designed by a man with a cardigan and a pipe in his garden shed. Beautifully captured too. I am off to put Land of Hope and Glory on the radiogram.

Who had the pipe and cardigan I think too much watching the middle classes congratulating themselves is going on here. The fact is those that could afford it was running away to America to leave us to it, and I suppose Mitchell was sort of middle class but not in the modern sense. like Cameron or Osbourne for gods sake.

I think this is a superb picture; you are so lucky and skillful to avoid clutter; which didn't exist originally. Well done and I knew a Spitfire pilot, he was a bit different to what is portrayed in the media. nothing like middle class and lethal if you got on the wrong side of him.

[Dave Humphries]

The classic wing shape we all love ...


Nikon D5000 + Nikon 70-300mm VR: 300mm, 1/350s, f/8, iso200 (201-41070)
F11 and click image to see at 1,000px × 1,000px

This was trickier to get detail in (against the light) - without washing it out or making it look over saturated.

Cheers,

[Donald]

This was trickier to get detail in (against the light) - without washing it out or making it look over saturated.

It is very clear that this must have been the case.

That is a wonderful image. Trying to set aside all the emotion that's tied-up, especially for Britons, with the Spitfire aircraft and attempting to be objective, this is a mightily impressive picture, even if only for the technical challenges involved in getting the exposure.

[ucci]

Fantastic all round Mr D, both as a piece of art and a memory stimulator. Memories for me anyway. Had a Scottish cousin who visited the land of Oz quite some years ago and went to War Museum in Canberra. He was over the moon, for there on display was a spitfire from the City of Glasgow squadron. It was special to him as he had been an airframe fitter with this squadron in WW2 and had probably worked on this particular aircraft back then. It is indeed a very small world
old ucci

[GeorgeM]

Wonderful shot! One of the plastic Revell models that I built as a youngster. Also built an Avro Lancaster. As a USian, I did concentrate on US aircraft, tho.

[speedneeder]

A really nice shot of this iconic aircraft Dave.

What he said.