Help with my aviation shots

[sdspinelli2]

I'm fairly new to aviation photography with about 2 years experience shooting at Kennedy. I am looking to start posting to airliners.net or Jet Photos and I have some questions. Which site would you recommend, JP or A.net? Second I am asking for your help to help me with my shooting and post processing. The link to my flickr is down below and I posted some images I shot recently hoping some of you could critique my work. Please feel free to give me any tips for aviation photography, whether its the camera settings or things I can do in Lightroom and Photoshop. Thank you!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenspinelli/

[Jared Blech]

I'm pretty new to it too (6 months), so I only have one image on A.net that someone helped me edit and can't say a lot. I like a.net better but that's just me.
But let me tell you one thing,
Everybody on this forum are real people, so don't be afraid to ask for help and if you see another spotter come say hello.
Everybody is very friendly. That is it. This is a great site.
Your flickr shots look great!

[moose135]

You have some really nice work there, Stephen! I won't go photo by photo, but let me pass along a few general ideas on editing for A.net or JP.net. First of all, both have very particular standards about what they will accept - just because they reject your photo, don't think it isn't any good, it just doesn't fit their "standards". It used to be that JP.net was considered more forgiving in its acceptance criteria, but at this point, it's pretty well a toss up between them.

Looking at your gallery - I like the monochrome work you have, but neither site will accept them. The only time they will take B&W for a modern shot is when it depicts an historic aircraft, and you don't see any "modern" airframes in the scene. Also, they are particular (see, I'm being nice, I didn't say "picky"...) about cropping. Aircraft should be centered, with little space around the edges. And if you are cropping (or cutting off) a section of the aircraft, it needs to be for a good reason, and needs to be aesthetically pleasing - you have a few that look like you simply missed the whole aircraft in the frame (your LH A380 and Japan government B747 for instance - and that A380 shot looks just a touch blurry to me). Otherwise, I think you have some good photos, and with a little care, should find their way to either of the two sites.

A couple of thoughts on your settings, based on the EXIF displayed. As long as the light is good, I shoot in the lowest ISO I can (ISO 100, normally) and settle on f/7.1 in Aperture priority. That should give me somewhere in the 1/400 - 1/640 second range for shutter speed, which is plenty as long as you track along with the aircraft as you shoot. You don't really need a high ISO, and if you close down your lens a bit, it will help with image quality. Feel free to post specific shots, or ask questions about spotting or photography in general. Like Jared said, we're a friendly bunch...well, most of us! ;-)

[sdspinelli2]

Thank you so much guys! Ill defiantly use your advice. I'm trying to display myself in the threads more. At first it was a little awkward because I'm only a high school student, but in the end were all here for the same reason. :)

[wunaladreamin]

Echoing what Moose has already said, there's potential in a few shots. What editing program are you using?

[Jared Blech]

Thank you so much guys! Ill defiantly use your advice. I'm trying to display myself in the threads more. At first it was a little awkward because I'm only a high school student, but in the end were all here for the same reason. :)
Did someone say high school student??? :) Same here. I'm going to tell you right now I felt the same exact way when I joined, didn't know if I was the only high school student and if other members allowed or accepted teenagers so I kind of laid low in the beginning. I also didn't know how to explain to some members that I am only a teenager when they told me to "drive here, drive there", I don't have my permit yet (some of my damn friends do -_-) so i'm limited to when my parents or older friends can take me. Its not like its a far drive either, i live in northern nassau county... its just the timing (luckily i get 22L arrivals over my house so i am happy)

Probably the worst thing you can do on this site is not tell about your general age. ...you don't have to just outright say it first thing, (internet safety), but since you are probably going to run into lots of other spotters, it's good to let them know that you are a high school student. I will give you an example.
About a month ago one member posted shots from bayswater, which i see you have visited...
but anyways, I commented something like

Nice shots, is it me or does anybody else feel unsafe at bayswater?
That sparked some tempers with other members thinking i was calling the people that live in the surrounding neighborhoods dangerous and i wasn't. I had to explain myself. Since I'm still a "kid", I don't really go into the heart of far Rockaway alone and was not very familiar with the area, I felt like the park was kind of erie and i was all alone with my father.
It probably would have been a better situation if i told the member that i was only a teenager(moral of the story, make sure you let others know if you are a high schooler, they are very helpful and informative)...(sorry for the blabbering)
At least I know now that there are other teens on the site! welcome and hope to see you around once I finish all these freakin' regents exams -_-

[Zee71]

Nice set of images, although I echo what the others say. Here is a link to a thread about post processing that others and I have posted. Everyone has their own way processing their images. Hope it helps.

http://nycaviation.com/forum/threads/41834-Post-your-Editing-Workflow?highlight=processing

[Delta777LR]

Welcome Stephen! One of the the other ways of editing photos to Anet and JP is this link here. It's simple just look how it's done and you will be fine
http://www.airliners.net/faq/editing_guide.php

I still have a hard time with Anet myself but getting better. I have 156 images on Anet now. As for JP, I have 533 images there. btw your images are nice.

[wunaladreamin]

Did someone say high school student??? :) Same here. I'm going to tell you right now I felt the same exact way when I joined, didn't know if I was the only high school student and if other members allowed or accepted teenagers so I kind of laid low in the beginning. I also didn't know how to explain to some members that I am only a teenager when they told me to "drive here, drive there", I don't have my permit yet (some of my damn friends do -_-) so i'm limited to when my parents or older friends can take me. Its not like its a far drive either, i live in northern nassau county... its just the timing (luckily i get 22L arrivals over my house so i am happy)

Probably the worst thing you can do on this site is not tell about your general age. ...you don't have to just outright say it first thing, (internet safety), but since you are probably going to run into lots of other spotters, it's good to let them know that you are a high school student. I will give you an example.
About a month ago one member posted shots from bayswater, which i see you have visited...
but anyways, I commented something like

That sparked some tempers with other members thinking i was calling the people that live in the surrounding neighborhoods dangerous and i wasn't. I had to explain myself. Since I'm still a "kid", I don't really go into the heart of far Rockaway alone and was not very familiar with the area, I felt like the park was kind of erie and i was all alone with my father.
It probably would have been a better situation if i told the member that i was only a teenager(moral of the story, make sure you let others know if you are a high schooler, they are very helpful and informative)...(sorry for the blabbering)
At least I know now that there are other teens on the site! welcome and hope to see you around once I finish all these freakin' regents exams -_-
It all depends on how you carry yourself. If you act like you don't belong there, sure the potential for ridiculousness will increase. I have a spot for 4R ops in the afternoon that is in a very sketchy area but in all honesty the people there are nice as can be. Don't judge a book...

[Jared Blech]

Yepp, to add on to that, it is in a sketchy area, but EVERY neigborhood has its good and bads, I parked at bayswater one day and one of the homeowners came out to say hello, very nice people.
Where are you talking about, email me?

[wunaladreamin]

Lol it's a secret.

[sdspinelli2]

Echoing what Moose has already said, there's potential in a few shots. What editing program are you using?

I generally start in Lightroom and then go to photoshop for sharpening, cropping and other adjustments.

[sdspinelli2]

Thanks for all the help guys. I live all the way in Suffolk so it's hard to get out as often as I would like but when I do I'll let you know and see if we could meet up.

[megatop412]

Regents exams! I remember those bastard things