Aviation Aiming High

[David dubow]

Seymour Johnson AFB 2019 — Sony A7iii Sony 70-200 at 1/250 f/7.1 iso 125 Thunderbird F16 climbing high.
Cross post from the Facebook group
This is a heavily edited shot. Massive crop, sky replacement in Luminar 4, and plenty of tweaks in LR/PS. Not everyone agrees with doing things like sky replacement. It is my attempt to reproduce the majesty of what I saw that day even if it was under different weather conditions. What are your thoughts?
“Creativity is not cheating.” @tommywhite

 

[Carolg]

My hubby is one of those people who think a shot should be recorded as seen, with little editing, Im the opposite, I like to get creative with some shots, I change the sky if its flat or grey, and when shooting flowers, I add light leaks and/or textures to get the image I want. I think photography can be very personal, what one person likes another hates, so I'm a firm believer that if you are happy with your shot, that's what matters, ( unless maybe you are trying to sell the image, then it may be different)

 

[Drewid]

If we produce photographs for 'likes' we are doing ourselves a disservice. Aircraft photographs will often need your creative juices dribbling over them because we can't always be in the right place at the right time and with aircraft looking best in the sky belting along we are usually not with them!

 

[David dubow]

Well said, and nice image.

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

I'm not averse to photo fiddling if it looks good and isn't overdone, and it's admitted, like this. I really like the image, it's very cool.

 

[David dubow]

Thank you. I try not to over process, although I’ve gone back and looked and some older images that I would now consider too heavy handed.

Question for all: How do you “admit” to compositing or otherwise manipulating an image when sharing it to a non-photo location. When sharing to a site like this, dedicated to photo enthusiasts, we post all the exif and editing info. To a general public website, we tend not to do that. Do we add a disclaimer to an image, or do we just let the viewer enjoy it and stay quiet about how it was mzde

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

I think I'd say if I had changed anything, regardless of where it's posted. A friend of mine does it a lot, changes skies etc, and they look awful, so you can tell, but it's never admitted, which I find annoying.

 

[Drewid]

For me it depends on your personal understanding of photography as art versus photography as a record. Almost all the photos you see in the media, press, publications have had a level of processing (well, perhaps they all have technically) and sometimes they are called out on it, body image photos for instance. If you have gone so far for it to be questioned then you've perhaps overcooked it.

The image you posted though, is for me art and I know it's had some serious editing to achieve it but as it's art and it looks great then it goes in a frame on my wall!