Thunderbird Flyover - Learning to edit

We were treated to a flyover of the Thunderbirds in San Antonio and Austin today and I managed to capture a few shots. My only telephoto is the XC 50-230mm so that's what was used here on an X-H1. I am very green when it comes to editing photos, so I would be grateful if any of you have tips or suggestions. The images look a little flat to me, in particular. I will post a few of my slightly edited JPEGs and the RAW files as well. Thank you in advance

Orbit220 wrote:

We were treated to a flyover of the Thunderbirds in San Antonio and Austin today and I managed to capture a few shots. My only telephoto is the XC 50-230mm so that's what was used here on an X-H1. I am very green when it comes to editing photos, so I would be grateful if any of you have tips or suggestions. The images look a little flat to me, in particular. I will post a few of my slightly edited JPEGs and the RAW files as well. Thank you in advance

It's a great lens, one of my most used but often closer is better.  The images look fine but here, the 100-400 (or some other adapted longer focal length lens) would've been a better choice.

Any reason why you didn't zoom in more when shooting?  You were using a 50-230 lens and were shooting between 75-115.

jrk wrote:

Any reason why you didn't zoom in more when shooting? You were using a 50-230 lens and were shooting between 75-115.

The jets popped up quick and I was worried about missing them in the frame completely or missing focus, to be frank. Chalk it up to a rookie mistake. These JPEGs all have a slight crop applied to them. In hindsight, zooming in certainly would have provided more detail of the subject

I think they're perfect, just like they are.  All that power needs a lot of sky.  But, I prefer birds that way too.

jrk wrote:

Any reason why you didn't zoom in more when shooting? You were using a 50-230 lens and were shooting between 75-115.

I agree.  More zoom should be on many of these shots.

Orbit220 wrote:

jrk wrote:

Any reason why you didn't zoom in more when shooting? You were using a 50-230 lens and were shooting between 75-115.

The jets popped up quick and I was worried about missing them in the frame completely or missing focus, to be frank. Chalk it up to a rookie mistake. These JPEGs all have a slight crop applied to them. In hindsight, zooming in certainly would have provided more detail of the subject

Great captures, they look fantastic!

Below is a screen capture closer look.

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Cheers!

Thank you all for your kind words and suggestions. As far as editing the images, any thoughts as to how you would make the subject "pop" a little more? I am particularly thinking of the first image where the jets have been zoomed in on the most. I have Capture One as my primary editing software, if that helps

I got a shot as the canadian snowbirds did the same. Lighting is important and if the sun isn't reflecting under them, it's hard to bring that back. Mine was a super cloudy overcast day, they had already postponed due to weather, so sometimes the shot is what it is.

Orbit220 wrote:

Thank you all for your kind words and suggestions. As far as editing the images, any thoughts as to how you would make the subject "pop" a little more? I am particularly thinking of the first image where the jets have been zoomed in on the most. I have Capture One as my primary editing software, if that helps

There are many post processing softwares available.

And there are some freewares that's available as well.

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Can hangout at the "Retouching" forum to learn more.

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/1006

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Below is an edit to your picture on my ipad pro.

1. Original

Original

2. Processed (to taste)

Processed (to taste)

And below is a screen capture of my ipad pro,

the editings is done by using up & down sliders.

Screen capture of my ipad pro

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Cheers!

Orbit220 wrote:

We were treated to a flyover of the Thunderbirds in San Antonio and Austin today and I managed to capture a few shots. My only telephoto is the XC 50-230mm so that's what was used here on an X-H1. I am very green when it comes to editing photos, so I would be grateful if any of you have tips or suggestions. The images look a little flat to me, in particular. I will post a few of my slightly edited JPEGs and the RAW files as well. Thank you in advance

I think they are fine. If you want to get more pop, I would suggest Luminar software. They have an "AI enhancement" filter that I have found, for me, does wonders.  They also have other really nice filters in the package and the workflow is simple and quick.  They offer free trial licenses for you to try out. Might be worth a little of your time to check them out. I'm certainly glad I did.

BuckeyePhotography wrote:

I think they are fine. If you want to get more pop, I would suggest Luminar software. They have an "AI enhancement" filter that I have found, for me, does wonders. They also have other really nice filters in the package and the workflow is simple and quick. They offer free trial licenses for you to try out. Might be worth a little of your time to check them out. I'm certainly glad I did.

Thanks for the tip, I will look into Luminar and see if I can learn a bit more about the software. I have enjoyed using Capture One so far, but I will admit that the complexity and options can sometimes be overwhelming. Luminar looks like it tries to remove some of that complexity while still producing excellent results. I wish it could plug in with Capture One, but at $90, that isn't bad for a perpetual license

Orbit220 wrote:

We were treated to a flyover of the Thunderbirds in San Antonio and Austin today and I managed to capture a few shots. My only telephoto is the XC 50-230mm so that's what was used here on an X-H1. I am very green when it comes to editing photos, so I would be grateful if any of you have tips or suggestions. The images look a little flat to me, in particular. I will post a few of my slightly edited JPEGs and the RAW files as well. Thank you in advance

I can't tell really help you with Capture One, and I can't do too much with the jpeg, but opening up the shadows a bit, a touch more brightness/contrast, and especially a warmer white balance will get the the planes to "pop" a bit more. With a blue sky, if the clouds and your subject are also sporting a blue tinge, they can appear almost translucent and lacking in definition.  Nice crisp shots, that relatively cheap lens isn’t bad at all.

Erik Baumgartner wrote:

I can't tell really help you with Capture One, and I can't do too much with the jpeg, but opening up the shadows a bit, a touch more brightness/contrast, and especially a warmer white balance will get the the planes to "pop" a bit more. With a blue sky, if the clouds and your subject are also sporting a blue tinge, they can appear almost translucent and lacking in definition. Nice crisp shots, that relatively cheap lens isn’t bad at all.

Erik, your retouch look great. Such a small change that really improves the image. Thank you. I would be happy to post the raw shots, but I do not know how to upload them here. Nonetheless, your edit of the JPEG has already shown me much improvement

Orbit220 wrote:

Erik Baumgartner wrote:

I can't tell really help you with Capture One, and I can't do too much with the jpeg, but opening up the shadows a bit, a touch more brightness/contrast, and especially a warmer white balance will get the the planes to "pop" a bit more. With a blue sky, if the clouds and your subject are also sporting a blue tinge, they can appear almost translucent and lacking in definition. Nice crisp shots, that relatively cheap lens isn’t bad at all.

Erik, your retouch look great. Such a small change that really improves the image. Thank you. I would be happy to post the raw shots, but I do not know how to upload them here. Nonetheless, your edit of the JPEG has already shown me much improvement

No problemo. With RAW files you will need to share a link using a file sharing service - Dropbox, WeTransfer, Google Drive etc. Typically free with some limits.

Thanks for sharing! One of my favorite subjects and events!  Thunderbirds were supposed to headline this summer's air show, but cancelled due to Corona.

These are from 2015.

Don't be afraid to crop in tight, use fast shutter.

Try adjusting the curves in Capture One. Here's a quick (limited, due to jpg) curves adjustment done in Paint Shop Pro (too cheap for PS).

James H MacAllister wrote:

Try adjusting the curves in Capture One. Here's a quick (limited, due to jpg) curves adjustment done in Paint Shop Pro (too cheap for PS).

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1n8J2t73itcYmbUp3FIVPoxFGZFfFRNOR/view?usp=sharing

Here is my attempt at sharing the raw of what seems to be the most popular and exciting shot. Let me know if this does not work. I appreciate everyone's feedback. How would one go about adjusting the curves in Capture One? If it is a complex topic I would be happy to search the web, but if I can gather good advice here I would appreciate it

Orbit220 wrote:

James H MacAllister wrote:

Try adjusting the curves in Capture One. Here's a quick (limited, due to jpg) curves adjustment done in Paint Shop Pro (too cheap for PS).

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1n8J2t73itcYmbUp3FIVPoxFGZFfFRNOR/view?usp=sharing

Here is my attempt at sharing the raw of what seems to be the most popular and exciting shot. Let me know if this does not work. I appreciate everyone's feedback. How would one go about adjusting the curves in Capture One? If it is a complex topic I would be happy to search the web, but if I can gather good advice here I would appreciate it

Here I just upped the light falloff (under the Lens tab by default) to 120. And again adjusted the curves. The curves tool is a straight diagonal line, the top of which are the highlights and the bottom the shadows. By selecting any point along the line and moving it up will bring it toward the highlights (brighter). And moving it down will bring it toward the shadows. For instance, if you select the middle of the line and drag it down you will darken the mid tones. Pulling down the top of the line will darken the highlights; and vice versa. You can adjust the color channels in the same manner to adjust color tone. Just play with it, you can always reset it if you don't like the results.

Before & After