sjholbert
FollowWe visited the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola recently. Very interesting with lots of planes and exhibits. I highly recommend it. I got lots of great pics of air...
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We visited the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola recently. Very interesting with lots of planes and exhibits. I highly recommend it. I got lots of great pics of airplanes. I had some fun making a composite of the Blue Angels flying over Mt Rainer. We took the picture of Mt Rainier on our way to Alaska in September
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IBVerb
January 26, 2016
I live across the bay from NAS Pensacola and see the Blue Angels so often i don't very every get excited about a picture of them but this is great you should share it with the team. Outstanding work!
alexmullins
January 31, 2016
Those are the birds hanging from the roof at the NAS museum in Pensacola! I can see the windows in the reflecitons :P
sjholbert
February 01, 2016
haha! yes, correct. The reflections were really distinct in the windows and I smudged them but I guess I should have worked on the reflections on the body.
hannahleeds
February 10, 2016
My cousin flies planes in the navy and we have seen these guys in Kansas a lot. Great photo
allanthemofmanhamilton
February 23, 2016
I didn't think they still flew these. I thought they only use F-18's. Interesting look to the windshields; that you can't see the pilots. Looks like a stunning mat painting.
sjholbert
February 24, 2016
They may not...I photographed these planes at the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola.
RDVPhotography
February 15, 2017
Amazing work of art! Bet that took some time but well worth the effort.
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took the picture of the Blue Angels' planes at the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola where these birds are on display. I composited them into a picture I had taken of Mt Rainier as we were flying by on our way to Alaska.Time
The photo of Mt. Rainier was taken mid-afternoon. It was partly cloudy but we got a shot of sun filtering through to light the mountain at just the right time! I also love the low-lying clouds around the lower peaks. The photo of the airplanes was taken inside the museum with bright sunshine coming in the windows on the ceiling above.Lighting
I really liked this picture of Mt. Rainier because there was a small break in the clouds and the sunrays were filtering through and lit up the mountain just right, like God was displaying his majestic creation with accent lights!Equipment
I shot both photos with my Nikon D810 and a 24-70mm lens.Inspiration
My husband and I are "snowbirds" and travel around the southern US during the winter. We love history and museums and visit every one we can along our way. The Naval Aviation Museum is fantastic and who doesn't love the Blue Angels? We had taken a lot of aerial shots on a recent plane ride to Alaska so I decided to composite the Angels' planes into a photo I had taken of Mt. Rainier.Editing
The airplanes were hanging in this formation in the museum. I used Photoshop to extract them from the picture and place them in the new composite. I had to remove the wires and hanging hardware and some reflections of walls and windows. I did some dodging and burning to get the shadows correct. I created the smoke trails with a cloud brush in Photoshop.In my camera bag
I use a Nikon D810 and my go-to lens is a 24-70mm Nikon. I recently bought a Tokina 11-16mm wide angle and I love the photos I'm getting from it. It's a DX lens, but one thing I love about my D810 is it will automatically switch from FX to DX mode when I place the lens on it.Feedback
When working on composites, perspective is paramount. Make sure your subject and background have similar perspective. Secondly take a lot of time with the extraction. Zoom in and pay attention to details. I am a perfectionist and spend a lot of time trying to get the details correct. This piece took many hours of Photoshop work to create and I'm so excited that people like it! It always feels good to have one's work recognized. Thank you all so much!