As the three Steves queried me on an article about how I do my in-flight model photographs, I decided to work up a small article with more pictures than text. My in-flight models are not as exquisitely worked up as those are from the fellows with Adobe PhotoShop, but I work with what I have and I can't afford PhotoShop. Therefore I will show you folks all the necessities required and the steps up to the final photograph.

Here are the items I use when photographing my in-flight Model. The easel supports the poster board backdrop, which is stapled to a section of wall paneling. The stereo cabinet is used as the prop for model to sit at the proper height to photograph. The glass top is covered with either light or dark matte board, depending on which gives the reflective lighting or lack thereof. The hair dryer has the heating element remove and is used to spin the propeller/s.

This shows the model after the photo scan or digital image has been carried into Adobe PhotoDeluxe 2.0 for adjusting color, lightening, and most importantly, the cloning out of the model mount. In this case I shall be using the Hasegawa FM-1 "Wildcat" in 1/72 scale.

This is where I go in PhotoDeluxe for cloning out the mount.

In step three I do the cloning out of the model's mount. The following three photographs will lead you through the process.

In initial cloning I enlarged the image to 200% and cloned out the mount where it connects with the model. A little more touch up was done from what you see here.

In cloning step two, I enlarged my cloning airbrush and further cloned out the mount far enough from the model so that the image could be reduced to 100% and finish cloning could be done with the larger airbrush cloning tools.

And here you see the finished cloned photograph, in which I have used the largest airbrush clone tool. The image is ready for initial saving and filing. But, it is not ready for the web or you as yet.

I have several photo editing software programs and among them is Corel PhotoPaint 7.0. I find this does a better job at sharpening the image and giving it correct color balance than PhotoDeluxe, so I open PhotoPaint and open the saved image.

This shows the image after I have opened it in PhotoPaint and also shows the effects option window where I enhance the image.

And here is the finished image I save and file for your perusal here.

 

I hope these four easy steps will help fellow modelers to spin their props on mounts and use these programs to produce simple in-flight images.

Caz Dalton