Tag Archives: airliner

The Etihad Livery is a Standout

I posted a bunch of shots from Heathrow in an earlier post, but I saved this one for its own post. The A380 is a plane some love and some hate. If you have been a passenger on one, you probably love it. It really is a great experience on board. It does seem to make people feel better about themselves that it wasn’t a huge success. Not sure why that happens but people are strange.

I have seen a ton of them over the years, but Etihad was an operator whose fleet I had never photographed until I moved back to the UK. At first this was only from a distance too. When I saw one was coming in a little after the American Airlines special, I decided to wait for it. In an era of white planes, a colourful plane is so welcome, and I find Etihad’s livery very appealing. Here is a great looking jet.

A Few Quick Heathrow Departure Shots

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My weekend visit to Heathrow was focused on arrivals but, before I headed home, I did want to check out one more thing. This was not for a lot of photography, but I just wanted to see what the location offered. It was along the south side of the field and would give me a view of departing jets from the south runway. It doesn’t provide much in the way of variety of shot types, but it can provide a dynamic angle on jets just after they have rotated. In nice light, it was a few minutes well spent. Not sure I would spend too long there but it would be good for getting something specific. The fence is a nuisance immediately after getting airborne, but AI tools can do a good job of removing that since I wasn’t up high and the planes are soon clear of the fence line.

The Reflection Removal Tool Seems to Have Broken

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When Adobe introduced the reflection removal tool, I was really impressed by its capabilities. I played with a number of shots that I had taken through windows, and they worked out really well. There have been some updates that Adobe has made, and it feels like it isn’t working as well as it should. I was at Glasgow Airport waiting for a flight home and an Emirates A380 was taxiing out so I grabbed a few shots through the glass. There was a really obvious reflection in the sky area of the shot. I figured that the tool would knock it out easily. Instead, it didn’t even recognise it was there. That is the first of these images. I tried a couple of different shots and none of them worked. I wonder what they have done to the tool that has made it struggle here. I ended up making manual selections and using the AI remove tool to try instead. It was okay but not a great result.

Winter Light on Heathrow Arrivals

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The arrival at Heathrow of the American Airlines retro 777 got me out to Heathrow on a sunny weekend. I got there early to make sure I was in a location that worked before the plane arrived and, since the spot I had hoped for worked out, I was there in plenty of time. I also saw that there were a few other interesting aircraft (to me) that were coming in. Consequently, I got to photograph a bunch of planes.

With it being Heathrow, I was going to get a load of British Airways’ A320 family jets. I would probably have not normally cared about A319s, but it won’t be long before you don’t see those again. However, the unusual liveries/airlines that came in were of more interest. My first encounter with an Air India A350 or a Middle Eastern Airlines A321 was great. Other airlines/types I have seen before but maybe not photographed in such nice light. Here is a selection of images from a delightful lunchtime as planes flew by. I did try to stop taking pictures and just enjoy the planes for a while too.

Processing With Masks – A Video

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Every once in a while, I post about some change I have made to my processing techniques for my images. I have posted in the past about how I have been using the masking tools in Lightroom to work on images – particularly those with poor lighting conditions where the background and the subject need significantly different edits.

I have recently tweaked my approach to improve it. This involves an extra step to try and get a better selection of the subject and the background. This also addresses some of the issues I find with Lightroom’s selection algorithms. Sometimes it picks things that just don’t make sense. Anyway, I did a full process of an image and recorded the whole thing with my explanation as to why I was doing what I was doing. It is not a short video so only for those with a serious interest. However, if you want to check it out, here it is.

American’s Retro 777 Catches the Sun

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A friend of mine in Fort Worth had shared some images of the latest American Airlines plane to be painted in a special livery. This was a 777-300ER that was aiming to replicate their old paint scheme although it was grey rather than polished aluminium. It is a livery that seems to have divided opinion. I was kind of curious as to whether it would show up in the UK at some point and put a trace on the tail number in case it came to Heathrow.

I hadn’t anticipated that it would get a hit almost immediately. It was scheduled on the DFW to Heathrow run on Sunday. Add to that, the weather was looking great. The only downside is that they were due to be arriving on the north runway, and I had not ever shot there. However, I decided to give it a go. I went a bit early to find out if my plan for where to shoot would work. Parking was a bit of an adventure, but the location was a good one, so I waited and chatted to some guys from Gloucestershire that had turned up for the same reason.

I don’t think it is a great paint job. The red nose does have a bit of a Comic Relief feel about it and grey is fine in good light but will be dull on other days. Then again, I do complain about boring liveries, and this is something else. It also got me out and shooting on a day when otherwise I might not have done so glad it all worked out. I am also told this was its first commercial run post repaint so that is something I suppose!

WestJet Air Show Takeoff!

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The Abbotsford Air Show takes place on an airfield that is still open for business. At various times during the display, there will be a pause while a scheduled commercial flight arrives or departs. During the show a couple of years ago, WestJet had one of their 737-700s show up, drop off some passengers, pick up a new bunch and head out. I was thinking that a 700 would be off the ground pretty quickly so decided to get some shots of it.

I was mistaken. Instead of blasting up quickly and getting a nice shot with Mt Baker in the background, they appeared to use as much of the runway as they possibly could. Rotation was a long way down the field and the climb out seemed leisurely. Not so dramatic. I have been to a few shows over the years that have movements that break up the display and, while it is nice to get airliner shots from on the field, the amount of time it takes out of the display is probably not worth it.

Airliners Over Windsor

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Our day out in Windsor was not about photographing aircraft. However, the place is so close to the flightpath for Heathrow that I could hardly avoid the things. When in the town, we had a few pass very close by and it would have been churlish not to grab a shot or two. Later, as we walked through the Great Park, the jets on approach to Heathrow were visible above the castle as they were on final approach. Rather distant for a clear shot but still worth a pop.

Crossing of the Contrails

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Another of my early morning walks and I looked up at an aircraft contrailing across the sky above me. The low sun angle made the textures of the contrail look good, so I took a few shots. A short while later, I realised that its direction of travel was taking it towards another jet that was crossing its path. I was hoping for the relative positions of the two jets to look like a perfect cross from where I was standing but it wasn’t to be. Even so, they did look like they were crossing quite close.

Wimbledon Special Emirates Climbing Out of Manchester

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We were walking through the grounds of Tatton Park on a recent visit and I was carrying a long lens with me to be ready for the deer that roam the park. However, that was also handy given that the airliners climbing out of Manchester Airport came near us. The conditions were not good for plane photography to be honest. The clouds were often low enough that we never saw the planes but, at one point, I did get a good view of an Emirates A380 climbing overhead and turning in our direction. It had the new Emirates livery combined with special markings for Wimbledon’s tournament earlier this year. A bit of processing was necessary to get it to a reasonable shape.