more brand new edits!

[wolf2]

fresh and hot off the presses! hope yallenjoyem!

[aircav1970]

Awesome stuff Phil! Well done!

[CycoFlo]

Stunning Edits! They look outstanding!

[andrewclaridge]

Superb Phil as always! Action packed shots!

What are your tips for getting such a neat edge around what you've "cut out"? Do you use feathering and what selection tool do you use? Pen/lassoo/magic wand? I can never get such good reults!

[peer01]

And BRAVO again!!!

[wolf2]

thanks aircav, florian, andrew and jan!

andrew: magic wand not good enough, imho, although sometimes it works ok. i zoom in very close and use the polygonal lasso tool (magic lasso tool not as good, imo), with frequent clicks - especially around curves. laborious, but works nicely. then when its placed and sized where i want it, i zoom in again to make sure none of the background from the original remains around the edges, erasing any i find. then i use the lasso tool again to select areas like canopy glass, and erase them in stages so the background shows thru - not totally, because leaving a little can give a glass-like look. finally, and only after the layers have been flattened, i use the blur tool with a light pressure and a small brush size, to blend the edges with the background.

other things i always do include matching the brightness, contrast, sharpness, lightness and saturation of the fs portion against the background before flattening the image, and of course, selecting background photos where the sun was positioned in a similar location to the original screenshot, so the aircraft has light and shadow about where they belong relative to the background. stuff like that.

other things, if im feeling ambitious and less lazy (therefore i almost never do em, lol) include painting in reflections and shadows, adding motion blur, painting wakes or contrails, etc etc.

i aint no banana bob, though. rank beginner compared to him. boy would i love to have that guy tutor me for a couple of days!

[OhhItsJared]

the one with the XB-70 and F-104 is amazing!

[deepsea345]

all of them are remarkable!!! great job with those edits

[Rimshot]

Cool edits Phil. Well done!

[andrewclaridge]

Thanks Phil - I can tell a lot of effort goes into these! I was right!!

Thanks for sharing