Just one piece of advice...

[Pierce]

Find a mentor, someone who takes pictures that you admire, then ask questions. You will be surprised at how even the best photographers will be willing to share advice.

[Chaseplane]

Pay attention to detail . . . literally!

Taking a picture of just a detail of your subject (airplane I suppose) can say much more than the usual full view of the subject. Also, it may leave the viewer to use his/her imagination more to find out what the photograph is all about, which mostly makes the photo as a whole much more interesting. Leave something for the viewer to guess or think about.

[Engine15]

Chase jumped on with part of my advice, shooting statics in a crowd is all but impossible and planes with extra legs and human hind ends just don't make for impressive images. If you don't have the access to be on the tarmac when there is room to shoot, or the stamina to stay until the MP's kick you off, go for pieces of the planes, get up close and use angles that hide those humans from view.
The other side of that is to ignore the planes and shoot the people associated with them, a pilot holding his son (Liza did a beautiful shot at Langley or Andrews), an MP and her K-9, two 10 y/o boys drooling over R-rated nose art.
The above falls in the range of what Windy said, make it interesting or eventually you will have thousands of images that look the same to the point that you could copy last years shots and nobody but you would know,,,

That said I'll be panning and filling 10 gigs with many of the same shots I already have at an airshow near you. It's a sickness you know!

[Dave O'Brien]

once the shots are done, be sure to level the shots. Nothing can kill a great picture more than a shot leaning 5 degrees one way or the other.

[Comet]

When learning and looking for critiques, post what you believe is your absolute best shot or two for critique. Don't overwhelm your audience with tons of shots that you know are not your best.  Focus on the best ones, and your mentors will help make your best... better.   Sometimes, your mentor's opinions will differ from yours, so be ready for the good and the bad.  Related to this is when you are posting galleries, I find that posting fewer, select shots has more impact on the viewer than seeing a series of shots that look virtually the same. 

[Glen]

NEVER over SHARPEN

[demar727]

What i like to do alot

if your in a pack of photographers..  go somewhere else.. maybe 10 feet away or 10 yards...  get a different point of view.. most of the time.. your shots will show over others

[aero-engineer]

What i like to do alot

if your in a pack of photographers..  go somewhere else.. maybe 10 feet away or 10 yards...  get a different point of view.. most of the time.. your shots will show over others

Agreed.
Besides, you don't have to get the GREATEST shot is it is the ONLY shot.

Kevin
aero-engineer

[skippyscage]

Aviation photography is an art form, not an extension of the spotter's notebook.

[RichardVM]

Aviation photography is an art form, not an extension of the spotter's notebook.

Amen brother.

Want to learn about aviation photography. Look at a lot of photos in magazines and books and figure out how the photographer accomplished what they did, for better or for worse. I find there are times when I look at other photog's work and think, "that is incredible, what a wonderful eye, and sense of composition and light, what an understanding of what makes an aircraft a work of art..." and sometimes I think "why did the @^$^#^*@ did the magazine bother publishing that cr@p?"

The ugly answer to the last question is that many magazines are so desperate for "free" images that they will publish cr@p that lowers their readership rather than pay to publish good or great images that will cost them some $$$ but increase their readership. I can think of several magazines that have dropped their standards so much as of late that I no longer am willing to pay to purchase their pubs. If I can check it out for free at the local book store long enough to wonder why I bothered, and to drink my coffee, that's about all the time and effort I am willing to invest in their pages....and I still feel cheated. Remember that some of the best known photographers are not always the best (personal opinion) photographers.

There are times when it seems to take no effort at all to create a wonderful image. However, it usually means that the photographer recognized light and conditions that can make that phenomenon happen. That knowledge or insight is unfortunately all too rare, and there are simply too many times when reality so rudely intrudes and dictates that a photo must be taken at a time of day when the lighting is absolutely atrocious. That is when a true artist can usually manage to still save the day with some creativity and knowledge of what they are doing.

Have a very limited budget? can you afford an hour or two and the cost of a cup of coffee? If so, there is no excuse for not spending some time at your local bookstore. Maybe even go so far as to check out some photography and photoshop magazines and photography books. Composition and an artistic eye have been around long before the advent of aviation. Take advantage of the knowledge base available both at the bookstore and library, and here online. Have a specific question? Ask it and hope that people will give you an honest answer. It may stroke your or my ego to have people say how much they love your image, but if they are saying it just to make you feel better, is it really an honest answer?

Perhaps it is the wine speaking, or my background, but the masses applauding a mediocre image instead of providing honest feedback is more of a hindrance than a help. If an image stinks, it does the photographer no good to have people praise mediocre work. If it stinks, tell the photographer, but leave malice out of the equation.  As a photographic community it should be our goal to elevate the skills of all of our contemporaries. Criticism should be an honest and constructive process. A bruised ego can be painful (if you have gone through fine art classes you know how painful it can be) but it is a requisite to growing creatively and aesthetically. I have told friends and enemies alike that their images suck. Likewise, I have told both fiends and enemies that their images are magnificent. We have to realize that our harshest critic should often be ourselves.

Constructive criticism at first blush appears to be an oxymoron. How can someone be both constructive and critical at the same time? To do so is to walk a tightrope of telling another person that their image, which they hold dear to their hearts, may be cr@p. Deep down they (may) already know that fact, but may not have admitted it to themselves. It is our duty to make each other better at what we do. I may have been photographing airplanes for several decades, but I still occasionally (remember, be nice) produce crap. We all do. But sometimes I, and all of us, require a gentle reminder that a certain image or series of images is crap.

A soft, borderline out-of-focus image can be more powerful than a perfectly focused static image as long as it communicates a strong message. Sometimes it is more about communicating a sense of speed and motion than a perfectly sharp, but static, image. It is all about telling a story and communicating a message. If I don't do it successfully, I want to know about it so I can elevate my game in the future. Don't you want an honest answer regarding your images?

Richard

[Dave O'Brien]

Constructive criticism at first blush appears to be an oxymoron. How can someone be both constructive and critical at the same time? To do so is to walk a tightrope of telling another person that their image, which they hold dear to their hearts, may be cr@p. Deep down they (may) already know that fact, but may not have admitted it to themselves. It is our duty to make each other better at what we do. I may have been photographing airplanes for several decades, but I still occasionally (remember, be nice) produce crap. We all do. But sometimes I, and all of us, require a gentle reminder that a certain image or series of images is crap.
Richard

I totally agree with what you posted, yet here on this website we only allow criticism in the critic forum? I know myself I would have no problem receiving feedback + or - but then you get the thread off track.

On another forum I visit this guy posted a picture of a flower in the middle of a small pond and asked why he didn't get any comments, then he got nailed with constructed criticism about what he was trying to show with his photo, how it lacked any lighting, thought or any real detail. To me it was just a snap shot nothing else.

I've toss more photos because they just don't do anything for me after taking them, that's the beauty of digital. Just because you pushed the shutter doesn't mean you have to post it or spend time editing it. IMO.

[JClark]

A very simple, highly effective and often overlooked tip....

When taking photos of people (or even animals, for that matter), the focus point needs to be on the eyes.  Few things reduce the quality of people images more than blurry/fuzzy eyes.

[jmosher]

What i like to do alot

if your in a pack of photographers..  go somewhere else.. maybe 10 feet away or 10 yards...  get a different point of view.. most of the time.. your shots will show over others

This is what I was going to contribute too. Great advice. It seems at airshows everyone wants the "Prime" location and tend to bunch up. I usually spend the early part of an airshow finding a good  location where nobody/very few people are. I let the 'big guns" and media times all bunch up and shoot similar pictures. At Aviation Nation I knew I only had the one day to shoot but I made a conscious effort to be away from everybody. The nearest person to me was 30-40 ft away. I had a great line of sight and a great shooting day. The best keeper ratio so far.

JM

[CAVU Mark]

Spend 10 minutes studying the subject before shooting.  (only counts with static subjects).

[tbunce]

What they all said, plus...

Carry a brush to dust off your lens. Use it often, especially after a prop aircraft turns away from you when it starts up and taxies away. You also need a microfiber cloth to clean off the oil splatters if it's a round engine. Learned that one at Chino this year and thankfully had one courtesy Nikon from last year's Indy Airshow.

A little effort every half hour will save you so much time, you might not even bother fixing them otherwise.