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Aviation Photography Blogs
Written by COAP Online members
Aviation images often need separation. The aircraft needs to stand out from the sky, cloud, haze or distant background without looking cut out, over-sharpened or artificial.
That is where a lot of edits can start to go wrong.
It is very tempting to push Contrast, Clarity and Dehaze until the jet f...
The histogram is one of the most useful tools in aviation photography, but it is often explained in a way that makes it feel more complicated than it needs to be.
In simple terms, the histogram shows how the tones in your image are spread from dark on the left to bright on the right. For aviation pho...
âGet it right in cameraâ is well-meaning advice, but it often lands badly in aviation photography. It can make editing feel like cheating, or like a sign the shoot didnât go well.
The reality is much simpler.
Aviation scenes regularly exceed what a camera can capture perfectly in a single frame. The ...
Welcome to Tutorial Tuesday, by COAP Online
Aviation photography attracts practical people. Many of us like aircraft because theyâre engineered, predictable, and precise. We like to see all the aircraft, the serial number, the markings, the shape. So it makes sense that âcreativityâ can feel like a...
Welcome to Tutorial Tuesday, by COAP Online
Aviation photography at night is one of the most rewarding specialist corners of our hobby, but it does have the tendency to punish any âwing itâ mindset. The best results at night arenât usually the result of flukey settings, but rather they will stem fr...
Welcome to Tutorial Tuesday, by COAP Online
Aviation photos can look flat even when everything is ârightâ. The aircraft is sharp, the exposure is good, and the edit is solid, but the image still feels a bit one-dimensional, almost like a cut-out on a background.
One of the most reliable fixes here...
Welcome to Tutorial Tuesday, by COAP Online
Sharpening is one of the quickest ways to make an aviation image look the business, or to accidentally make it an eyesore.
The reason is simple - aviation photos often include large smooth areas (sky, white civvy fuselage, slabs of grey mil fuselage, pai...
Welcome to Tutorial Tuesday, by COAP Online
Your shutter speed is one of the most effective ways to change the feel of an aviation photo. It does more than control camerashake and sharpness⌠You could even say it also has the power over action and realism.
Why jets and props need different shutter...
Welcome to Tutorial Tuesday, by COAP Online
After a full-on day at an airshow or on a busy airfield, the hardest part is often yet to come. Youâve got to get through the volume of images, finding the time, patience and discipline to do so.
The good news is that - whilst it might feel like it at th...
Welcome to Tutorial Tuesday, by COAP Online
â¨âContrast without crunchâ is a useful editing phrase to have in the back of your mind when youâre editing your aviation images. Itâs the difference between an image that feels striking and professional, and one that feels harsh, gritty, or over-processed...
Welcome to Tutorial Tuesday, by COAP Online
The rule of space is one of the fastest ways to improve aviation photography composition, especially if images often feel âcrampedâ even when the aircraft is sharp and youâve nailed the action itself.
At its core, the rule of space means giving your subj...
Welcome to Tutorial Tuesday, by COAP Online
Dull skies are one of the most common frustrations in aviation photography editing. A great aviation moment can look flat simply because the sky behind it has no separation, no tone, and no shape.
The mistake is trying to fix that with one aggressive mov...
