COAP·Online
The Monthly Live Editing Workshop
// The free monthly editing workshop

Make your aviation shots pop. Learn the editing workflow the pros actually use. 90 minutes, live on Zoom, with Rich Cooper & Tom Dalton

LiveTuesday 18 August · on Zoom · free to attend

Watch real aviation photographs edited from flat and grey to finished, step by step, and take the workflow home with you.

500+ photographers50+ sessions runReplay included

Save your seat

£0 · Free
We will send the Zoom link, then a reminder the day before and on the morning.
Free · no card · replay included
★★★★★
Loved by 500+ aviation photographers
Sound familiar?

You nailed the shot.
Then the edit let it down.

You got the pass. Focus was bang on. Then you opened the RAW at home and it was flat, grey and lifeless, so you dragged a few sliders about, got bored, and moved on.

An hour per image, and you still are not sure it is finished
Edits that come out crunchy and overcooked
Heat haze, grey skies and busy airfield clutter
Sliders you move because you saw someone else do it

None of that is a gear problem. It is a workflow problem, and it is completely fixable in an evening.

What you get out of it

What you will take home

Four things, all of which outlast the evening.

01 · The workflow

A repeatable order of operations

Our six-step editing cycle: goal, correct, light, colour, details, masking. The same route through every single image, so you never open a RAW and think "right, where do I start?" again.

02 · The result

Photographs that actually pop

Recovering a blown sky, cutting through heat haze, lifting a paint scheme, and separating the aircraft from a cluttered background so it reads instantly.

03 · The time back

Minutes per image, not hours

Most of the time people lose to editing is spent deciding what to do next. With a process, that decision disappears, and you know when to stop.

04 · The confidence

Knowing why, not just what

Every slider explained as we touch it. You stop copying other people's presets and start making deliberate choices you can defend.

This month

Editing: rescue
and finish an image

DateTuesday 18 August
TimeSent to everyone registered
WithRich Cooper & Tom Dalton
LengthAbout 90 minutes
SoftwareLightroom, or just watch
CostFree
How the evening runs

Ninety minutes,
no padding

1
Why editing is half the photograph
The idea the whole night rests on, and the one habit that changes every image you take from here on.
2
The six-step cycle, taught properly
The full workflow on a genuinely difficult file. Exposure and white balance, recovering the sky, masking the aircraft away from the background, finishing with dodge and burn. Start to export, nothing held back.
3
Live edits on real photographs
Six to eight images sent in by Accelerator members, worked on in front of you. Rich on what the photograph needed, Tom on how to get there. This is the bit people say they learn most from.
4
Your questions, answered on screen
Ask anything in the chat as we go and we will pick it up live. Accelerator members get first call on questions and on getting their photograph edited.
Why bother turning up live

Watching an edit happen
beats reading about one

Unrehearsed

Real files, real problems

Not a curated demo that was always going to work. Heat haze, grey cloud, chopped wingtips, cluttered backgrounds. The same problems sitting on your own drive.

Ask as we go

You can interrupt a live session

A tutorial cannot answer "but what about mine?". Drop it in the chat and we will work through it on screen while everyone watches.

Any camera, any level

Nothing to buy or install

We work in Lightroom, but you are welcome to just watch and take notes. Every principle applies to any file from any brand.

A proper room

Cameras on, chat flowing

Most people have their camera on and the chat runs the whole way through. It feels like a room full of aviation photographers talking shop, because that is exactly what it is.

Accelerator members get priority

Anyone can come along and ask questions. Accelerator members get first call on questions answered live, and are the only ones who can send in a photograph to be edited on screen. If you want your own work put up in front of the room, that is the way in.

This is not our first

Fifty sessions,
and counting

We have been running these for years. A few of the ones already in the library:

Low Fly WorkshopMuseum Walk & TalkRIAT The Night ShootBBMF Air-to-Air DebriefSpotters Guide Aviation Kit EssentialsGear Up For The GridK5054 Air-to-Air Mastering Low-Light AirshowsAirshow Fireside ChatPhotography For Social
Who it is for

Anyone who has binned a photo
they should have kept

You do not need to be in the Accelerator, you do not need a particular camera, and you do not need to be any good at editing yet.

Beginners who find editing daunting
Anyone shooting JPG, unsure why RAW matters
People whose edits come out overcooked
Shooters who want a repeatable process
Anyone sitting on years of unedited files
Anyone who wants their own photo looked at
From the room

What members say

The wealth of teaching materials for photography and photo editing available to members are truly second to none. Equally important is the knowledge and the interaction of the COAP Online community.

M.S. · COAP Online member

Since becoming a member my photography and Lightroom skills have got so much better. The platform is a friendly, social, and safe environment to learn, hone and improve.

H.B. · COAP Online member

COAP Online is a fantastic community, full of aviation photographers supporting other aviation photographers. Nothing is too much trouble.

R.T.-B. · COAP Online member
Save your seat

Come and edit with us

Ninety minutes on a Tuesday evening, and you will look at your back catalogue completely differently. It costs nothing.

Free · no card · replay for everyone who registers
Already in the Accelerator?

You are already in

Everything below is part of the Accelerator. Nothing to register for, nothing to do.

Every monthly workshop, live
The replay in your library the next day
Every previous session, on demand
Priority on questions and live edits
Your hosts

Rich & Tom

Rich Cooper is one of the most published aviation photographers in the UK, with three decades behind the camera and a client list most people would recognise. Tom Dalton runs the editing side of COAP Online and has taught thousands of photographers to get far more out of the files they already have.

30+
Years shooting
150+
Tutorials made
500+
Photographers taught
Questions

Before you register

Is it really free?+
Yes. No card, no trial, nothing to cancel. We run one of these every month and this one is open to everybody.
Do I need Lightroom?+
No. We work in Lightroom, so if you have it and want to follow along that is ideal, but plenty of people simply watch, take notes and try it afterwards. The workflow itself is software-agnostic.
Does my camera brand matter?+
Not at all. Everything we cover works on any file from any camera. Nothing on the night depends on what you shoot with.
I am a complete beginner. Will I keep up?+
Yes. We start from why we edit at all, and every slider gets explained as we touch it. Plenty of people in the room are on their first ever proper edit.
I have been editing for years. Is it too basic?+
The masking, dodge and burn and colour work in the back half goes well beyond the basics, and the live critiques are where experienced shooters tend to pick things up. If you already have a workflow you are happy with, this may not be for you.
Do I have to be on camera?+
Entirely up to you. Plenty of people have their camera on and join in, and it makes for a much better evening. Plenty of others watch quietly with everything off. Nobody is ever put on the spot either way.
Can I get my own photograph edited?+
The images we work on live are sent in by Accelerator members, who also get first call on questions. If that is what you are after, have a look at the Accelerator.
What if I cannot make the date?+
Register anyway. Everyone who signs up gets an email the day after with how to watch it back.
Is this just a sales pitch?+
No. It is a full workshop with the complete workflow taught, free. We mention the Accelerator once at the end, and that is it.

Your best edits yet

One evening a month, free, and every photograph you take from here benefits from it.

Tuesday 18 August · live on Zoom · replay for everyone who registers
COAP Online · Centre of Aviation Photography