Tips please...

[FSGT Gabe]

I recently took this shot and I liked it.  I'm just looking for ways to improve my shots because it seems in the monthly contests etc. I get some good feedback but they're never quite good enough.  So, anyone have any ideas on how to improve this?



Bigger version: http://www.simviation.com/yabbuploads/maule_sunset_big.jpg

Thanks for looking!

- Kevin

[cspyro21]

This is a quite fine shot as it is Kevin, however I would turn on AA to get rid of those jaggies. That's the only main improvement, as everything esle.....works! The clouds acting as a border between building and sky, the beautiful sky colour itself, the trees serving as another visible border, the scenery for the airfield and the aircraft. Talking of the aircraft, to improve this shot again you could use the recorder tool (assuming this is FS9) to get a similar angle to this one but from a different view (i.e. you still have everything in the shot like the clouds, trees etc but you take it from a different place, like lower to the ground, or slightly more left or right etc).
Another suggestion (might not improve this shot at all) would be that if you took this shot at dawn so that the light is reflecting off of the aircraft and making it the main focal point of the shot, as it would be lighter against the darker background. However, the sun in the background of this picture is fantastic and adds to the shot greatly.

Hope you can find some help in the above

[FSGT Gabe]

Thanks alot for the help cspyro!  Unfortunately, my video card SUCKS so I can't make the AA any better.  It actually was a quick shot so I didn't set it up perfectly...otherwise I would have used Recorder to get a better angle.  But thanks for the tips!

- Kevin

[Ijineda]

The tires dont seem to touch the ground, seems like the plane is floating...maybe add some weight?  ;D

[FSGT Gabe]

The tires dont seem to touch the ground, seems like the plane is floating...maybe add some weight?

What the...?  I didn't notice that before  ???

- Kevin

[MOUSY]

Hehehehe... I noticed the floating tires as well...

Now... assuming you run a Vid Card nothing worse than the 32MB Nvidia I beat and batter... I would suggest turning up your Global Max Texture size to massive and reduce your Terrain Texture size to minimum for shots like these. I wrote a little tutorial on this... the effect being that since practically no ground texture is being shown, your card can concentrate on producing crisp, high quality concrete, tree, building, aircraft... textures. i.e. all other textures than the ground.
Last suggestion, max out your resolution and turn AA on in the sim if your card doesnt come with it. (Yes, all these will absolutely kill your frames, but for screenshotting... you can make the best out of a card that should only be used for scrap metal).

[FSGT Gabe]

Thanks for the help Mouse Ace!

- Kevin

[DizZa]

I would move the plane to the right, so then the plane would contrast against the brilliant sky. Other than that, great shot.  ;D