Experience. Unlike any other. PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDELINES
AIRCRAFT GALLERY PHOTOS Visit www.duncanaviation.aero/gallery to view samples of aircraft photos to help ensure consistency in image quality, angles and appearance. Exterior Preparation: Make sure the nose gear is straight, slats and flaps are retracted, and verticle stabilizer is straight or locked if possible. Use brakes, if possible. Chalk the right main only, if you have to. Interior Preparation: No shoes should be worn inside the aircraft. Booties and hairnets must be worn. Check for footprints on the carpet. Absolutely no ball caps, as the button on top can damage the headliner. Seat belts must be tucked into cushions. Headrests should be removed on some aircraft (Westwind). Seats should be turned in to the cabin when possible. Check for and correct fabric wrinkles, lint, crooked seams, suede nap consistency on the headliner, fingerprints or smudges on glass, plating and high-gloss surfaces. The aircraft should be pulled outside for the shoot. Do not setup lights outside the plane, there is too high of risk for damaging the windows. Lighting & Color: The upwash and downwash lights should be on, but on a low setting. Upwash and downwash lighting is notorious for being uneven and it helps to keep it on low and supplement it with sunshine coming through the windows. Uneven wash lighting can be fixed in Photoshop. The reading lights should be off. Reading lights are usually too warm (incandescent) and create little bright spots on the chairs that are unattractive. LED lighting is very cold and natural lighting is preferred. In Photoshop, add brightness later on to make the reading lights look like they are on. The primary lighting source should be the sunlight coming through the windows. Measure the lighting with a light meter and adjust the camera accordingly. Use props that would be in the aircraft such as a book, laptop, eyeglasses, newspaper and elegant table settings. Typically the designer will provide flower arrangements, china, etc. You DO NOT HAVE to use props; some tables and detail work should stand on its own. When in doubt, do NOT use props! To adjust lighting and color first, shoot a white and grey card. (Ted Tip: Essentially he then tells his Nikon camera which card is which and the Nikon adjusts for those. It is pretty close, but not 100% right on. He then does slight alterations in Photoshop.) Put drafting vellum or some other light-filtering material on the outside of the cabin windows and cockpit windows, using blue painter s tape. Have the shades open, when possible. A thick black blanket can be used over the cockpit windows to simulate a night shot. In the case of the lavatory and the galley areas, put all the lights on as bright as possible. A large portable reflector and a separate flash can be used to light those areas. Fabric samples can be provided to color match during editing and processing.
Equipment: Standard interior lens is a 14 28 mm, 80-200 or 300mm for exterior shots. Nikon recently came out with a 12mm, which is even better for interiors. Typical shutter speeds are around f2.8 at around 1/3 to ½ of a second in the cabin area. Set the camera to go off about two seconds after actually depressing the button, and then take your hands off the camera. This is done to eliminate any bumping or shaking of the camera. A sturdy tripod is highly recommended. Multiple storage cards and lots of extra battery power will be needed. Photo Editing: IT IS BETTER TO SHOOT IT CORRECTLY AND MINIMIZE PHOTOSHOP TIME. Autoshoot 4 or 5 frames for every view, primarily bracketing the lighting. If there is a flat-screen monitor (in a seat or on the bulkhead) and we want an image, use the Duncan Aviation logo. File Types, Watermarking and Storage: Horizontal images are preferred. 8.5 x 11. A high-res image (300dpi) for print and a low-res image for web (72dpi), one with the watermark and one without the watermark. Aircraft photos are named as: MakeFirstInitial-Model_Serial#_N#_001.jpg EXAMPLE: F-900B_093_N780SP_001.jpg F-900B_093_N780SP_No_Watermark_001.jpg F-900B_093_N780SP_Watermark_001.jpg Download Duncan Aviation s watermark here: www.duncanaviation.aero/watermark SHOT LIST Exterior Side view Front view (angled on right side of nose) Interior Cabin forward-looking Cabin aft-looking Cabinetry Chairs Club seating Divan Drinkrail Entertainment systems/docks/tvs Galley Lav Mid-cabin looking both directions PSU Sidewalls Switching Stitching Window Shades Cockpit Avionics Cockpit panel Pedestal
SAMPLE GALLERY
DEBRIEF & ADVERTISEMENT IMAGES Duncan Aviation exists because of our people, therefore we should always strive to feature team members in our images. Photos should reflect what it is like at Duncan Aviation. Our people strive to make you feel at home and will make you want to visit. They re warm, friendly, engaging, positive, approachable and forward-thinking. Imagery should be real-life scenarios that depict people at Duncan Aviation going about their day-to-day work. Shots should show interaction to reflect relationships between people. The people captured can either be looking off camera or giving direct eye contact. Images should feel natural with an appropriate mix of race, age and gender to reflect the area. Tidy up areas in the photo. Move rags, pop bottles, lunchboxes, trash, trash cans, rolls cages, etc. out of the frame. Ask team members to remove hats and pens from their pockets to avoid distractions. Badges and safety glasses can be removed for images where people are looking directly at the camera. All safety procedures must be followed by technicians for in-action photos.
PREFERRED PHOTOGRAPHERS Lincoln: Ted Kirk TKirk@neb.rr.com 402.421.1240 John Simms John.Simms@DuncanAviation.com 402.479.1516 Battle Creek: Rob Ritzenthaler rob@ritzenthalerstudios.com 269.968.0181 www.duncanaviation.aero/media