I have not seen your picture so my feedback is generic. When shooting from an airplane, you want to select the highest possible shutterspeed. Could not think of a more unstable position with airturbulanz, engine vibrations, and resonanze of all metal parts around you.
On the other hand, focusing should not be a problem since you will probabely have your object in the "infinit" zone outside the distance where focusing is critical.
If the high shutter speed and the largest appreture are not sufficient to properly expose the picture, you must work with the ISO setting in increase the sensibility of the sensor.
One last remark, shoot the other airplane either coming at you rather then passing in parallel unless you are flying at approx the same speed. The frontal approach will reduce the impact of the speed of the motion between the two planes.

Thanks for sharing. Great, I will use them

I agree that any thing above 75 mm full size sensor is fine. The problem about portrait lenses is more related to the issue of avoiding wide angle lenses, move close up to the face and of course, end up with a destorted face.

The only way to work on this picture (which I think is beautiful) is the work individually on 3 sections by selecting the water area, when you finish, select the light area in the background to the left (use wand or lassos) and finally, adjust the section that is darker to the right. This way, you have influence on individual densities without impacting all other areas.

In Photoshop Elements, highlight the sky area (wand, magnetic lasso) select the desired blue color for the sky in the "forground color selection box" at the bottom of the tools, go to the "filter program" select "render" and click on clouds and/or different clouds. Good luck.

Government is not the solution - Government is the problem.
Ronald Reagan

Love the picture. Would you mind sharing some technical details with us? (Photoshop or other software?)

Sorry my friend, the you took a picture of an incredible beautiful scene. Unfortunately, you were not able to capture the moment artistically. The burned out white relections are a no-no. Grafically, you should have added dynamic to the picture by moving the swans down into the first 1/3 of the picture. Try to avoid to center the important part of the picture. Otherwise, a real great moment in your life.

I love the photos. # 1 would be a winner if you can keep the eyes really sharp and soften the remaining part of the face only. Try it, you will love it.

Welcome to all of you newcomers. I joined a few weeks ago and enjoy this forum very much. You will find all topics related to photography posted and commented on by some of the nicest, "normal" people I ever came accross in the many forums I joint. I will not regret your joining. Have fun!

Like many things, Vignetting was the standard for portrait photography in the "old days". In the 60s and 70s, the Cokin filters were used to creat lens flares, star bursts, and many other "hip" effects. Now, vignetting is back. Not different from the development of tastes in the fashion industry.

In a nutshell, the flash you used does not have the power needed for a properly exposed picture. What also worked against you (big time) is the dark background that swallows the incoming light and does not reflect anything back. Always choose a light background for flash pictures and get the models as close to that wall as possible. Shoot a picture of people sitting around a table and having dinner. If the table cloth is white, you will have a evenly exposed picture with reflected light in the faces from the tablecloth. Never use flash to take a picture of a model into an empty room unless you don't care about anything else then the exposure on the model.

You are fine up to $ 600 income. Following that, the business rules apply. I strongly suggest you are not setting up a business unless you are convinced and make the efforts to generate profits. Running a business for 3 years in a row with a loss will get the attention of the IRS. (Hobby vs business)

Erbin, I love the shot "at the beach". The lighting is very well balanced with some punch coming from the left side. Have you really used on camer flash? If so, did you use any reflectors? Superb lighting.

I urge the Moderator of this Forum to ban political, religouse, and any other issues that do not fall under the category "photography" from these postings.