Bell Helicopter

A

Alan Jones

Guest
Not too sure of the proper classification of this Bell helicopter. It reminds me of the Mash series and immediately I hear the theme tune....
I edited the shot for a little more atmosphere than the conditions allowed on the day. I was lucky to have the rotor blades face on so I could shoot in portrait style.....
 

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  • Mash Helicoter at Brieghton B&W fwith grain ff.jpg
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They say to never have your main subject in the centre of an image, but I think this works just fine, Alan. Well done!
 
That takes me back. I flew in one of those when I was serving in Cyprus in 1965. It was only a 15 minute experience flight for those of us who had never flown in a helicopter before. It frightened the living daylights out of me, especially after the pilot told us they had a habit of cracking a pivot bolt that altered the aspect of the rotor blades. Add to that the bubble cabin had to have a horizontal yellow line painted right around it because the lack of other points of reference meant the pilot could sometimes get disorientated, especially after a banked turn.

It gave a passenger an exposed feeling especially having no doors to speak of, plus as it was a piston engine 'copter with two x 22.5 gallon high octane fuel tanks high above the cockpit area a fire would be catastrophic.

But getting back to the image, I cannot help feeling that taking the picture from the aircraft end, using a wide angle lens with the rotor blade at an angle, pointing diagonally into one of the corners may have been more effective. With only two blades on the rotor, the 2nd is missing behind the aircraft and to me it looks a little 'emasculated'.
 
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Not too sure of the proper classification of this Bell helicopter. It reminds me of the Mash series and immediately I hear the theme tune....
I edited the shot for a little more atmosphere than the conditions allowed on the day. I was lucky to have the rotor blades face on so I could shoot in portrait style.....

Yes these are the ones (and other variants) depicted in the 'Mash' films. and widely used during the Korean war
 
It looks a bit forced to me I'm afraid Alan, the vignette is very obvious and unnatural, it makes it look as though the flat light has forced you to force it a bit. I can see where you were going with it though.
 
My favorite element of the picture is the propeller coming straight at the viewer. to me, it's ominous, scary, like "this can take my head off".

the vignette is very obvious and unnatural
This comment, about this picture is an example of what I find to be so wonderful about this forum. When I looked at the picture initially, I couldn't tell what was "off" to me. Something didn't work, I didn't know what. Then Toby's observation.
 
Yes i must confess looking now the editing is definitely "Over" but it didn't look this bad when i was working on the original RAW file. I have a much more subdued version which i didn't post because i thought it looked too much like a record shot. As for the rotor blade i felt i was lucky to get it rested in this position and i was happy with the composition,
Regards,
Alan
 
This edit is more like what I was trying to achieve....
 

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  • Mash Helicoter at Brieghton B&W-RE-Edit.jpg
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It's definitely more natural, but in terms of story-telling, I like the strong vignette and the bright centre in the original. It makes the machine seem more like some ancient, menacing, magical artefact.

Others may disagree. So now you have conflicting advice — you'll have to decide for yourself which is best!
 
Chris, I think that you have hit the nail on the head. If you take the time to look at some of the close up, head on shots of various insects then, with a bit of imaginative processing this could be a winner.

Norman
 
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