Tech Info: Single shot with D300s; 50mm using f/8.0 with ISO 200 for 1/1250 sec.

This shot was taken somewhere en route to BLR from SFO, on an Emirates flight. I’ve quite a lot of shots taken through the window seat on flights, so this is going to be a new series that I want to get them all done.

My memory of the first flight ever is still fresh. It was a short one (compared to now) of BLR to Abu Dhabi, a palce where I was going to start my first international job back in 1999. I was assigned a window seat and the entire 3 hrs, I just kept looking out of the window. Due to my height and the cramped economy seats, I started requesting for an aisle seat. Its been over 10+ yrs that I now want to be seated on an emergency window seat…does work both ways; have enough leg room for a comfortable journey and I get to see the wonders through the tiny hole.

About this shot: Imagine a vantage point just above the clouds. That would be just enough to get one’s juices going as you can find a range of patterns. But I wanted to include part of my vantage point in the shot; could have been anything like the window of the seat, huge turbine or in this case, the wing of the plane itself. I hope this does give the viewer an idea of where the shot was taken from.

I’ve sat in seats that didn’t have any opportunity of including anything of the plane (with the exception of the window itself) and have taken some shots, which at that time was compelling enough, but I’m not sure whether I would process them now. Well, you’ll get to see if I do in this “Up in the Air” series.

Processing: I’m now becoming a huge fan of “Curves”; Its one tool that can do so many things, right from fixing the black & white points to color correction, control contrast and even toning. So I’m making a habit of using just that. Since I still can’t do “complete” toning in curves, had to use channel mixer for it. After the curves adjustments, resized the image and applied a slight “Smart Sharpen” for web display.