Photographer’s Notes Set the “Way Back Machine” to 1942, Sherman. This is a photo of the B-17 named Nine O Nine, owned by the Collins Foundation, as it flew over Seattle the other day. 12,731 B-17s were built. The Nine O Nine is one of only fourteen airworthy B-17 bombers in the world. Another 31 are stored, on display, or under restoration but not presently flyable.
The original Nine-O-Nine was built in 1942 and nick-named after the last digits of its serial number (42-31909). A B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber of the 323rd Bomb Squadron, 91st Bomb Group, completed 140 combat missions during World War II, believed to be the Eighth Air Force record for most missions, and never lost a crewman as a casualty.
B-17G-85-DL, 44-83575, civil register N93012, owned and flown by The Collings Foundation, Stow, Massachusetts, currently appears at airshows marked as the historic Nine-O-Nine.
This plane has an interesting history in its own right. After WWII it was subjected to the radiation effects of 3 nuclear explosions. It then “cooled down” for 13 years and was sold as scrap and restored. From 1966 to 1986 it was again a working aircraft dropping water and borate on forest fires. In 1986 the Collins Foundation bought it and restored it to it pre-war condition and named it the Nine O Nine. It is considered to be one of the finest restorations flying.
Oh, and to all you nay-sayers, the photo is of the actual airplane in flight – Not A Model.
I predict this will get killed in the voting - not a subject that many DPC folks will resonate with. And the slight Sepia tone will evoke Sepia-Outtake rage. But I like it, and then again, who knows the whims of our dear voters?
Post Processing This took a lot of work to prepare. In the end, my PSD file has 18 layers. Here’s a recap:
• Convert from Raw (PSCS5 Camera Raw)
• Darken Sky (PSCS5 Curves Layer – Masked)
• Lighten Plane (PSCS5 Curves Layer – Masked)
• Clean Sensor Dust (PSVS5 Clone Layer)
• Remove Color Cast (PSCS5 Hue/Sat Layer)
• Remove Color Fringing (PSCS5 Clone Layer)
• Dodge & Burn Sky (PSCS5 Overlay Layer - Masked)
• Reduce Noise (Neat Image)
• Brighten (PSCS5 Curves Layer)
• Convert to B&W (PSCS5 Chanel Mixer)
• Sepia (PSCS5 B&W Layer – Tinted)
• Correct Processing Artifacts (PSCS5 Clone Layer)
• Reduce Sepia (PSCS5 Hue/Sat Layer)
• Dodge & Burn Sky (PSCS5 Overlay Layer)
• Crop (PSCS5)
• Resize (Genuine Fractals)
• Sharpen (PSCS5 USM)
• Save for Web (PSCS5)
Hi Dr D, your welcome. It garnered a 7 from me. I am sometimes at a loss to comment on DPC, to have the conviction to back up my vote with a comment. It really did look model like to me. Amazing image under trying light conditions. It really has a WWII feel to it. I have the same trouble shooting aircraft. Keep it sharp but slow enough for prop blur.
Regards, Harvey
As nice as some prop blur would be, it's not always easy to get both a razor sharp image and nice prop blur on a fast moving aircraft. All that matters is the result though, right?
For the record, it's not a model. It's a real live flying B-17. Check out the context of the photo and the history of this specific plane in the details section of my entry.
About the propellers ... I made a mistake and shot the photo with TOO FAST shutter ... about 1/4000 of a second. This is fast enough to stop the propellers cold. I would have loved some motion blur there but should have shot it at about 1/150 to get it. I may add some in post, but it would have been illegal in advanced editing.
Classic wartime style shot. Nice work. It's a model? There's some JPG artifacting bottom left so ease off on the compression and the props should be blurred, spinning for a bit more realism. Unusual image for DPC.
Nice old bird! I saw an article where a B-17 crashed recently upon landing. I believe the crew were all ok, but what a shame. Not too many of these proud old birds flying anymore.
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