Lockheed XFV-1

Experimental Vertical take off and landing Lockheed XFV-1 - based at Lakeland airport, FL.

I must say that this is an outstanding photo! The details are perfect, the sharp is perfect, the shutter speed is of so much effect, letting the plain propeller to "move" a bit. Also the clouds from the backround are just perfect and are placed in the perfect place too!

Best regards, Cristina.

P.s: A little question, you were in a helicopter while you took this shot?

Wow! Great shot! And the clouds are perfect! I'm intrigued, isn't this a jet plane? What's with the propeller? And a shutter speed of only 1/200? Were you in the next one beside it?

You may be surprised to hear that this shot was taken from the ground and that this plane has not flown for over 50 years! In the 1950's the XFV was powered by a 5,332 hp turboprop engine driving two contra-rotating propellers. Today flight is powered by PhotoShop. I selected the plane and propellers separately, I had to reassemble the propeller digitally (one of the blades had been detattched) and then to give the impression that the propeller was moving I appled the radial motion blur filter to just the propeller. Then I placed the plane on a suitable sky (shot from a commercial flight) and voila, the XFV flies again! Thanks for dropping by, RickDB

Well you certainly had me fooled with this production Rick....fantastic manipulation...Regards

Ha, I knew there was something strange... but an extremely.. well put together flight!

At first glance I was definitely fooled!  The shading of the plane is just about perfect to create the illusion that it is in the setting you've placed it and the radial blur of the propeller appears very realistic. My compliments on your processing and imagination...

Now for the tells!  When I viewed larger it became obvious that this was a manipulation (not that there's anything wrong with that).  The first thing I noticed was that there should be another prop blade visible through the canopy, given the spacing of the others.  Second was the reflections on the external fuel cell (I'm assuming that's what it is?) where a road and buildings can clearly be seen, there are also some terrestrial reflections in the fuselage just aft of the prop and in the 1 o'clock rear stabilizer/rudder. And finally, the truncated support for the wheels that conveniently terminates at the edge of the fuselage.  Not being familiar with this aircraft, I wouldn't have known it didn't belong without seeing your original.

My observations aren't meant as criticisms and had you not revealed the nature of this shot, I would have kept them to myself but since you've divulged to all of us that this is a composite, it's fun to look for the signs. It's a credit to your abilities that they have to be looked for. I suppose it also gives you some things to think about next time.

Very cool shot and excellent compositing/processing... even with the tells.

Looks like you had as much fun deconstructing this composite as I had putting it together. Its a cool looking plane, especially for the 1950's!

Now for the "tells" - the truncated support should not be there - cloning it out was the last (and easiest!) thing I did but I somehow managed to convert the penultimate image to PN format - it stuck out like a sore thumb to me and I wondered if anyone would notice. The prop blade that you thought should be visible through the canopy is actually completely obscured by the fuselage - how do I know? Well, that blade was not missing and would have been visible in the original shot - see attached pic. Now, as for the reflections, I did think about that, may be just a little bur would make it less noticable. Then I remembered the plane was making a low level pass over the airfield, so it was not necessary to change it!!
Really the biggest "tell" is the plane has no landing gear - the XFV was intended to land vertically on those 4 wheels on the tail - imagine how skilled a pilot you would have to be to do that. I didn't include them purely for aesthetics. The flimsy looking frame for normal landing is also very ugly - and interestingly does not include any braking mechanism, so I guess it could only have been stopped by reversing the prop blade pitch.
Thanks for keeping me on my toes Jeff, Cheers, RickDB

Congratulation. Technically, visually, an excellent work. It looks  very realistic in every way. Only one exception. Haha.   How is this  plane going to land, without  the tail, landing gear ?  Just kidding. Really an excellent work. I grown up in this time, when everybody experimenting with different type of VTO plans. Unsuccessfully, all the way, to day.

Happy New Year.

Bela