How Long Does it Take You?

How long does it take you to modify a photo? I sort of got thinking about this after looking at Trevor's photo (id # 00009830) that said that it took over an hour.

I must be some kind of slow. I think an hour is about the least amount of time I've spent on a photo. I don't keep track, but I would imagine in total I worked on my Metrojet 767-400 well over 20 hours. I hardly have the patience to do an entire photo (of course given that pace it would take me almost a day ). It almost always takes me at least a week to finish one.

Then again, maybe it's just because I go down and work on the really nit-picky things. I probably spend 95% of my time working on edges and transitions.


Patrick
Admin
Proud Member Since 2003

Good thread topic. For me, it depends on the project. My recent HP E190 project took me about three hours to do. Other times, it could take three or four hours, and sometimes a week or two because I have other things I need to do. Now that school is running again, if I feel like doing something, I only do it on Saturday and maybe finish it on Sunday. But for me, doing an entire project in an hour or less is a big challenge. What kind of strategy or technique do you use when you modify? Sometimes I paint the entire fueslage with a brush tool, then I fix the windows, and I copy and paste a tail to make it fit with the template.

Interesting...

I've always been thinking about it, since we have so many images. If we knew how many hours it takes in average to make one we could count the number of hours that's put into this database.

Regards,
Henrik

Interesting question: normally it takes 2 or 3 days but it would be much more time. Last template (not photo) takes me 2 weeks only to decide which photos choice to use to draw it!!!!!
I think that 1 hour is a few time to modify any photo. If you want to do a very good job you must work about 2 days.

Mario Gasparella

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bluewhale
What kind of strategy or technique do you use when you modify?

I start off putting down a small strip on the plane that runs top to bottom of what I want it to look like. Then I just jump around and do the transitions from edges to windows. At some point I get the motivation to work on the tail, which I do manually. That copy and paste method sounds like something I'd like to try. The last things I do are paint the plane, and then apply logos and the registration.


Patrick
Admin
Proud Member Since 2003

A general design for me takes about 1 to 2 hours now. But if I get stuck on the design (which is often) it will take me probably a few days to figure out where to go from there.

My designs take about 3 hours at the most. More if I am learning a new technique. It will take longer if I am doing a new livery, instead of one that I've done before.

WOW! I can do one in less than 45 minutes....really....I don't have a wicked complicated program. I would post more, but a lot of mine are not modified or fanttasy livery, just real liveries....like L-1011's in Eastern and TWA...etc....
I wish we could submit those....oh well.....

The World's Favorite Flight Attendant!

depends...if i like it, maybe up to an hour, if i don't, up to days!

Modifying, an hour or so.

But the idea, days. Sometimes months I lull and not do anything because I have no ideas, but sometimes I'll be on a roll and make five or so in a weeks time.

Using photo templates, I tend to take about a month or two to do a M.A.P. project, partly because I have other things to do as well. I tend to spend most of my photo-editing time tweaking and fine-tuning. After adding the livery, I spend quite a bit of time:

1. Adjusting the lighting to conform the lighting conditions of the original photo.
2. Warping/curving titles, etc. to conform to the angle from which the original photo was taken (for things such as the curvature
of the fuselage, etc.).

I do both of the above until the image looks reasonably natural and real.

I also tend to spend a significant amount of time looking for, and modifying, subtle things. For example, a reflection of the livery (found in the original photo) may appear on a silvery surface, such as the leading edge of a wing, etc. If I see something like that, I try to alter the part of the image showing that reflection, to look more like it's reflecting the livery for which I'm modifying the photo to show.

Maybe I'm a bit obsessive-compulsive at times, but I like trying to make an image look as real as possible.

I think that I'm generally gatting faster as I gain experience and gradually learn the more-advanced features of my photo-editing program. Also, more than before, I tend to make a general template before making a specific image. This involves splitting the image into several different layers. I do this with:

1. Any part of the plane (such as a wing or jet engine, etc.) that obscures any of the livery, etc.
2. The windows, etc.

After doing the above, I can reuse much of my work for subsequent projects from that same template.

Alright, now that I've kept track of time, I spend about 1 hour on an easier design that I have already layed plans out for in my head, 2 hours for a design that is some what easy but I need to come up with from scratch, and 3 hours for a tough design either already planned out or started from scratch. And for me it takes 1 or 2 days to produce a template. Yeah I know, I'm very slow!

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Orca333
spend about 1 hour on an easier design that I have already layed plans out for in my head, 2 hours for a design that is some what easy but I need to come up with from scratch, and 3 hours for a tough design either already planned out or started from scratch.

That's about the same times as I do, 1 hour if the fuselage that I am using is ready, and the wings and windows are already in set layers on Photoshop. It probably takes me around 3 hours for a plane that I have to repaint and make layers for the windows and doors.

now that i have actually started using layers, it goes much quicker on this side. I am still working on my accuracy and neatness, and that takes a lot of time. usually i do my planning when i lie in bed and cannot sleep!

What is the best way to set up layers on a template to get it to show through on detail lines (like jetabouts)?

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What is the best way to set up layers on a template to get it to show through on detail lines (like jetabouts)?

The best I'm not sure, but this is the way I do it (Tutorial time )

Step 1:


Step 2:


Step 3:


Step 4:


Step 5:


Final result:



Patrick
Admin
Proud Member Since 2003