The F-18 screenshot was originally intended to be my entry in this month's competition, however it was brought to my attention that this particular livery was in fact CS "payware" and not part of the F-18 package that came with MS Acceleration. Mea culpa guys, I'm really embarrassed over the oversight. Inasmuch as I really liked the screenshot, I decided to do a full edit on the AC and married it up with a photographic BG. Hope this edit works as well for you as it does for me. Thanks for looking, your comments are always appreciated.............. Ziggy  http://www.simviation.com/phpupload/uploads/1328562002.jpg

Great edit of a great shot. ;)

WOW  :o  :o  :o
Great Edit

Thanks Andy & SkyHawk for taking the time to comment. It is truly appreciated............. Ziggy

Ziggy I just looked at your gallery & I have to say :o :o thats awesome.

Well done Ziggy...looks really good... ;)

andy190 wrote on Feb 5^th, 2012 at 6:20pm:

Ziggy I just looked at your gallery & I have to say :o :o thats awesome.

Thanks mate, I'm glad you like it. Unfortunately, I think my hay days are a thing of the past. I'm still recovering from a stroke that really screwed up my hand-eye coordination. What use to take minutes can now take hours. These days I edit more for therapy than relaxation. Thanks again for your most gracious comment........... Ziggy

Ziggy since I posted that I have set the Mig & Sea Fury edit as my desktop background. :)

andy190 wrote on Feb 5^th, 2012 at 7:29pm:

Ziggy since I posted that I have set the Mig & Sea Fury edit as my desktop background. :)

Thanks Andy, now that's one of the nicest compliments I've had to-date. FYI the original is 1920x1200 and weighs in at about 1 mb in JPEG format. If your interested I'd be happy to send you a copy, just PM me your e-mail address.......Ziggy

What a stunner!

Clem Wu wrote on Feb 6^th, 2012 at 12:25am:

What a stunner!

Thanks mate, nice of you to say so.............. Ziggy

Great shot,surely not your best but definetly one of your best. ;)

Incredible. 8-)

Thanks mates for taking the time to comment................ Ziggy

:o What an amazing shot, it looks so real! Awesome job.

Excellent combo, very attractive image!

Thanks so much guys for all the positive feedback........... Ziggy

Hi guys, just for your edification I decided to have this edit critiqued by my buddies over at SSW offering 4 possible backgrounds. As a result of their input, I reedited the image as shown below. The moral of this story is two sets of eyes are better than one. Enjoy............ Ziggy                       http://www.simviation.com/phpupload/uploads/1328859513.jpg

Awesome man

Thanks BlackAce for taking the time to comment............Ziggy

Another great edit Ziggy. ;)

You just broke my awesome meter with that edit. :D

Thanks Andy, it's nice of you to say so............. Ziggy

Even better then the first one. 8-)

Thanks Fox3. As I said, it has the advantage of a critical critique by some top drawer SSW editors. You've got real discerning eyes if you can see the subtle changes that actually make the redux a better image. Thanks again mate............. Ziggy

Nice Job!

I've visit your gallery and I'm amazing what you do with your screenshots. Thats a lot of time to make in Photoshop with naturale back grounds and I love it.

Thanks Falcon for the kind words. I'm very pleased to hear that you enjoy my work. It is time consuming, but if appreciated well worth the effort. Feedback like yours provides the motivation. Thanks again mate.......... Ziggy

You'd benefit from working on your lighting.  Right now the sun's reflection on the fuselage is white, which makes the plane stand out from the background too much because the human eye is... well, used to seeing the light conditions in sunset.  Sample colors from the sky and amplify them to be a bit brighter to make more realistic reflections.  This ambient light should affect the whole scene and bathe the plane in an orangey color.

The canopy could use some work, too, since the front two pieces are reflecting nothing at all.  A layer set to overlay mode with the same kind of reflection as on the fuselage would help, as would a very subdued lens flare given how glass reflects light differently than matte combat aircraft paint.

I do hope you're not serious mate............ Ziggy