This week, I had the honor of sitting down with the talented and artistic Bob70! Bob's wonders of the clouds was one of the first things to inspire me to start taking screenshots, and today, we get to take a peek into what helps such amazing screenshots come to be!
1. Studio V: Aside from flightsimming, what are your other interests?
Bob: Well my main interests are building and flying model airplanes. I was around six or seven years old when I built my first rubber powered stick model. It was a Comet kit Spitfire. It never flew because I managed to glue the wings on backwards.
It wasn't a total lost though as I gave it to my grandmother. She thought is was just super. Well that was the start of my love affair with aircraft and aviation in general my whole life right to present at age 72.
Right there along side of airplanes comes music and watching the old classic movies. I have a very extensive music collection. It is a varied selection as I like most all types. But what I like most is the pop music and hot jazz of the 1920s thru the 1930s. I also do some restoration of the music of this period.
2. Studio V: What is it that got you into this hobby, do you have a real world aviation background?
Bob: Well first off I got my first computer around seven years ago. My first Sim was the RealFlight G3 R/C model airplane flight trainer. Soon after I bought the FS2004 Sim. and discovered the Simvaition web site and this great forum. Soon after FSX was added when it became available. The rest is history.
As to my real world aviation background. I joined the aviation branch of the US Navy right out of high school. Trained to be a aircraft electrician. Worked on the big Martin P5M flying boats for a couple of years. I was then transferred to the Fleet Air Gunnery Unit at El Central Calif. While there I worked on and maintained a number of the early jet fighter aircraft. After my hitch in the Navy I went to work for Sperry Flight Systems here in Phoenix Az. There my job title was Electro-Mechanical Research & Development Tech. in the engineering dept. Sounds impressive huh.
Somewhere down the line Sperry was bought out in a hostile takeover by Honeywell. Stayed with the company for 36yr's till I took early retirement in 1996.
3. Studio V: Your screenshots tend to focus on the smaller 'low and slow' type planes, what is it about them that draws you to them, and do you have a particular favorite you may fly more than others?
Bob: Well I've never been known to be in a hurry to get anywhere. I prefer to take my time to look at the scenery and smell the roses along the way. To do this requires the low and slow type airplanes. Personally I think they are a lot more fun to fly than the big jets. Flying at 500mph at 30,000' just doesn't do it for me. I have no particular favorite aircraft. I like them all. I do lean towards the vintage airplanes of the early years of aviation though.
4. Studio V: The sky environments in your shots are always very dramatic and artistic, whether they be payware or freeware, do you spend a lot of time setting these situations up, or do you just pick your themes at random and hope for the best?
Bob: Sometimes I do, and sometimes I don't. A good part of the time I'm just flying along when a beautiful scene develops. I'm always ready to hit that pause key and look things over. I then sometimes spend a lot of time tweaking the picture to my liking before taking the screen-shot. And then there are times when I do set up a shot with a particular theme in mine.
5. Studio V: What landscapes or areas of the world do you prefer to fly in and take screenshots in the most, and why?
Bob: I love to go exploring all over the world, and the world is a very big place. Every flight is a adventure with me. Love to fly in the mountains following the rivers and valleys low and slow. Also because I'm nuts about seaplanes I do quite a bit of flying along the coastlines. It must be the old navy in me coming out.
6. Studio V: Can you offer a few words of advice to our less experiences screenartists on how to take more effective, dramatic screenshots?
Bob: Well I'm really not the one to be giving out advice but there are a few tips I can tell you that work for me. Lighting and shadows are very important in producing a dramatic screen-shot. I never take shots between the hours of 10:00am 2:00pm. With the sun high in the sky at that time of the day everything looks washed out with very little contrast. Also try to keep the sun in back of you or off your shoulder. Especially if you are around water. You don't want the suns reflection off the water blinding you. It just don't look good in the Sim. Just my opinion. Also turn off LENS FLARE. Also strive for realism, good balance and composition. Remember a little time spent setting up a great shot before you hit the print screen key can save you the bother of editing. Who needs Photoshop?
Only kidding.
7. Studio V: What other flight simulators do you currently have installed, and is there a preference in which sim you fly in the most?
Bob: Too many. And I don't want to get rid of any of them. I'm a real packrat.
In the order that I acquired them. RealFlight G3 , FS2004, CF3, Micro Flight, Railroad Simulator, Virtual Sailor, BMW Challenge, FSX, and just recently XPlane9. And which one do I use the most? FSX of course.
8. Studio V: What are some of the screenshot utilities you use that you would find difficult to do without or deem as mandatory?
Bob: Simple answer. At present I'm using Paint.Net. I'm very happy with it and I recommend it. In the past I tried some others before I settled on Paint,Net. It is very simple and easy to use and does everything I need it to do. The price is right too. Free.
9. Studio V: Do you fire up the sim with screenshooting as a goal, or do the shots come if they come?
Bob: Another simple answer. Both
10. Studio V: If you could add one piece of hardware/software to your flight simming, what would it be and why?
Bob: Well as of now my old HP computer is maxed out as far as updating it.. The only way you can tell it's an HP is by the case. So I guess what I would like to have would be a nice big powerful computer something along the same lines that our friend Nick has. Only in my dreams.
Well all good things must come to an end. I was a little hesitant in doing this interview at first. But I said what the heck. I'll give it a shot. And it was fun. Hope you all enjoy the read. Thanks again Shane for asking me.
Bob70
And thanks to you Bob for taking the time to have this little chat with us, and giving us some insight as to what makes our screen artists tick.
Until next time!
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