Photo guidelines

In short: a sharp, well-framed, natural-looking photo of the whole aircraft, in good light, without haze, dust spots, heavy editing or watermarks.

Photos in the Avitrace gallery are part of each aircraft’s record, so we look for clear photos that show the aircraft well. Your personal gallery isn’t held to these guidelines, so soft, hazy or heavily edited shots are fine there. Photos anywhere on Avitrace still need to be aviation-related and follow the terms: nothing sexually explicit, abusive, hateful or unlawful.

An editor checks every photo submitted to the Avitrace gallery. If it isn’t accepted, you’ll get the reasons and can fix it and submit it again. The reasons link to the sections below.

Sharp, not soft

At full size, the registration, panel lines and small markings should be crisp.

• Softness usually comes from missed focus, camera shake or a shutter speed too slow for a moving aircraft. Focus on the aircraft itself, not the background.
• Propellers and rotors are the exception: some blur in them looks natural, so a slower shutter speed is fine for those as long as the airframe stays sharp.
• Sharpening in editing can’t rescue a soft photo; it just adds halos (see noise and sharpening).

Well framed and centred

The whole aircraft in the frame, roughly centred, with a little room around it.

• Nothing cut off: nose, tail, wingtips and landing gear all in.
• Leave a bit more space on the side the aircraft is facing or moving towards.
• Not so loose that the aircraft is small in the frame. Crop in, but keep enough resolution that it still looks sharp.

Level

The horizon, runway edge or buildings level, unless the aircraft itself is banking.

• A slight tilt is easy to fix by rotating a degree or two in editing before you crop.
• For aircraft on the ground, use vertical lines such as hangar edges or lamp posts as a guide.

No heat haze

A clear view of the aircraft without shimmering or wobbly outlines.

• Haze comes from warm air rising off runways, aprons and jet exhaust, and it’s worst at long focal lengths across hot tarmac.
• Shoot earlier or later in the day, get closer so you need less zoom, or pick a spot where you aren’t looking along the runway.
• Haze softens the whole aircraft unevenly, so sharpening won’t fix it.

Not backlit

The sun behind you, lighting the side of the aircraft you’re photographing.

• Shooting towards the sun leaves the near side of the aircraft dark and flat, often with a bright, washed-out sky.
• Brightening the shadows in editing usually brings out noise and dull colours, so plan your spot around where the sun will be.
• Overcast days are fine: soft, even light works well.

Well exposed

Neither too dark nor too bright, with detail kept in white and dark paint.

• White fuselages lose detail quickly when overexposed; check they aren’t blown out.
• Dark schemes, such as grey military jets, need enough exposure that the markings still read.

No dust spots

No dark, soft blobs from dust on your camera’s sensor.

• They’re easiest to see in plain sky. Check at full size before submitting.
• Your photo’s page has a dust check view that makes them stand out.
• Removing dust spots in editing is fine and encouraged.

Clean, not noisy or over-sharpened

Smooth skies and natural detail.

• High ISO and heavy shadow-brightening add grain, especially in the sky. A little noise reduction helps; too much makes the aircraft look smeared.
• Too much sharpening leaves bright outlines (halos) around the aircraft and a crunchy look. Less is more.

Not over-edited

Natural colour and contrast: the aircraft as it looked on the day.

• Avoid heavy saturation, strong HDR effects, glowing edges and dramatic filters.
• Don’t replace skies, or add or remove anything that was there (people, vehicles, other aircraft). The photo is part of the aircraft’s record.
• Straightening, cropping, exposure and colour correction, gentle sharpening and dust removal are all fine.

No watermarks, signatures or borders

Upload the photo clean, with nothing added on top or around it.

• That includes your own name, logo, website, text, frames and borders.
• Avitrace adds your credit itself: a strip under the photo with your name, and the Avitrace logo on the photo if you choose it.

A clear view

Nothing blocking the aircraft.

• Fences, poles, lamp posts, people, vehicles and other aircraft shouldn’t cover any important part of it.
• A little in front of the wheels is often unavoidable on the ground. Use your judgement: if it spoils the view of the aircraft, it’s too much.

The right aircraft

The registration you enter matches the aircraft in the photo.

• Check the registration on the photo itself, not just from a list or tracking site.
• If you can’t read it, say what you know in the caption. An unidentified aircraft can stay in your personal gallery.

Something new

Not almost the same as a photo already on the aircraft’s page.

• Pick your best shot from a sequence rather than submitting several near-identical frames.
• A different angle, location, scheme or period in the aircraft’s life is always welcome.

Before you submit

• Look at the photo at full size, on your photo’s page.
• Check the registration, date and location are right.
• Upload the edited photo itself: JPEG, PNG or WebP, up to 40 MB. Wider than 1920 pixels is scaled down to 1920.

Every photo stays yours: see the photo licence.