One of our readers asked what techniques were used to produce the postcard (Thx Guido for the idea).
Some subjects were studied but finally the wish card of this year will show a pair of Spitfire XIV above Brussels.
We started from a picture of Brussels taken in the winter 2011 from the Atomium to be used as background.
The Koebelberg church is clearly visible and help to identify the place as Brussel. Snow covers the roofs and the weather was cold but with a spendid sky.
As the scene is supposed to happen around 1950, small details were corrected on the picture as they were too modern (cars, cranes ...).
The Spitfires are from 2 pictures taken by Eric Dessouroux in Duxford some years ago.
The pictures were corrected (undercarriage deleted for one of the aircraft). The background was replaced by a one colour background. The 2 pictures were assembled together. These operations took 2 or 3 evenings until the result was OK. The technique used was learned from André Hiernaux.
The 2 spitfire were then "glued" on the Brussels background
The composition is then processed using fotosketcher a software which permit to soften
the pictures and apply filters to have artistic effects. To find the rights settings, many tests were performed. When the results seem good, the project is printed to detect default.
And the final result is
