Big Bird vs. GeminiJets: British Airways 747-400

[Jazajia]

And I thought this was going to be my last blog post of 2025, and here we are, almost halfway through 2026.

As evidenced by my recent thread, "Am I missing something?" I had to tweak this blog post a lot in the past few days, as I did most of the writing in my bubble, thinking that we were still in 2017, when these two models were the rarest amongst the rare.

Enjoy:

Versus Series Vol. 13: British Airways 747-400 Big Bird vs. GeminiJets​

 

[Jazajia]

Someone brought to my attention the fact that the blue background is not the best for photographing the Landor livery. This is something I noticed, but didn't have any other practical alternatives at the time.

Here's a photo of these models on their shelf. You can really see the colors pop without the blue background, especially the red.



Speaking of the gorgeous British Airways Landor livery, I have to say that the recent C Models 762 looks stunning (even on a blue background .. I think the box helped the camera). I thought about keeping one for myself, but it really does not fit my criteria.

 

[Phantom]

blue background is not the best for photographing the Landor livery.

I know this problem, but it isn't the background, but the lighting. It seems to be mostly top down, lacking a frontal component. Try to find a source that gives you (soft) light from both sides of the camera and you'll be able to work out the colours nicely.
As for the background/base: ideally, use a neutral "color" (greyscale) to avoid casting colors on your model.

 

[Jazajia]

I know this problem, but it isn't the background, but the lighting. It seems to be mostly top down, lacking a frontal component. Try to find a source that gives you (soft) light from both sides of the camera and you'll be able to work out the colours nicely.
As for the background/base: ideally, use a neutral "color" (greyscale) to avoid casting colors on your model.

Thanks, Alex. I knew you could help with this matter.

When I switched to the blue background, I was only thinking about contrast, how it affected the entire exposure, and colors caught me completely off guard.

I have a diffuser (only one), but I don't like using it because it still gives me some highlights on these shiny models. I find the best results by bouncing the light off the ceiling (hence the top-down lighting), but in this case, it just didn't work.

I might need to start thinking about switching to a different background color or getting a second lamp.