A retiring pilot requested a picture with the "retro" paint. I waited for 3 months for them to route this airplane to the west of ORD for the afternoon sun. When they finally did, the afternoon clouds were moving in and out of casting shadows on the departure paths. I had a 30 minute window with good sun, no shadows, but just as they(UAL983) pulled up for position, they were 200lbs overweight and had to taxi across the runway to the pad to burn fuel. Waited for about 20 minutes or so it seemed. By that time, the shadows had returned and they were in the shadow of a cloud for their departure. It departs west again tomorrow out of ORD and I'll try again if the wind is favorable.
It looks painted because technically it is. I had to really punch up the brightness, color and other stuff. Painted in the clouds too...Did the best with what I had to try and recover the image.
Here's another rendition and full frame of the one above...
