Photo Credit: NASA Langley Research Center
This photo depicts the wingtip vortices of an agricultural airplane. The airflow is depicted using colored smoke. This phenomenon occurs when air “leaks” around the wingtips from the high to low-pressure sides. This causes a small downward component of velocity in the neighborhood of the wing itself, which causes the circulatory motion around the wingtips.
I like this photo because it depicts this phenomenon in an interesting, artistic way. The use of the opposing colors (red and blue) highlights the vortex coming from the left wing of the airplane. There is enough space in the photo to encapsulate the entire vortex along with undisturbed smoke, showing the full effect of this vortex phenomenon.
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First place. The colors do a wonderful job at depicting the flow of the vortex from the plane and look very aesthetic.
Second prize – stunning capture. I love the colors, and the swirl is so well defined.
First prize. This is a great art piece. It also demonstrates complex physics of aeroplanes. I honestly am not totally sure what cause that vortex—it doesn’t quite look like the vortex was shed by the wing to me.
Third place! The colors of blue and red are just so beautiful. The full effect of of vortex phenomenon is so cool and amazing.
First place. I think that this is a really cool picture and the contrast between the colors of the smoke looks amazing!
First Prize: This photo captures humanity meeting the force of nature vividly. The curvature is clean and paints a clear line. Great photo!
Second place – The framing is very compelling with the spiral in the center. The colors are also very satisfying and the photo itself is incredible.
Third Place. I personally love this style of plane and I think it’s a wicked good picture. The wing tip vortices are fantastically captured with colored smoke and the angle of the plane is so unique; I’ve never seen that kind of angle before.
First Place – The composition is pretty much ideal with the plane in the lower left corner. The color scheme and exposure is also very well chosen. Not to mention how well the smoke depicts a vortex.
Second Prize: the visualization of the wake turbulence caused by the plane taking off before this one is beautiful. The contrast between the vortex and the surrounding air is aesthetically pleasing as well as provides useful information to the airplane industry about wake turbulence and the dangers of flying in it.
First place- the color contrast, symmetry of the flow and general aesthetic work very well
First Prize: Really beautiful image and I’m amazed they study the vortex in this large scale. Also the blue-red contrast attracts audience’s attention.
First Place. Amazing vortex created by the wing of the plane, I never knew this much turbulence was caused by airplane wing tips.
Second place. The colored vortex is a beautiful effect and serves to display the vortical airflow resulting from the airplane. The effect is fully present and creates feelings of vertigo and motion, making this an excellent submission.
Second Prize: The contrast between the two colors of smoke is very interesting and the way the plane is framed in the photograph with the vortex makes the composition extremely pleasing.
This famous image is from the Wallops Island Wake Vortex Study: https://archive.org/details/NIX-EL-1996-00130