Banshee, I'll laugh at you for plenty of other things. No need to laugh at you for that attempt.
Joking aside, it's a good start. You asked for opinions/suggestions, sooooo here I go =)
What are you using to edit the screenshot? Often what I'll do is use a very light brush, in black color (let's say 5-10% transparency) and paint around the outside of the picture. That gives it the "faded/worn" edges feel, and also causes the middle of the picture with the color and such to stand out more. =) I like the "paleness" of the terrain in your edited one. Any chance you could keep that but also keep the dark blue sea of the original? Also, when taking the picture itself, I highly recommend getting as close as you can to your planes so that both are in view. Generally I go into AH Film Editor and watch a film, pause it, hit Z to zoom in, and then change the "distance zoom" to get closer. Then I hit "view full screen", wait a few seconds until everything loads up and hit "Print screen". Then I paste that into whatever program I'm using at the time (paint, photoshop, etc).
Just suggestions. =)
Plaz, I like the deep color sky for that 3rd one of yours.
