Buck Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 Aloha folks, About a year waiting for this… Missed TDY’s, WX cancelled on several occasions, slipped fighter drags, and cancelled missions but finally a chance to refuel the Arctic Bandits! Better late than never!!! The 18th AGRS folks were awesome and luckily we ended up with a little time between ARCTs. Anyhoo here are a few images to share with everyone, a bit dark I’m afraid but hope you all enjoy them… I really enjoyed working with the 18th; hope they’re enjoying a little warm weather! Oh yeah… Can someone help me out with “hotspots� How the heck do a post-process fix those suckers. Any & all help greatly appreciated!!! :wub: Mahalo Ahui Hou Mark Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rapier01 Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 Awesome shots Buck as always. Just a question however, what are those pods they're carrying? Never seen any quite like those before... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
messy60 Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 Oh, those are the new RDLBU-13's. That's Robotic Dog-Like Bomb Unit -13. They look like some kind of recce pod, but are actually the USAF's newest smart bomb. Dropped from the F-16, the RDLBU-13 drops to the earth, and then using the most advanced Olfactic sensors, literally sniffs out terrorist hideouts and walks in to them. At that point, the RDLBU-13 delivers its bite via it's extremely lethal 500lb K-9 explosive warhead. It's really quite amazing actually. :wub: Jason Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MaRiO FDZ Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 Oh, those are the new RDLBU-13's. That's Robotic Dog-Like Bomb Unit -13. They look like some kind of recce pod, but are actually the USAF's newest smart bomb. Dropped from the F-16, the RDLBU-13 drops to the earth, and then using the most advanced Olfactic sensors, literally sniffs out terrorist hideouts and walks in to them. At that point, the RDLBU-13 delivers its bite via it's extremely lethal 500lb K-9 explosive warhead. It's really quite amazing actually. :wub: Jason I was about to make a joke out of it that it was the latest aligator bomb until I read your explination WOW Take CAre Quote Link to post Share on other sites
messy60 Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 Mario, good call on the alligator. after posting my RDLBU-13 explanation, i looked at the pic again and thought, hmm, maybe more lizard or croc like. lol. oh well. Jason Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jefropas Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 Mark, Looks like the wait was worth it, OUTSTANDING pics!!!! You just gave me 4 new screen savers and the desire to actually build one of these sooner than later. Thanks for posting!!! Jeff Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Slartibartfast Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 Those are the model stands. Yes, those are models. And some good Photochop. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mhoupt Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 Mark, You can fix hot spots in photos with a couple of different tools. I am most familiar with Photo Shop CS3. In that tool you can use the dodge or burn tool to bring things our or remove them. If that is not working, you could very carefully use the clone tools and clone areas right around the hot spots and that will help things go away. Mark Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Murph Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 Awesome shots Buck as always. Just a question however, what are those pods they're carrying? Never seen any quite like those before... ALQ-188 pod. Regards, Murph Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fuji Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 (edited) Buck, you're killing me!!! Spot on Dude!!! EDIT: Buck, I have to admit, I looked more at the images than your comment. After your question about hot spots, I went back, looked at the images, downloaded them, looked at them again in Capture NX2 and while you are getting close to blown out highlights, they are very acceptable as they seem to be more around the text of second image giving them almost a halo effect, this is probably from unsharp mask. Other than that, no blown out highlights on the jet or the clouds on any of the images. "Hot Spots" & "Blown Out Highlights" are nothing but areas that the image has no info other than pure white, which it should never really have, there should always be some detail. You've preserved that detail. Well done Padawan! Edited December 11, 2008 by Fuji Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GreyGhost Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 Beautiful pics Mark ! Thanks again for sharing ... Gregg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HOLMES Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 I thought they WERE the REAL thing until Slartibartfast posted and said it was a model. WOW!!!! HOLMES ;) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Slartibartfast Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 And I'm trying to pull legs. Looks like I got yours! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rapier01 Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 (edited) ALQ-188 pod.Regards, Murph Thanks Edited December 11, 2008 by Rapier01 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Skull Leader Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Jesus, Buck... some people were born lucky, you were definately one of those people! Talk about being in the right place at the right time These shots are amazing (and since I have the AB decals for every last one of those jets, I hope you don't mind if these photos go into my reference file ) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
David Walker Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Just fantastic photos! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
parche Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Sweet pics...thanks for sharing. Cheers, Dave Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ThePhantomTwo Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 This to me is a money shot,simply awesome! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
raptor22 Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Always a pleasure to see your pics Mark! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
aerodrew Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Fuji would it help much to make adjustments to the camera's white balance in this scenario?(on the other hand I figured it would be a bit cumbersome to do in such a situation) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Buck Posted December 12, 2008 Author Share Posted December 12, 2008 Aloha all & MAHALO for the comments & interest, really appreciate it! Also a big thanks for all the help on photography, always been an interest of mine & something I'm still very much learning. Really appreciate the pros here lending a hand Fuji, thanks again for everything... PM on the way Sir! :unsure: Mahalo Ahui hou... Off to dig around for an F-16 to build! :D Mark Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Phantom726 Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Oh yeah… Can someone help me out with “hotspots� How the heck do a post-process fix those suckers. Any & all help greatly appreciated!!! :unsure: Buck, Great shots. Feel free to PM me if you have a spare seat on the next flight..... With regards to the hotspots, there's not much you can do in the post-processing simply because there is no information but "white" in those areas. Best way to avoid those things in the future would be to deliberately underexpose your photos anywhere between 1/3 to 1 ev depending on the conditions. If you know your way around PhotoShop (or similar software) it's then possible to manually correct the image to give a more uniform overall appearance. It will however take some time to do it. Did you shoot in RAW or jpg??. Shooting RAW will allow you more post-processing possibilities when using the right software. That said, that's some Kilo Alpha shots and I didn't notice any imperfections whatsoever, nor did I notice any hotpots until Fuji did his magic. Keep up the good work. Rgds Bjarne Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PhantomPhreakII Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Mark, Can I come next time? can I? can I?....PLEASE? I have a camera (Nikon D200) too...... Seriously, GREAT shots 295 is my new background Harald Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fuji Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 (edited) Fuji would it help much to make adjustments to the camera's white balance in this scenario?(on the other hand I figured it would be a bit cumbersome to do in such a situation) Its not so much about white balance as WB has to do more with the color of light. IE: Sunlight, Fluorescent, Tungsten, Flash, Etc. These are all shot under direct sunlight so the WB should set to Sunlight, pretty simple. The problem here is contrast. A camera meter tries to turn everything to 18% gray. If its overly dark, it will over expose, if its overly bright, it will under expose and you'll need to compensate in the opposite direction get a better image. If I am shooting in open daylight anywhere around midday, I usually under expose by about 1/3 of a stop. I check my histograms and highlight feature and if I'm still having issues, I'll knock it down another third. Digital cameras are better at capturing detail in shadowed areas than in bright light. Main thing is practice and learning as you go. These are of course guidelines and not set laws as every situation will be different. Buck only had a slight issue with the Holstein scheme and I think that's because of the strong black markings. His post processing could also have been a factor as I see a lot of people over do it in PS. Even so, Buck's images were well handled and I will admit, if I was an editor, I'd be all over those shots. until Fuji did his magic. Now you know Edited December 12, 2008 by Fuji Quote Link to post Share on other sites
aerodrew Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 (edited) And what is the holstein scheme in relation to the black markings of the aircraft? (my apologies for possibly deviating this thread off topic) Edited December 12, 2008 by aerodrew Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.