Geilenkirchen Open Days - Spotters-day [MIL]

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NickThompson
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Geilenkirchen Open Days - Spotters-day [MIL]

Post by NickThompson »

Geilenkirchen, home to NATO's AWACS fleet held a open day and spotters day in conjunction with the 35th year of NATO AWACS operations from GK. The participation list chopped and changed all the way up to the event and even though stand out items such as the Turkish E-7, Italian ATL2 and French E-3F cancelled a wide variety of aircraft gathered for the event. Unfortunately the star attendee, an Italian G550-AEW arrived on the Thursday ahead of the spotters day on the Friday. However, Friday provided a number of excellent movements, albeit in varied and at times very overcast conditions!

Thanks to the organisers and ATC who ensured a vast majority of arrivals either backtracked or taxied past the gathered photographers.

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Thanks for looking,

Nick
Jan H
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Re: Geilenkirchen Open Days - Spotters-day [MIL]

Post by Jan H »

Hello Nick,

Thank you for sharing!
Yes, one of the highlights of the show was surely the sight & sound of the silver Saeta.

Cheers, Jan.
hexman
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Re: Geilenkirchen Open Days - Spotters-day [MIL]

Post by hexman »

great shots !
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wweasel
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Re: Geilenkirchen Open Days - Spotters-day [MIL]

Post by wweasel »

Nice pictures!
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Re: Geilenkirchen Open Days - Spotters-day [MIL]

Post by Matthew »

Good photos.
M28 Bryza is from Radom Air Base :)
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Re: Geilenkirchen Open Days - Spotters-day [MIL]

Post by dinovandoorn »

Nice pictures !
did you use HDR effect on some of the pictures ? if yes what program did you use ? I like those very much !

Thx,
Dino
Greetings,
Dino van Doorn

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NickThompson
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Re: Geilenkirchen Open Days - Spotters-day [MIL]

Post by NickThompson »

Thank you for the comments, I have now changed my caption on Flickr to show the Bryza is from Radom.
dinovandoorn wrote:Nice pictures !
did you use HDR effect on some of the pictures ? if yes what program did you use ? I like those very much !
I haven't used any HDR effect directly. My process for the images in poor light (Saeta, Phantoms ...) is as followed;

1. Noise reduction (Topaz De-Noise)
2. Open image in PS CC using Camera Raw, adjust sliders to maximise the histogram, I use a lot of clarity at this stage for dark images to enhance the otherwise dull image, this leads to HDR effects as it boosts the highlights and darkens the shadows especially in the mid-tones of the image.
3. Adjustments in PS fine tune the adjustments made in Camera Raw as I feel there is more control at this stage, this includes Curves layers to correct colour balance and contrast, levels to adjust exposure as well as further saturation adjustments.
4. Flatten image and use shadow and highlight adjustments if needed (used in very small amounts to prevent halos) Potentially this step is what provides the HDR feel to the Saeta image in particular
5. Reduce image size and sharpen

I hope this helps,

Nick
Last edited by NickThompson on 08 Jul 2017, 23:39, edited 1 time in total.
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dinovandoorn
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Re: Geilenkirchen Open Days - Spotters-day [MIL]

Post by dinovandoorn »

Wow thanks for sharing Nick... real appriciated ! always good to learn something new !
I real like your processing !

Thx,
Dino
Greetings,
Dino van Doorn

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r.e.hendriks
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Re: Geilenkirchen Open Days - Spotters-day [MIL]

Post by r.e.hendriks »

Nice shots!!

Here some shots I took during both the arrival and departure day from outside the fence.
A full report on both days can be found at my website: http://www.fly-by.nl/Gallery/2017/2017- ... index.html

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Hope you like them.

Best regards, Rob.
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Re: Geilenkirchen Open Days - Spotters-day [MIL]

Post by AmericanSoldier15U »

Rob, that is me in the CH-47 Chinook hanging out of the front!
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Re: Geilenkirchen Open Days - Spotters-day [MIL]

Post by AmericanSoldier15U »

A few of my shots from this amazing NATO gathering, from a unique perspective

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remcom
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Re: Geilenkirchen Open Days - Spotters-day [MIL]

Post by remcom »

Nice set, brings back good memories! Thanks for sharing.
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Re: Geilenkirchen Open Days - Spotters-day [MIL]

Post by Ajaxfever »

Love the last photo of the hovering apache taken from the chinook .......
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