Pictures of Heng Long Leopard 2a6

[seb4]

Hello all,

Thought to share some pics with you.

For me the best ways to really make the tank stand out are:

Lay on the ground or on the same height as the tank anyway;

Use a telezoom lens. The lens is a Nikon 55-200 4.0-5.6 AFS VR, the camera is a Nikon D90.
I always use RAW but jpeg is fine too in most cases.

A tele compresses the view, making the tank more pronounced;

Get as close to the tank as you can and hold the background, in this case the trees, as far from the tank as you can, in this way the background becomes very blurred , thereby emphasizing the main subject, which is of course the tank in this case;

If your tank is brand new , like mine, desaturate the colors to make it more like a used tank.

Sharpen only the tank in post process, again making it more stand out; The Nik output sharpener is excellent for this and with it you can also unsharpen the background even more. you can legally download the whole Nik collection for free here:
https://archive.org/details/nikcollection-full-1.2.11

In case this does not work see how you can do it legally here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMyQMkIkx0k













In this picture I added a motion effect by using Nik Analog Efex Pro and choose 'motion unsharpness' under the tools menu:


If you have any questions feel free to ask! Regards, Bastiaan

[43rdRecceReg]

Very nice indeed, Seb Getting down low is a great way of blending the Tank into the Landscape. It's also a method of making it look like the real thing, rather than a model. Time of day is also crucial (for Light), but laying down on the earth, in a ploughed field, means having a waterproof groundsheet to hand.. or a very good washing machine at home
I have a friend in Hamburg who loves Nikon cameras, and uses the D500 for wildlife photography (posts on 'Netzwerk Fotogafie'- Nikon Community in Germany). I use Canon Eos models mostly, but these days, I find the iPhone
is good enough for days out.

[seb4]

Very nice indeed, Seb Getting down low is a great way of blending the Tank into the Landscape. It's also a method of making it look like the real thing, rather than a model. Time of day is also crucial (for Light), but laying down on the earth, in a ploughed field, means having a waterproof groundsheet to hand.. or a very good washing machine at home
I have a friend in Hamburg who loves Nikon cameras, and uses the D500 for wildlife photography (posts on 'Netzwerk Fotogafie'- Nikon Community in Germany). I use Canon Eos models mostly, but these days, I find the iPhone
is good enough for days out.

Thanks Recce ( if I may call you so)!

Light is everything in photography, really. Some of these pics have harsh and contrasty summer light. There 's some psychology in this, for me. When I think about thanks I see dirty, grayish, bland looking monsters and not some blink blink.

Make of camera is not important, they all are very good nowadays.

Laying at the field everything is dirt like you say, I protect my car's seat with plastic and I reserve old cloths solely for this purpose...

[43rdRecceReg]

Very nice indeed, Seb Getting down low is a great way of blending the Tank into the Landscape. It's also a method of making it look like the real thing, rather than a model. Time of day is also crucial (for Light), but laying down on the earth, in a ploughed field, means having a waterproof groundsheet to hand.. or a very good washing machine at home
I have a friend in Hamburg who loves Nikon cameras, and uses the D500 for wildlife photography (posts on 'Netzwerk Fotogafie'- Nikon Community in Germany). I use Canon Eos models mostly, but these days, I find the iPhone
is good enough for days out.

Thanks Recce ( if I may call you so)!

Light is everything in photography, really. Some of these pics have harsh and contrasty summer light. There 's some psychology in this, for me. When I think about thanks I see dirty, grayish, bland looking monsters and not some blink blink.

Make of camera is not important, they all are very good nowadays.

Laying at the field everything is dirt like you say, I protect my car's seat with plastic and I reserve old cloths solely for this purpose...

Yes, you may call me 'Recce' (Part of my Dad's regiment in WW2), but I was given the good old Scottish name Roy ('Ruadh' in gaelic) at birth, and you're welcome to use that too. '' You're right about cameras. It's perfectly easy to take a boring, or badly framed photo with a Hasselblad, or a Leica, just as it's possible to take a great pic with a £5 throwaway camera. The trick is to have a camera with you as often as possible, to catch those special moments. That's why I like the iPhone camera. It's not inconvenient to carry it at all times (except in the bath ) in the way a DSLR and bag full of lenses is.
That's a good looking tank, by the way. The quality of HL offerings has grown markedly in recent times, such that Their Leo stands up well when compared to the Tamiya version..

[Lert]

Nice pictures! I especially like the low angle one showing the rear, with the crew looking out ahead of the viewer at unseen enemies beyond.

[seb4]

Yes, you may call me 'Recce' (Part of my Dad's regiment in WW2), but I was given the good old Scottish name Roy ('Ruadh' in gaelic) at birth, and you're welcome to use that too. '' You're right about cameras. It's perfectly easy to take a boring, or badly framed photo with a Hasselblad, or a Leica, just as it's possible to take a great pic with a £5 throwaway camera. The trick is to have a camera with you as often as possible, to catch those special moments. That's why I like the iPhone camera. It's not inconvenient to carry it at all times (except in the bath ) in the way a DSLR and bag full of lenses is.
That's a good looking tank, by the way. The quality of HL offerings has grown markedly in recent times, such that Their Leo stands up well when compared to the Tamiya version..

Thanks Roy. The moulding of the Leopard is excellent ,very nice detailed. I cannot wait to put the whole arsenal of wheatering on it, but first things first. For quick an dirty photography and notably video my Samsung is just great but nothing beats the versatility and sheer quality of a DSLR and good lenses.

[seb4]

Nice pictures! I especially like the low angle one showing the rear, with the crew looking out ahead of the viewer at unseen enemies beyond.

Thank you Lert, much appreciated!

[seb4]

Videos from my Leo channel at Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxrKc2H ... XT164x5rAQ

I really love videoing too, and taken from this perspective with the Samsung phone attached to the tower deck, I am finally the tank commander

[seb4]

Reference photos Leopard 2a6

These are photos I took at 11 tankbataljon, 13mechanised Brigade, Royal Netherlands Army.

[43rdRecceReg]

That's the idea We all thrive on crisp, quality pics, when it comes to adding fine detail to models. Photographic 'Walkarounds' at Notable Tank Museums (Bovington, Saumer, and Munster) also provide visual eye-candy to feed the ravenous appetites of our more discerning, and critical builders (some might say obsessed builders ). At the same time, they provide a virtual 'day out' for members, without them having to make (or pay for) the trip.