War is a terrible thing (A series of 15 images from last weekend)

War re-enactments can be really fun!

Like last year there was a WWII battle re-enactment at the old Fort Ord base in Monterey, CA. This year they re-enacted Operation Market Garden. I went out armed with my D2h, Sigma 70-200 & Nikon 70-300 ED lens. I'm borrowing the Nikon lens from my cousin for a week or so to test it out and see if I like it. I've used it on a couple of occasions now, and to me it seems soft near the 300mm mark. :cryin:

I also decided to try some new PS techniques & plugins that I've had for a while and I'm trying to branch out and learn how to use them better. These were turned into a sephia/B&W effect using the Opticverve Labs plugin for PS.

The battle itself was a blast with soldiers on both sides breaking windows in the old buildings and making things as realistic as possible. The only semi-scary part was when one of the flares landed in some grass and it caught on fire :blush2: Luckly the Germans & Americans called a quick truce and about 5 guys stomped it out. Of course it didn't do as much damage as last year when a tank took out part of a building on accident. :D

Well, onto the best part- the pictures. Because of the way the battle was going, I couldnt really get any great shots of the Germans from where I was standing at.

A couple of German soldiers kept driving around the area looking for any Allied paratroopers that had been rumored to have landed in the area
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This Officer was out trying to get a message out to one of the units since communication lines had been cut
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Soon after the German Officers left, a company of Allied troops showed up in formation, not knowing of the danger around them
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After getting a quick briefing by thier commanding officer, they sent out some scouts to look for the German Positions
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It wasn't long until they were ambushed by some Germans hiding behind a building, and the fight was on. The Allies knew they were getting close when they saw the German soldier who had been hung who apparently was a Traitor (I believe thats what the sign on him means)
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Soon the battle was in full swing- attacking, retreating, caring for the wounded, and trying to help your buddies
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Ok, so the couch is a little out of place, but hey, its all pretend anyway
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As the battle raged on, more and more men started being killed or wounded
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And finally, the weapons of war stacked up
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Wow, these are great! I love the photos of Germans, but the ones of our boys are pretty good too. Great sepia work as well and nice capture of the action.

I've actually seen some real photos taken by a GI in WWII, and believe me they are not the kind one would wish to post. Way, way too gruesome. So much so that after viewing them one could not help but say "War is a terrible thing" indeed. Glad these were only for pretend.

Awesome work there! What sort of processes did you use in Photoshop?

These are pretty great. I like the couch shot a lot, especially because it doesn't belong there!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Axle

Awesome work there! What sort of processes did you use in Photoshop?

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I used a plugin from Optikverve Labs.

Under their preset styles (when you run the plugin) I used their "Brownie" setting, then I adjusted the highlight & shadows within the plugin to get the style I wanted. Then for fun I did a quick vignette using ACDSee to get the edges a little darker than the center.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by megan

These are pretty great. I like the couch shot a lot, especially because it doesn't belong there!

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I have another shot I'll post when I get home of a bunch of Germans gettin ready for the re-enactment, while three of them are just chillin on the couch!