Got a new camera,had to try it out
I like the pictures Uncle Butch.
It's hard to find a digital camera that takes really good pictures. My new iPhone, supposedly a more sophisticated phone takes way worse pictures than my old phone.
I do appreciate the images you provided here. Very nice work.
Thanks for sharing.
TF
Well, Uncle Butch, I certainly like the looks of the subject, but you may want to check the camera's manual. There should be a "Macro" setting that will give you better-focused close-up shots.
Most of my photos are done using a simple Kodak point-and-shoot camera, bought second hand when my Kodak C330 was seriously damaged in a fall from a tripod.
I believe the current camera, a Z700, to be about 15 years old.
As you can see here, the foreground, quite close to the camera, is out-of-focus, while the background looks a little clearer. Had I changed the setting to Macro (close-up) and aimed the camera to focus on the truck, it would have been clear, and the stuff in the background blurrier and blurrier as the distance from the camera increased.
Pretty-much everything is in-focus, or at least enough-in-focus to be acceptable to show everything in the photo below...
In the photo below, the loco is intended to be the subject, so the blurry track in the foreground and the somewhat blurry tender and even blurrier background are of little consequence...
This photo of an older-style coupler was taken through one lense of my Optivisor, with the camera's lense touching the lense of the Optivisor...
I'm not sure, but I think that this photo of a grabiron was also done using the Optivisor...
For really close close-ups, I place a loupe directly on the camera's lense. This offers an extremely limited field of vision, but captures small detail rather well, as shown by the silk-screen material used to create a window screen on this caboose....
...of course, it also shows the poor fit of the screen within the window's frame.
I'm not claiming that any of those are great photos, they're simply photos to show something... a scene, or an item within a scene, or a detail.
I'm pretty sure that once you get used to that camera, the photos will better-show some great modelling that those early photos only hint at.
Wayne
What type of camera is it?
I agree with Wayne that the scenes are blurry and out of focus. Read through your manual about focus, auto-focus, macro settings, close-ups, etc. Different types of photos require different types of settings. A little practice and experimentation will result in clear and crisp photos. Good luck!
Rich
Alton Junction
richhotrainagree with Wayne that the scenes are blurry and out of focus. Read through your manual about focus, auto-focus, macro settings, close-ups, etc. Different types of photos require different types of settings. A little practice and experimentation will result in clear and crisp photos. Good luck! Rich
I know,,, there are 72 pages of instructions on all the ''ifs and whens''. I messed with it for two days. The posted shots are worst then what I have on file. I got too anxious.
Pretend someone else posted these,
Reminds me of freshmen year in college, where there were only 7 women in the entire class. The college would show movies on the weekends. The camerman never checked beforehand to see if it was in focus, so it never was at the start.
Several hundred drunk and stoned college students all shouting "Focus" in unison, except we had our own special pronunciation of the word.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
UNCLEBUTCH I know,,, there are 72 pages of instructions on all the ''ifs and whens''. I messed with it for two days.
Hi, I'm glad you are getting into layout photography. It opens the door to a whole other aspect of the hobby.
While the camera manual can give you some instruction as to what button does what I believe there are some Model RR "how-to" articles that you might find helpful:
https://mrr.trains.com/how-to/model-train-layouts/2016/01/how-to-photograph-a-model-train-layout
There are a few others I'll add when I locate them.
[edit]
This is the one I was looking for, Bob Boudreau who sometimes visits the MR Forum
https://sites.google.com/site/railphotog/
Once you get the camera sorted out you might want to consider a photo editing software program. Even a simple one which will allow you to crop a scene and adjust the brightness or color balance can be very helpful.
The nice thing is that you don't have to learn everything all in one bite. Try a few basic shots and learn new methods and tricks as you build your skill level.
Certainly the nice thing about the digital format is that you can shoot fifty images of the same scene and throw away forty nine of them
Cheers, Ed
gmpullmanHi, I'm glad you are getting into layout photography. It opens the door to a whole other aspect of the hobby.
.
Yes, me too, and since I don't have a layout right now, model railroad photography has become my main point of participation in the hobby.
Uncle Butch: Very glad to see you taking pictures. I hope to see you in Weekend Photo Fun and Show Me Something. You pictures will get better as you take more and more of them. Experimentation with what does, and does not, work is a lot of the fun.
Steve Otte, who edits the Trackside Photos in Model Railroader has a very helpful sheet for taking model photographs.
I take my pictures with a Canon T6 camera with the aperture set at F25 (the smallest my standard lens will go), under 5,600 degree lighting with usually a 1.25 second exposure. I have the digital ASO set at 100 and the white balance on AUTO. You want the aperture (F Stop) set as small a possible (larger F number) to gain more depth of field so more of the subject matter will be in focus.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
gmpullmanThis is the one I was looking for, Bob Boudreau who sometimes visits the MR Forum https://sites.google.com/site/railphotog/
Ed, glad you posted this in particular. In Mr. Boudreau's "Advanced" section he has a part on Depth of Focus that I sorely needed to review.
My issue was that my 2010 Canon G12 very good quality point & shoot in past demonstrated rather limited depth of field (focus range) when I desired more in many shots. Looking up the specs, I see that it is limited to f/8 smallest aperature, so often it would not do what I wanted even when I used Aperture mode (at setting f/8).
I now also have a 2018 Canon M50 that I bought for trips so I could have interchangeable lenses. Looking up the 15-45mm (24-72mm in 35mm camera terms) smaller zoom, I see it has smallest f-stop (for max depth of field) of f/22 to f/40, depending on the zoom setting. Most listings show the smallest (f/40) aperature at the max zoom setting, contrary to Mr. Boudreau's comment below. I presume that his comment may be accurate but the listings backwards, perhaps. If I had the camera with me, I could experiment to see what it allows, assuming it is smart enough to limit f-stop basis the zoom setting. Either way, I should henceforth be ok.
"You will always get the most depth of focus with the camera lens set at the widest setting. As you zoom out, depth of focus decreases. So for the best depth of focus, shoot at the wide angle setting on your lens."
So in any event, this should give me the flexibility I want, having f/22 or smaller aperature available. I have not tried it out to any extent with my trains but plan to do so.
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
peahrens"You will always get the most depth of focus with the camera lens set at the widest setting. As you zoom out, depth of focus decreases. So for the best depth of focus, shoot at the wide angle setting on your lens."
While this is true for the depth-of-field, it may result in distorted lines, i.e upright lines may seem to slope at an angle.
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
I always set my digital Powershot to its highest focal ratio, which was f8, and used it on 'manual' setting, thanks to advice from Jarrell. You need more light, and/or longer exposures, but if you place the camera down into the scene, you'll get steady images with longer shutter opening times. I used the timer, 10 second delay, and that allowed me to set the camera into it's cradle, adjust for aim, and then wait.
Later, to the OP, if you are interested, I can teach you how to do a digital stacking technique that renders the entire scene sharply in focus by combining images to make one image.
This is a scan of a photo taken with a 35mm film camera, equipped with a home-made pinhole lense, from an article in the April, 1978 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman....
Note the vignetting effect at the corners of the image.I didn't have a layout at that time, so was limited by the length of the unfinished photo diorama shown. According to the article, with an aperture of .4mm and a focal length of 30mm, my lense rating was equivalent to f/75.
In some ways, I miss film cameras, as I found them very instinctive to use. However film and processing was rather expensive, and you never knew until you had them developed if your photo was any good.As has been mentioned,with a digital camera you can take as many pictures as you wish, then save only the ones you deem acceptable. However, digital cameras, even so-called point-and-shoot ones, also have a lot more options/features than a mid-range 35mm film camera - great if you understand the technology, but much of it is a language foreign to me.I also have a better-quality digital camera which takes very nice photos, but only if I remember all the proper settings, and since some of the buttons have multiple functions, controlled by other buttons, I often find it difficult to use. The user manual (not including the mandatory-in-Canada French version), is about 130 pages long.
I use a Samsung Galaxy 9+. The camera app has a "Pro" setting. This allows me to set the aperture setting "f-stop". For the novices, the higher the f-stop number, the smaller the aperture hole will be. It also gives the best depth of field results; more of the picture will be in focus. The trade-off is that with higher f-stop settings, the longer the exposure time will be, sometimes resulting in shutter speeds so long, that pictures will be blurry if handheld.
If you're using a cell phone as a camera, you may want to invest in a cell phone tripod. I have 2; one for taking pictures with the tripod on the floor and the other for setting on the layout. Back in the film days, we used to used small bean bags to set the camera on, allowing you to set the angle of the lens. A block of wood or any small weight that you can lean your phone against will work, too.
Note: if you order one off eBay or Amazon, check where it will be shipped from, most notably China. I had to order from three sellers before I could find one that could actually ship to the US.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
Ed (gmpullman) please remind us which camera you use. Your photos imo are the sharpest, the most dynamic and the most vivid of all i have seen on the MR groups, even in closeup. You are proof that a digital camera takes great photos. There are a lot of great photos by many on these groups but yours are exceptional. -Rob