track side photos

[CNJ831]

QUOTE: Originally posted by CARRfan

CNJ831,

Did you have some pics in trackside photos around 1991 or so? Those CN diesels?

Those were some inspirational shots, and if that's you, I remember them clearly.

If that was you, some of the shots were taken on a diorama outdoors, right?

I'm not even sure why I think that was you, must have been from some other posts or something, as well as the CN in your login name - but posting here under trackside photos with your photography knowledge, it just hit me that those could have been your shots!

Carrfan - No, that's not me, although my published photos were mainly done out-of-doors in sunlight on dioramas. My stuff appears in MR, RMC, Walthers, NMRA national photo contests, et al. mainly between 1994 and 2000. One of my early published shots was the 1st place photo in RMC's Amtrak photo contest and my final effort ranked as the 3rd or 4th place winner in the 2000 MR Annual Photo contest (the kids watching the Metro North commuter train go by). After that six year run I tended to feel burned out in that area of the hobby and haven't done any published work since.

CNJ831

[GDamen]

For a nice tutorial about high quality shooting pictures have a look ate the following website:

http://www.all-model-railroading.co.uk/amr/index.htm

In the menu it's the item Model Photography. On the forum on the same website (http://www.all-model-railroading.co.uk there is even a special section devoted to this topic.

Gino

[Anonymous]

CNJ831,

Did you have some pics in trackside photos around 1991 or so? Those CN diesels?

Those were some inspirational shots, and if that's you, I remember them clearly.

If that was you, some of the shots were taken on a diorama outdoors, right?

I'm not even sure why I think that was you, must have been from some other posts or something, as well as the CN in your login name - but posting here under trackside photos with your photography knowledge, it just hit me that those could have been your shots!

[grandeman]

I'm wondering if submitting photos might be a bit of a stretch for me. Sounds like it would take some considerable knowledge of photography.

[CNJ831]

A few words of advice to wouldbe Trackside Photo takers (I'm sure Bob B. will be along and back me up on these too). As someone whose had a number of pix published in MR and elsewhere in the past, try to do more than just submit a static shot of a train on your layout/diorama. Make the picture tell an interesting story. If figures can be included in the scene and not look like shiny plastic (you can weather people too!), they will usually assist in telling any story (grandpas with kids watching or interacting with trains is always a great subject). Also, try not to shoot down at your subject, (nearly) always have the camera at scale eye level with the subject or even looking upward (as with a train on a bridge or overpass). NEVER, EVER, show an unfinished background or bare layout room wall in your shots. Employ the three separate sources of illumination unless you are working out-of-doors in real sunlight. And above all, set you camera to get the absolute maximum depth-of-field in the image. Nothing says "model" more than a soft foreground and background. There are lotsa tips and tricks to be learned in this area but the preceding few are, I feel, among the best.

CNJ831

[grandeman]

QUOTE: Originally posted by CARRfan

Grande Man,

How about posting the requirements here once you get them. I am not a fan of cutting & pasting emails, however, this seems like sort of public information that wouldn't be inappropriate.

I'm wondering if my 3.3 MP camera is good enough for even trying to submit to trackside photos in the future.

Here's the text Andy referred us to:

What about digital photos?

At this time, we still strongly prefer conventional (film-based) photography. Even when taken using a high-quality consumer digital camera, digital images often lack the clarity (resolution) and the depth of field (sharpness from front to back) needed for magazine reproduction. It is also more difficult to enlarge or reduce digital images. For those reasons, we still encourage transparencies or, if necessary, prints made from negative film.

However, we will consider digital imagery on a case-by-case basis. If you have the professional-quality equipment and skill necessary to take magazine-quality digital images, please submit some digital test images (on CD or Zip disk only – not via e-mail) at the time you submit your letter of inquiry. We will examine those images and let you know whether we can work with them. PLEASE DO NOT take digital images for the entire project before submitting your test images – at that point, if the images are not usable, you’ll need to redo the entire project to retake the images with a conventional camera. Also, please recognize that digital images are almost never suitable for large photos in project stories, for scenery how-to stories, or for layout pictorials.

Taking a digital picture and getting it to us (please see digital photo glossary below for help with terms):

Subjects should be photographed using the highest-quality JPEG setting on your camera (fine), or TIFF saved with LZW compression. A 3.3 megapixel camera or better is strongly recommended for project story photographs; any submissions for layout stories or Trackside Photos require a 5 megapixel camera or better. Large photos generally require 10 megapixels or better. Only JPEG or TIFF formats are acceptable.
Images should not be corrected for color, sharpness, size, cropping, or color mode. Image files should be raw and unmanipulated – just download them from your camera and send them to us. You may provide a hard copy (from a copy of the image file) of how you would like the image to look.
Preferred methods of submission of image files are FTP, CD, Jaz or Zip disc. Images for print should not be submitted by e-mail due to large file size and opportunity for corruption.

[Sperandeo]

Our guidelines for digital photography are already available on this Web site. Go to the Model Railroader home page, click on "contact us" from the lefthand menu, and then click on "submission guidelines." You'll have to scroll down a bit to see the part about digital photos, but you'll also find suggestions for film photography along the way.

Good luck,

Andy

[scotttmason]

Generally, most publications have similar requirements.
Prints (glossy, no texture) or slides (35 mm or 2-1/4)
Digital - 300 dpi, highest resolution your camera produces, jpg set for best QUALITY (it gets tricky here, often HIGH referes to COMPRESSION not quality, want LOW compression or 10+ quality) for fewest artifacts. They will color correct / color ballance images they want to use.

Nice thing about digital is it saves them scanning the image, but no nothing to do if resolution isn't there.

[Anonymous]

Grande Man,

How about posting the requirements here once you get them. I am not a fan of cutting & pasting emails, however, this seems like sort of public information that wouldn't be inappropriate.

I'm wondering if my 3.3 MP camera is good enough for even trying to submit to trackside photos in the future.

[grandeman]

I'm interested in Trackside Photos as well. I emailed Cody to see if digital pics are ok, what resolution they have to be and if they can be emailed to MR. I could shoot some 5 mp pics with my buddies camera. Maybe that would be good enough.

[cheese3]

Thanks for the info. guys! I sent an e-mail to Cody Grivno so hopefuly I will get the details I need.

[Sperandeo]

Hi "cheese,"

You're welcome to submit photos to our Trackside Photos pages, and in fact we're very happy to receive material for this feature. Send your photos with captions to

Trackside Photos
Model Railroader Magazine
21027 Crossroads Circle
PO Box 1612
Waukesha, WI 53187

If you have any specific questions about our requirements, you can write to our Trackside Photos editor, Cody Grivno, at [e-mail].

Good luck,

Andy

[exPalaceDog]

In almost all magazines, inxcluding MR, you will find a masthead. This is a column that identifies the members of the staff, and provides contact addresses for the subscription department and so on. Among the items provided by MR is an e-mail address for their editional offices.

Have fun

[Anonymous]

I believe somewhere on the Model Railroader site there is a section on submitting items to MR. Since their annual photo contest now accepts digital images, I imagine they will for other uses. Many of the Tarckside Photos come from photo contest submissions that did not place.

Bob Boudreau

[cheese3]

How would i go about sending in a picture for the trackside photos section of MRR. What info is required? Can i send in prints or does it have do be digital? Any haelp is appreciated.