Help with headlights in photos

[trainboyH16-44]

I am currently trying to burn in headlights in my model railway pictures, but am a little confused about how I can do it.
I have a DC system, and a pentax K1000. I have taken quite a few good photos, on slide film (Not tungsten, so they have a yellow tint) and would like to add an extra aspect. I am currently pressing in that button that you press to rewind, and winding on the film while still pressing the button, and then doing a 30 sec. exposure in the dark, with people under the trucks of the locomotive, and the power on full. I know that this isn't good for the engines, but is the the proper way to do double, or triple (My roundhouse is wired funny) exposures?
Trainboy

[Anonymous]

Your method should work, what kind of results are you getting? What is the problem? Too light, too dark, too what? Color print film has much more leeway, it might be an idea to try some to get the results you want.

Bob Boudreau

[trainboyH16-44]

My problem is that I'm on picture 10 of a 36 exposure roll, and it usually takes 1-2 months to use up a roll, and if it's any faster, my mom gets mad. I just wanted to ask if this was the right way.
trainboy

[rrinker]

If you want the headlights on, just disconnect one of the motor leads. That way you can have the lights on but the loco not moving.

--Randy

[trainboyH16-44]

If I do that, I'm sure I wonn't be able to put it back on.
Trainboy

[rrinker]

What sort of locos? Some a ridiculously easy, they use clips and so forth to connect the wires, no soldering or anything.
Alternately, you could disconnect the headlighs and run wires to them that exit the loco out of the shot and power the light.

--Randy

[trainboyH16-44]

Anything in my fleet that looks good. Kato, Atlas, and Proto are the ones I've used lately, and I'm not likely to change, But I don't know how to get the shells off, and am afraid of damaging details.
Trainboy

[trainboyH16-44]

Well, I got the pics back a little while back, and they didn't work out so well. Mainly the pictures didn't stay in the same place. Any tips, like holding the thing that you use to rewind it?
Matthew

[rolleiman]

QUOTE: Originally posted by trainboyH16-44

Well, I got the pics back a little while back, and they didn't work out so well. Mainly the pictures didn't stay in the same place. Any tips, like holding the thing that you use to rewind it?
Matthew

First, I get the impression from your thread that you do know How to take a double exposure. I also get the impression that your trains are not currently using DCC (so you can just turn on the lights) which would be the simple way.. For taking multiple exposures on a single frame, make sure that:

1. The film has no slack when you take the First exposure. In other words, Advance your film and then give that rewind knob a gentle nudge to make sure the film is tight. You don't need to hold it during the exposure, once the frame is set, the film will stay on frame.

2. When you reset the shutter (holding the rewind knob) again, make sure the film doesn't have any slack BEFORE you set the shutter.

3. A tripod and a trip cable are MUST Haves for multi-exposures. The more solid the the tripod the better because, as you already know, Any movement of the camera will result in double images. No matter how steady you think your hand is when pressing the shutter button, even the slightest movement during the exposure will show on the film. Some people will use the self timer in place of a trip cable but that still requires touching the camera at exposure time.

4. Set up some sort of reference points in your viewfinder. A hand rail for instance that you can make sure is lined up before you take the second exposure.. The more well defined your reference points are the more likely you are to have success.

5. If your camera has a mirror lock up feature, use it.. In case you don't know what that is, some SLRs will allow you to lock up the mirror before making the exposure. This will prevent the camera from shaking when the exposure is made. The downside of it is, you have to touch the camera in order to lock up the mirror..

6. Practice with some color print film. Compared to slide film it's relatively cheap and can be processed in any one hour place. They will never look as good as slides but you will at least know quickly if your methods are improving..

7. Take detailed notes of what you do for every shot. When you finally get that perfect one, you don't want to rely on your memory for what you did..

To hold your loco in place for the mutlple shots, again, I get the impression you have to turn the wheels in order to turn on the headlight, try a string or something like that tied to the coupler (out of sight) to hold it in place..

Let's see a couple examples of your work.. http://www.photobucket.com doesn't delete your photos because they are too light or too dark and it's free. Just make sure your uploads are less than 250k.

Good luck,
Jeff
[8D]

[trainboyH16-44]

I will put them on photobucket tonight.
I don't have a trip wire anumore, but I am using a tripod. I will try again soon, and maybe I'll get it right! My mum likes to have slide film in that camera, and there are doubters that I will use 24 or 25 exposures on my MRR!
Matthew

[cwclark]

try securing the camera to a tripod and it may help if you change the lighting in the room...instead of complete darkness try reflecting blue lights in front and /or in back of the loco....you can get blue lights at lowe's or the home depot...they're 40 watt bulbs and you can put them in an old lamp stand or hand held shop light...chuck

[trainboyH16-44]

What would the blue bulbs do? And is there a colour of light that will counteract the yellow caused by incandescant bulbs? I don't use enough film to buy tungsten, it'd be in the camera for a year!
Matthew

[trainboyH16-44]

I discovered my scanner doesn't do slides, but here it is to the best I could do it....the colours are a bit better than it looks. Still yellow, though. Sorry about how absolutely crappy it is, though.
Gives you the basic idea, though.
Matthew

[rolleiman]

Either the camera moved or the film did.. Judging from looking at the headlights on all 3 locos, I would say it was the camera.. Probably while setting up for the second exposure or during exposure (trip cable??). I think with some practice though you'll get it..

The yellowi***int you are getting is because you are using daylight film with incandecant light and probably no flash.. Blue photo bulbs or a blue filter (80A ) over the lens will help correct this (or you could try regular blue light bulbs)..

It doesn't work with all flatbed scanners but you could try this.. Make a pyramid like object out of white paper about twice the size of the slide and place it over the slide during the scan.. The problem is, slides are not opaque and your scanner has no way of knowing it's looking at a transparancy.. Film scanners pass light from the other way during the scan and placing the pyramid over the slide will help light the slide so the scanner can read it.. As I said, it doesn't work well with all scanners but does with some..

Keep trying.. You'll get it..

Jeff
[8D]

[trainboyH16-44]

OK, I'll try that. And by the way, the enginehouse is nowhere near the town you can see in the background, that's from the photo that's creeping in on the side! Thanks for the blue bulb advice, this could really change how I take photos!
Matthew