Night time photos in real life are always better if taken just after the sun sets, while there is still a bit of light/color in the sky. This makes the subjects in the photos - structures, trains, etc. stick out against a somewhat lighter sky. If taken at full darkness, everything looks like a black hole with just the lighted areas blooming out. To do this in model photos, it is always a good idea to have a little bit of ambient lighting on in the room. This has already been suggested, using a flashlight, which is one way. I've used low wattage bulbs in lights pointed towards the white ceiling to give some ambient/background lighting. Then the exposures do not have to be too long to capture the model lighting, and the areas lighted will not look burned out due to too much exposure.
Here are two shots that I already have in my Photobucket album:
This one is a bit extreme, actually to show a sunrise with the lights still on. I had a piece of orange cardboard set up behind the HO scale module, with a small light shining on it from below:
This scene was lighted with several small LED flashlights, with no ambient lighting, to try and capture the effect of night time photo sessions on the prototype:
(click on images to enlarge)
Bob Boudreau
CANADA
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Route of the Alpha Jets www.wmrywesternlines.net
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Some really interesting photography here folks. Very enjoyable to see the night scenes. Here is one I did a little over a year ago for a contest across the street:
Claire de Lune
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
Railphotog wrote: This scene was lighted with several small LED flashlights, with no ambient lighting, to try and capture the effect of night time photo sessions on the prototype:(click on images to enlarge)
WOW WOW WOW!! Oh my god I hate to sound real stupid but I am still not sure if that is real or not? If it is a model well **** good job there! I really like that alot.
Amazing work, I hope I can do something close to that.
Ken
I agre with jk. Jeffery has good pictures as far as quality. the paint jobs are a little on the brush stoke side but that was not the point of this formum page. Jeff keep up the good work with the pics. Still love that ol steamer. Good thread too I am lovin all the night pics and so is my wife.
Jk love the pepsi machine, did you do it like the moon?
alco's forever!!!!! Majoring in HO scale Minorig in O scale:)
Having just finished up a Downtown Deco coin laundry and installing it on the layout(first shots are in WPF) I wanted to test the lights so I just happened to have just made a night shot of it.
Jerry SP FOREVER http://photobucket.com/albums/f317/GAPPLEG/
Number 6 and 7 are great shots Jeffery !
Congrats !
TerryinTexas
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Four detailed Dash-9's at dusk. G scale.
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jeffrey-wimberly wrote:That looks good JaRRell.
Thank you sir!
JaRRell
Austin Redbox wrote: Railphotog wrote: This scene was lighted with several small LED flashlights, with no ambient lighting, to try and capture the effect of night time photo sessions on the prototype:(click on images to enlarge)WOW WOW WOW!! Oh my god I hate to sound real stupid but I am still not sure if that is real or not? If it is a model well **** good job there! I really like that alot.
See for yourself:
Some very good pics here, I have always liked the night time pics. Here are a few I took last night, I replaced the regular light bulbs in the train room with some ''Blue Party Bulbs'' I got yesterday at Wally World. It was mentioned before that night pics should have a blue light to look right so I thought I would try it. Some how the blue lights make some of the building tops llook green. What do you think?
This is a beer party at the trestle, The little folks like to party there on weekends.
Looking across town.
Thats all for now, Thanks for looking. Mike
Not exactly a night shot but a dusk one, hope that count.
Jack W.
Mike:
Lotsa nice shots there! Does your camera have a white balance control, it might be called something else, where you can adjust it for daylight, incandescent, fluorescent, etc. lighting? If so, using the incandescent setting would make your photos with less of an orange/red cast.
Are there flurorescent lights in your layout room? That's what usually causes the green cast to photo.
Keep it up!
Good looking shots, Mike, but there's a lot of folks in your towns that drive with the lights off at night!
Jeff, I really like the way the loco headlights hit the track on shot #6.
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
jktrains wrote: One more. What should I pick?
One more. What should I pick?
If I didn't know any better, I'd say that guy is urinating on the pop machine. Where's a cop when you need one?
Mark B, I like that shot of your caoling tower. Looks like it was taken on a moonless night.
Here's one I took this morning of a SW-1000 I've been working on. It's not great but it's good.