CLINIC ON MODEL RAILROAD PHOTOGRAPHY

[richhotrain]

This thread was started nearly 19 years ago and ended 17 years ago.

Wouldn't it make more sense to start a new thread?

Rich

[DR JIM FITE]

A vivitar 2x macro teleconverter available on ebay in Nikon, Canon, and a 3rd mount  works very well.  The 2x moves you twice as far from your subject and depth of field increases the farther away that you are.  This inredibly neat 2x macro will go 1:1 with any lens.

[DR JIM FITE]

A preset (ie T-mount) 35mm lens with a spider aperture behind the rear element inserted works well.  The rear element screws out since these are manual lenses.

[Railphotog]

Thanks for these great tips! I've bookmarked all of them for future reference.

As noted previously, this thread was started in 2002 on the previous MR Forum.  Since then I've placed my clinic with more info on its own website.  Check it out in my sginature.

 

[Bob grech]

Thanks for these great tips! I've bookmarked all of them for future reference.

[Texas Zepher]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TBat55
Great list! You didn't miss anything. I never thought about using the shutter timer to avoid movement.

Yeah, that is the one thing I have found I don't like about my Canon Rebel it doesn't have a socket for a remote shutter release cable. I think the next camera I buy I'll require it to have an infrared wireless shutter release.

I suppose I should update this bit of missinformation.  The Canon Rebel (and its desendants) DOES have a wireless shutter release.  I had just never purchased the unit to take advantage of it.  I have purchased one since I made this post and it is really great.  I highly recommend getting this unit.  It was $25 from Adorama in NY. The only down side I have found is that it must be used from in front of the camera.

[tutaenui]

Interesting thread. I am surprised with all the talk on depth of field that no mention has been made about software that enhances the depth of field in digital photographs. I know of two such programs Helicon focus ($120) and CombineZ5 (free). Both are down loadable from the Web (Just Google for them). Both programs are equal in performance. These programs work by creating one completely focused image from several partially focused images by combining the focused area of each photograph. Using CombineZ5 I produced a picture, using 14 individual photos each focused at a different point, which was in perfect focus from 1 inch to 18 feet from the camera lens. Of course there is no such thing as a free lunch and these programs tend to accentuate the natural artifacts that is inherent to digital photography, however these can be minimised by choosing a slightly different viewpoint or removed with a photo editor.

[AggroJones]

Up again.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Marty Cozad

David
Railfanning is really what ts all about.
How many of us lay our faces down and try to feel the wind and hear the steel wheels on the rail as our trains roll by?
(model trains that is)
Or creat a scene that captures the memory of days gone by?
We tell our story with our creations.
I love this hobby!!!!

Not to take away anything from others here, but your GR really shows that. Thanks for sharing a rather inspiring round of pictures [tup]

[Marty Cozad]

David
Railfanning is really what ts all about.
How many of us lay our faces down and try to feel the wind and hear the steel wheels on the rail as our trains roll by?
(model trains that is)
Or creat a scene that captures the memory of days gone by?
We tell our story with our creations.
I love this hobby!!!!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Marty Cozad

Practice, practice,practice.
I still don't know much about my cameras,but shot and shot and reshot again.
my old camera has about 8,000 shots and the new one has almost 7,000
Once you capture and get what your after, you want to keep reaching greater goals.
be sure to have fun at it.

Ah, you are actually railfanning [:p][:D]

[Marty Cozad]

Practice, practice,practice.
I still don't know much about my cameras,but shot and shot and reshot again.
my old camera has about 8,000 shots and the new one has almost 7,000
Once you capture and get what your after, you want to keep reaching greater goals.
be sure to have fun at it.

[Anonymous]

Bob

Most of my pictures are posted at the sites in my signature. I like the yard stick idea and will try that. I use a regular tripod and also the little tripod listed above and just plain set it on the layout depending. I use the timer so that I can get the focus and then click and walk away so as not to create any movement. Your how-to on your site was a great wealth of information and I think I am getting it.

I use iPhoto for farting around, but have Photoshop CS ver 1 which I remember loading the EXIF plugin, I will need to read up on using that or how it interacts, I did notice I can do .raw, but if the image isn't in it's original import I am not sure I am winning anything by converting to .raw, which does show a lot of info. I don't have a card reader so I import via iPhoto or the Canon software. I have yet to find a twain utility for Photoshop to impoert directly into the computer via Photoshop.

Thanks and I will dig deeper. If you get a chance to look at some of the images, feel free to comment or email me direct, I think you have my email address when I had exchanged with you before.

Thanks again.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dthurman

I wanted to bring the photography section back up, as I am really getting some enjoyment out of taking shots of the layout and weather work I am ATTEMPTING [;)]

A couple of questions on getting depth of field, I seem to be struggling on this, I am leaving macro off, I have my F-stop at 8.0 that's as low as it will go, or am I backwords on that?

I set the shutter speed at 1.6 or up to 2 depending on the amount of light the camera is getting. But I still seem to get blur. It's a basic Canon Powershot 95A which has some decent control on manual settings, but not in the SLR line. Any recommendations on a better DOF? Or am I trying to achieve something that isn't possible? Would using more light and lowering the shutter time help? I let it auto focus as the little focus window is pretty tough to judge the perfect focus.

Also on close ups, say for showing weather or other details, should a person always use macro, or would a natural, ie not digital zoom be better.

Also what are tips to keep better track of how I am shooting, such as note taking? Is that something you guys that get the "mag quality shots" do?

The macro off and f/8 is the best you can do with most point and shoot cameras, so you are doing the settings right.

Could you post a photo as an example of the blur you are experiencing? You do not mention if you are using a tripod or not. If not, the shutter speeds that you are using will cause the blur due to camera movement during the exposure.

More light and lowering the shutter speed would only make a dark photo brighter. I had fairly decent results with my first digital cameras, which were basic point and shoot models, not as fancy as the one you are using. I could not set anything other than macro on or off. It could be that you are not within the focus range of the camera.

To find out where my camera would focus, I placed a yardstick next to the lens, pointing away from the camera. I took a photo and took note at what inch mark was in focus. I did this for the macro and non macro settings, and with my add-on closeup lenses. I kept a record of the focus points and used measurements to ensure my photos would be in the best focus.

As I noted in the clinic, the macro setting is best used for extreme closeups of weathereing, details, etc. The camera should indicate when it is in focus.

Depending upon which software program you are using to view your digital photos, you may be able to acces the "EXIF" data that is built into the image file. This tells you the lens opening, shutter speed, and a whole lot of other information that you may or may not need. Each program accesses this data different , so I cannot tell you how. Really with digital cameras, you can see the results almost immediately, so just shoot until you get what you want.

Good luck!

Bob Boudreau

[Anonymous]

I wanted to bring the photography section back up, as I am really getting some enjoyment out of taking shots of the layout and weather work I am ATTEMPTING [;)]

A couple of questions on getting depth of field, I seem to be struggling on this, I am leaving macro off, I have my F-stop at 8.0 that's as low as it will go, or am I backwords on that? I set the shutter speed at 1.6 or up to 2 depending on the amount of light the camera is getting. But I still seem to get blur. It's a basic Canon Powershot 95A which has some decent control on manual settings, but not in the SLR line. Any recommendations on a better DOF? Or am I trying to achieve something that isn't possible? Would using more light and lowering the shutter time help? I let it auto focus as the little focus window is pretty tough to judge the perfect focus.

Also on close ups, say for showing weather or other details, should a person always use macro, or would a natural, ie not digital zoom be better.

Also what are tips to keep better track of how I am shooting, such as note taking? Is that something you guys that get the "mag quality shots" do?

Thanks

[chateauricher]

back to the top...

note to Bergie ... please sticky this !

[Anonymous]

Wow! I just now came across this thread. Very good advice here. I have been a fairly active photography hobbyist and had my own darkroom where I did B&W and color processing, but since going digital, I have dismantled the darkroom. I wi***here would be a digital SLR that would take Pentax screw mount lenses, but I think that thought will forever be in fantasyland.

Just one piece of advice to add, when you go out in the field, take some new unused regular alkaline batteries. Even though you may start out with fully charged batteries in the camera. it never fails that at the crital moment (this has happened to me more than once) you a get low battery indaction and the camera shuts down.

[dave9999]

Bob,
There is a lot of info to take in. Sounds like you have been into photography for
quite some time and really know your stuff. I will definitly be watching and saving
this topic often. Thanks for taking the time to educate us "photo rookies". Dave

Texas Zepher,
Your post was great as well. I have a lot to learn and I enjoy taking photos of my
progress. It would be nice to have these photos look good. Thanks, Dave

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TBat55

Fundy,
Great list! You didn't miss anything. I never thought about using the shutter timer to avoid movement.

Here's an inexpensive tripod (posed on a mouse pad)



www.allelectronics.com
TPM-1 MINI-TRIPOD $ 5.50

Also I found that a scrap piece of pegboard in front of a light diffuses it very well (avoids "spotlight glare").

Great tutorial, I just got a new digital camera from Best Buy, a Canon PowerShot A95, seems to have all the features you guys are discussing, I can set the apeture, but only up to F8.0, exposure setting, etc. Now to get it steady for close ups, I just ordered the mini-tripod, what a cool idea, I hope it works [;)] thanks for the tip and link. Hope to be posting some cool picks soon, of my world and the real one...

[chateauricher]

back to the top...

[chateauricher]

bump (should sticky this, no?)

[Texas Zepher]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TBat55
Great list! You didn't miss anything. I never thought about using the shutter timer to avoid movement.

Yeah, that is the one thing I have found I don't like about my Canon Rebel it doesn't have a socket for a remote shutter release cable. I think the next camera I buy I'll require it to have an infrared wireless shutter release.

[TBat55]

Fundy,
Great list! You didn't miss anything. I never thought about using the shutter timer to avoid movement.

Here's an inexpensive tripod (posed on a mouse pad)



www.allelectronics.com
TPM-1 MINI-TRIPOD $ 5.50

Also I found that a scrap piece of pegboard in front of a light diffuses it very well (avoids "spotlight glare").

[jfugate]

solosdad:

You hit the nail right on the head with your last comment ... it's now possible with digital photography to just keep trying things until it looks good. The distance between test shots and checking the results can literally be seconds.

If you take the shoot-check it-retry approach with film it will take you many dollars in film and processing costs and days on end ...

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by grande man

QUOTE: Originally posted by Texas Zepher

QUOTE: Originally posted by grande man
I just stumbled across something VERY important for the point and shoot camera crowd. In cropping the previously posted pic, it dawned on me to try something to improve the field of veiw. Here's a 4mp shot that the carmera was back some distance from. Then the "meat" of the pic was cropped out. Much better FOV!!! WOW! I'm stoked! You can even make out the green signal for the northbound in the distance.

Yes, and now the two edged sword of good pictures, the flaws in the models start becoming more apparent. Did you notice your cement station platform isn't totally on the ground? [:)] Must have been some heavy rain that is undercutting the foundation!

Yeah, I know what you're talking about. It's also harder to get a good camera angle from further back. Still, it's a useful technique in some cases to give better depth of field.

Don't forget you can also place the camera on the tracks (or on a book etc) if need be to gain distance - . (Would be good to have track power off) -
If you can see the viewfinder and line up the shot - good
If not just aim the camera by eye towards your subject

The beauty of digital is that you can take test shots without penalty.

[grandeman]

Tom, those are the best yet! The color and brightness is much improved.

[jfugate]

Tom:

You're off to a great start! Marvelous looking photos for a first try.

Just to see what your camera can do, try taking some ground level shots down the length of a train, stop down the lense as far as it will go, and set the shutter speed longer to compensate for the small aperature. Ideally, if your camera has a timer, use it so you don't jiggle the camera. If not, set the camera down on something (you can use some small books to elevate the camera slightly) and hold it very, very still.

Taking a photo close to the track level down the length of a train or track will give you a good idea of the depth-of-field capabilties of your camera.

[twhite]

Okay, I think I'm sorta kinda starting to get the hang of it. I've got a Sony 7.2 pixel and did these shots in the garage this morning using F-2.8 and 2.5 shutter speed (no flash, for once!). I think, with a lot more fooling around, it's going to work.
Tom[:P]

Long shot of a coal train pulling through Wagon Wheel Gap


close-up of the train rounding the curve near Wagon Wheel Gap freight house


Yellowstone #3910 on Bullard's Bar Bridge. Photo taken from other end of layout with a zoom lens.

I have a mixture of flourescent and incandescant light in the garage, a kind of hodge-podge, which means I can't use the same settings everywhere, but I'm going to test settings everywhere and see what I come up with.
Thanks for the Clinic, Bob--I'm beginning to see the light, LOL!
Tom

[grandeman]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Texas Zepher

QUOTE: Originally posted by grande man
I just stumbled across something VERY important for the point and shoot camera crowd. In cropping the previously posted pic, it dawned on me to try something to improve the field of veiw. Here's a 4mp shot that the carmera was back some distance from. Then the "meat" of the pic was cropped out. Much better FOV!!! WOW! I'm stoked! You can even make out the green signal for the northbound in the distance.

Yes, and now the two edged sword of good pictures, the flaws in the models start becoming more apparent. Did you notice your cement station platform isn't totally on the ground? [:)] Must have been some heavy rain that is undercutting the foundation!

Yeah, I know what you're talking about. It's also harder to get a good camera angle from further back. Still, it's a useful technique in some cases to give better depth of field.