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Offline tjones  
#1 Posted : 20 August 2015 18:14:18(UTC)
tjones


Joined: 06/08/2015(UTC)
Posts: 26
I tried my hand at some close-ups of my locomotives and learnt a thing or two:

  • Clean your locomotives! Every little speck of dust looks like a rock...
    When you inspect them close up, you see little scratches and imperfections on them you didn't notice before...


DSC_6164.JPGDSC_6182.JPGDSC_6174.JPGDSC_6186.JPGDSC_6178.JPGDSC_6195.JPGDSC_6179.JPG

Cheers,
V
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Offline RayF  
#2 Posted : 20 August 2015 18:21:05(UTC)
RayF

Gibraltar   
Joined: 14/03/2005(UTC)
Posts: 15,837
Location: Gibraltar, Europe
Nice photos for a first attempt! ThumpUp

Can I advise you to adjust your lighting? The photos look a bit flat. Add a point source to create highlights and some shadows. The locos will then "sparkle" better.
Ray
Mostly Marklin.Selection of different eras and European railways
Small C track layout, control by MS2, 100+ trains but run 4-5 at a time.
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Offline Webmaster  
#3 Posted : 20 August 2015 19:12:22(UTC)
Webmaster


Joined: 25/07/2001(UTC)
Posts: 11,161
Here's some proof of the dust speck theory... No matter how good the camera is, dust will show... BigGrin

dusty2.jpg
Juhan - "Webmaster", at your service...
He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes. He who does not ask a question remains a fool forever. [Old Chinese Proverb]
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Offline analogmike  
#4 Posted : 20 August 2015 20:22:35(UTC)
analogmike

United States   
Joined: 02/08/2014(UTC)
Posts: 735
Location: NEW JERSEY, USA
hello tjones., what type of camera is it? did you use a flash on a macro setting? i am in the market for a new camera, the one i got now is a piece of junk. only good for the beach, in case i drop it. SLR is out of my budget,i would rather spend the money on loks. mikey
I love the smell of smoke fluid in the morning .
Offline tjones  
#5 Posted : 21 August 2015 18:08:21(UTC)
tjones


Joined: 06/08/2015(UTC)
Posts: 26
Originally Posted by: RayF Go to Quoted Post
Nice photos for a first attempt! ThumpUp

Can I advise you to adjust your lighting? The photos look a bit flat. Add a point source to create highlights and some shadows. The locos will then "sparkle" better.


Thanks. I only used natural light and a long shutter speed with the camera on a tripod. I also felt something is missing... I'll try something like that the next time - after I clean the dust!

I also need a nicer background, as this was just a couple of sheets white paper leaning against a box.
Offline tjones  
#6 Posted : 21 August 2015 18:13:25(UTC)
tjones


Joined: 06/08/2015(UTC)
Posts: 26
Originally Posted by: analogmike Go to Quoted Post
hello tjones., what type of camera is it? did you use a flash on a macro setting? i am in the market for a new camera, the one i got now is a piece of junk. only good for the beach, in case i drop it. SLR is out of my budget,i would rather spend the money on loks. mikey


Hi Mikey,

SLRs are still the best camera's out there and you don't ONLY have to use them for your trains Razz They can be a perfect excuse to leave your trains behind and go outside - on the way to the model train shop, perhaps?

Having said that, they do cost money and I would never buy one just for this, and the newest generation of smartphones come with really good camera's too! But it depends on the shutter speed you need. With window light you will need some sort of tripod, as you will never be able to keep your smartphone still enough. Or you need a light source, but that will then also cost extra money. It is always a trade off, I am afraid.

What I used was a tripod and all natural daylight from the window. I did use a small converter wiht a standard 50mm lens. That allows for some closer focusing, but with the Krokodil I didn't need it, because that thing is big enough!
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Offline Ken Mitchell  
#7 Posted : 23 August 2015 00:42:29(UTC)
Ken Mitchell

Australia   
Joined: 06/07/2014(UTC)
Posts: 67
Location: Berry, NSW
Originally Posted by: tjones Go to Quoted Post
I tried my hand at some close-ups of my locomotives and learnt a thing or two:


Hi V, nice job, they look great. Particularly like your Br18 Rhinegold, lovely locomotive.

Ken in Oz

Edited by moderator 10 January 2016 20:49:44(UTC)  | Reason: No need to repost the entire post complete with photos!

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Offline NZMarklinist  
#8 Posted : 30 August 2015 16:03:41(UTC)
NZMarklinist

New Zealand   
Joined: 15/03/2011(UTC)
Posts: 1,757
Location: Auckland NZ
One more tip, if you are really doing a study or art form photo of a Damphlok, that includes the frontal angle and Piston Block area, put the Rod protectors in if you have them Wink
Glen
Auckland NZ

" Every Marklin layout needs a V200, a Railbus and a Banana car", not to mention a few Black and red Steamers, oh and the odd Elok !

CS1 Reloaded, Touch Cab, C Track Modules, K track layout all under construction. Currently Insider
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Offline jvuye  
#9 Posted : 30 August 2015 18:21:34(UTC)
jvuye

Belgium   
Joined: 01/03/2008(UTC)
Posts: 2,881
Location: South Western France
Hi!
Excellent first attempt!
Right your observations that the smallest piece of dust or scratch will show!!
The "flat" aspect comes IMHO from a slight underexposure, and probably a small mismatch in color temperature (called White balance in digital photography)
But Photoshop is your friend: see below what can be done (without exaggeration!) by adjusting luminosity + contrast+ color temp and adding a pinch of saturation .
FYI I spend a good part of my life preparing pictures of technical object before publication in a magazine ...why not sharing a few simple tricks?Wink

wurttlady.jpg
Jacques Vuye aka Dr.Eisenbahn
Once a vandal, learned to be better and had great success!
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Offline tjones  
#10 Posted : 31 August 2015 18:47:37(UTC)
tjones


Joined: 06/08/2015(UTC)
Posts: 26
Originally Posted by: jvuye Go to Quoted Post
Hi!
Excellent first attempt!
Right your observations that the smallest piece of dust or scratch will show!!
The "flat" aspect comes IMHO from a slight underexposure, and probably a small mismatch in color temperature (called White balance in digital photography)
But Photoshop is your friend: see below what can be done (without exaggeration!) by adjusting luminosity + contrast+ color temp and adding a pinch of saturation .
FYI I spend a good part of my life preparing pictures of technical object before publication in a magazine ...why not sharing a few simple tricks?Wink

wurttlady.jpg


Thanks. I tried it a bit in Photoshop and with about 0.5 stop extra exposure, it looks much more lively. I then went into the curves and set white, grey and black points (from the background, the black wheelcover in the front, and the grey of the track at the left corner, and I think that worked really well!

DSC_6174_bewerkt.jpg
I just tried to match the "natural"color of the engine as much as possible, because you often see pictues where it looks bright blue, and I don't think that does it justice. And when I saw all the dust spots on the original large files, I didn't feel the urge to go in and play with the files that much anymore, but this only took 30 seconds. Photoshop is indeed your friend! BigGrin

Cheers,
V
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Offline DaleSchultz  
#11 Posted : 10 January 2016 18:25:19(UTC)
DaleSchultz

United States   
Joined: 10/02/2006(UTC)
Posts: 3,997
indeed, you are very correct about finding hairs and dust in the photographs afterwards....

see the 4th image at http://cabinlayout.mixmox.com/1/train-power
and learn to also remove dead ants etc... !
Dale
Intellibox + own software, K-Track
My current layout: https://cabin-layout.mixmox.com
Arrival and Departure signs: https://remotesign.mixmox.com
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Offline tjones  
#12 Posted : 25 January 2016 18:48:50(UTC)
tjones


Joined: 06/08/2015(UTC)
Posts: 26
Originally Posted by: DaleSchultz Go to Quoted Post
indeed, you are very correct about finding hairs and dust in the photographs afterwards....

see the 4th image at http://cabinlayout.mixmox.com/1/train-power
and learn to also remove dead ants etc... !


Ants!?Woot
Fortunately I only have to worry about cat hairs...

P.S. Impressive basement you have, with two of the same engines I have, on a beautiful layout BigGrin . One day, when I finally will have enough space for it!
Offline GlennM  
#13 Posted : 25 January 2016 19:41:02(UTC)
GlennM

United Kingdom   
Joined: 09/05/2011(UTC)
Posts: 2,875
Location: Somewhere, But Nowhere Near Manchester, England
Hi,

I missed this post first time around, but just wanted to say I terrific pictures, I especially like the two locos facing and the view looking down the track, very nice.

I hope you don't mind but I downloaded the C class picture to have a closer look in Photoshop, and after some fiddling this is my interpretation of your image;

UserPostedImage

The first thing I would say about photography is that it is subjective and two people will not always like the same end result so whatever you do I would suggest you do it for your own appreciation.

Second I would advise that you always shoot on the highest resolution possible (the image I downloaded was only 1mb which might be because it was a Forum download), if I am correct these were shot on a Nikon D90 which is a 12.5 megapixel camera and very capable of producing a great image. Have you used RAW picture format before? This is the highest setting and if you have access to Photoshop will allow you to manipulate and recover images that might otherwise be lost if shot only as jpegs.

As for the end result of this image using the image histogram (this can be seen in Photoshop and should be displayable on the rear screen of the Nikon along with the finished image shows that this image has blown highlights (with reference to the image histogram those are the very high graph peaks on right hand side). This has resulted in under exposure and a flat image, it will also affect the ability to draw out the colours and a loss of shadow detail. IMHO this has been caused in large part due to the light being reflected of the white background. May I suggest a more neutral background colour next time.

As well as dust and hair removal (which can be done in Photoshop but it can take hours) there was a finger print in black at the front of the smoke stack which I have removed on my version. I find that photography is all about preparation the better your prepare the better the finished image will be; such things include, have I got the right settings on my camera, is the model clean and finger print free, is the camera on a tripod, is the camera level, is the lighting in the right place, is it focused (my Nikon for example will beep to signify that the camera as I focus point and exposure value reading, this does not mean the right focus point has been selected and when shooting in low light I have found the focus to be off and you need to look through the viewfinder to check the focus box, red for out of focus, and green for in focus), have you selected single focus or continuous, etc etc.

Finally, be prepared to learn through trial and error, and if in doubt take several images, maybe at different settings. In this digital age you do not pay for film and processing and you can always delete any images you do not want to keep. I often shoot a selection of images and then select the one I like afterwards. Oh and have fun, very important

I hope you will post more photos soon.

Best Regards

Edited by moderator 21 September 2016 20:08:24(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Don't look back, your not heading that way.
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Offline tjones  
#14 Posted : 05 February 2016 15:10:28(UTC)
tjones


Joined: 06/08/2015(UTC)
Posts: 26
Thanks for the useful comments. I have not used photoshop that much, and also the histograms, though I have looked at them occasionally, never really know what to do with them...
Your helpful comments make me want to try it again soon. Almost hoping for a rainy weekend!
Offline TrainSupport  
#15 Posted : 01 June 2016 12:07:17(UTC)
TrainSupport


Joined: 05/04/2016(UTC)
Posts: 7
Location: Asia
I like these ancient locomotives..!
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