Is it the Photography or is it Memorex?

Hi Lee. I find that getting in low and close always helps with adding a more realistic viewpoint. In reality, trains are pretty big things, and a low angle tends to emphasise that. Framing the scene, and using a suitable aperture to avoid unwanted details (Or lack of details..) helps too. There a quite a few good books on the subject, but practice and experimentation are hard to beat once you understand the basics of composition and exposure.

Frank:

Great to see you back on here!  Looking forward to the article on your layout (at least I think it is your layout based on the teaser) in an upcoming issue of CTT.

Curt

I treat every photo the same real or model. Ask yourself where you want your focal point to be, leading lines such as a road (or in your case track) can add a lot to a photo. Lots of different things can add the "drama" whether its a filter, or something going on in the shot itself. Look up the "rule of thirds" as well. Obviously, this is only scratching the surface but those would be a few things to try and work into your photos.

Here are a few photos of mine that will hopefully help explain it a bit. 

This is an HDR image I took a while back. Notice the truck is the focal point, but there is still a lot going on in the photo, as well as the road. 

Or in this case, the river is the road or track:

B&W can really add to the effect. Filters can really complete a photo when used sparingly. I don't use them often, but sometimes its just right.

 - David

 I'm  a novice photographer at best, but the best photos of my layout  taken with the suggestions above, in addition to finding the best camera setting for a good result.

Photography, from a Point and Shoot, guy has much to do with lighting and color. Scrap the flash, Maybe a small tri-pod.  Take your time and look for an interesting shot. Classified IMO from a know-nothing Point and Shoot guy.   An interesting subject takes away a lot of the imperfection.

Lee, you bring up a very true -- and harsh to some folks -- reality.  In this day and age, we're all duped into thinking that all we need to do is run out to Best Buy or our local camera shop... purchase the latest expensive piece of technology... and voilla!!!  We're pro photographers.

Unfortunately, NOTHING can be further from the truth.  Great photography takes lots of practice, and there's no substitute for just rolling up one's sleeves and taking pictures.  Don't worry about buying books.  Yes... they can help get you started with the basics.  But after that, it's all about developing your OWN style by experimenting with light, camera angles, scene compositions (including backgrounds AND foregrounds), and perspectives (using different lenses), etc...

I made the comment in another thread recently that Norm C's layout was unbelievably SIMPLE in design, yet the modeling talent and images he's captured are nothing short of AMAZING.  We don't need basement-sized empires to create jaw-dropping images.  In fact, you'd be surprised to know that some model magazine cover shots might just as easily be created in a studio environment where lots of elements are well-controlled.  More commonly though, I wouldn't at all be surprised that some shots we drool over in magazines are IMMEDIATELY next to unfinished pieces of the layout in real life.  We just don't "see" the unfinished portion in the final image.     In that sense, good photography has always been its own sort of "virtual reality" even before the term came into more common use given today's infatuation with computer/video games.

Have fun!!!

David

Mike you shot that Grizzly pic?!  Thats awesome!

Photography, from a Point and Shoot, guy has much to do with lighting and color. Scrap the flash, Maybe a small tri-pod.  Take your time and look for an interesting shot. Classified IMO from a know-nothing Point and Shoot guy.   An interesting subject takes away a lot of the imperfection.

Mike you shot that Grizzly pic?!  Thats awesome!
Thank you, as with a lot of Photography a lot is luck.  Not a Grizzly, actually a blonde black bear who has and is in trouble, note the tracking collar.  The northwestern National parks, (This is Teton National Park, Jenny Lake), see a lot of bear activity since they are somewhat immune to human presence.  This one happened to walk into my camp site.  Still a bit of "get you head together".  It is a smaller bear.  I managed a couple of shots.




To keep it train related.  I did this shot with the same Cannon  A520 Point and Shoot, spring opening day along the Western Maryland Scenic.

This guy was muching on the willows, Teton National Park.  Bit too close  Early morning sun is to the left of the picture.  May be another hour the light would have been much better.   There always seems to be a lot of discussion of early daylight and late day/evening light.   Pictures taken with a Cannon A520 Point and Shoot.    

Although I'm too stupid to post photos on-line, I have had the honor of winning many gold metals in photo competitions over the years with film cameras.

First off, I agree with the suggestions you have gotten so far.

Although I now take digital video, an some digital "stills", I fear that the "digital age" has resulted in a "shoot, shoot, shoot" mentality rather than "think, prepare, then shoot" mindset that you needed when you had to pay for a roll of 24 or 36 shot film...then pay to have it developed. Today it's shoot, show right after shooting or on Facebook, then store the digital images in La La Land (do you know where those Summer vacation shots went?).

Oh my! I'm starting to sound like the "bring back the old days" guy again. Sorry.

It's really about the angles, the f-stop, and the lighting.  This was taken with a Panasonic Super Zoom Point'n'Shoot, Lumix FZ35 with Leica Lens.  Crudely edited from the RAW file.

Pete

here's a link to an article...written by a "train guy"...it might be useful...

http://familygardentrains.com/...uff/digicam_4_rr.htm

here's another one...

http://www.carendt.com/scrapbook/page60/

my very best regards...howard...

http://www.littleglitterhouses.com

It's all about being able to write with light...always has been and always will be.  It's far less about the equipment being used...always has been and always will be.

I'm an old-school photographer and proud of it.  The stuff that passes for photography today is awful.  No understanding of lighting whatsoever.  As you said, folks just shoot... shoot... shoot.  And the "good-enough" mentality is very much alive, well, and -- unfortunately -- prospering.  But it's something you can't fight.  There's just no turning back. 

Did you notice during the President's Inaugural Ball dances, that literally EVERY member of the audience was using their iPhone to capture images???  It's very much like "instant replay".  Once that capability was introduced, sports and event photography would never be -- and hasn't been -- the same again.

So we adapt and move onward...  but I still believe the cream of the crop can still rise to the top -- whether they're formally trained or just talented enthusiasts.

David

Lighting, composition, and a focal point of interest are essential ingredients for good photography.

Use the smallest number of photos to tell a story. Leave people wanting more, not less.

A lot has to do with setting the scene. I don't have a spectacular layout by any means, but I was able to take this neat evening photo by simply covering the background clutter in the room, shining a light down on the scene, and shooting from a low viewpoint like an o-scale person would have. I still have a lot of work to do with the camera settings but it came out nice nonetheless:

Lee,

You need a Tripod for one thing (not sure if you have one) .  Also which camera are you using? I will take a look at the online manual tonight and I will see if there are better settings for you.  

Photography is all about capturing light.  Composing the shot is pretty easy to learn, just watch any tutorial about the Rule of thirds.  I am finding that long exposures, narrow aperture and a technique call light painting will produce the best results.  There is lots of experimenting, but once you started getting better results it gets easier.

This next video is on a larger scale, but it can easily be done with any home layout.  Even if all your room lights are on you can use a lower ISO, longer shutter time and filling some back shadows with a flashlight.

This shot was taken at ISO 800 F22.  The tight aperture combined with the long shutter time is what cause the lights to star.  This setting is achievable on many cameras that are not DSLR.  It is called Aperture Priority mode and the computer on the camera will select the shutter time according to the amount of light with an F22 setting.  ISO800 on most cameras less than a year old is not bad these days, you can go down to 400 or lower, but the newer cameras at 800 do a good job.  I did use the remove shadow filter in my editing software to lighten this photo up a little.

I used to mess around with my old cannon FT eons ago..you can control depth of field and add filters...my main camera now is just a fujifilm JZ, but I do have a picture box with 4 lights for the times I take my model car/truck pics...other than that it's nothing fancy for "me".

Lee, it's lots of just taking pictures and trying different things. Long exposures are a must for most layout photos to get deep depth of field unless you want to force a point of view. Playing with light is fun. As I said in the last issue of OGR I use moving flashlights to highlight some shots. I even have 12v grain of wheat lights attacked to 9 volt batteries to light tunnels. I use gels sometimes for added color. It's all fun. Don

Mac Users - There is a program on the Mac you can get in the app store called Pixelmator.  It is very much like Photoshop but a million times easier.  Only $15.00.  Adobe makes some great products but they cost a small fortune.  Between Aperture and Pixelmator, I have not needed Photoshop for two years now

That is nice work!  You end up with a lovely picture!!!

Lee,

Sometimes you just get lucky with composing a photo.

How do you like this one?  It's a close-up of part of a Colber bubbling oil well.  I got lucky snapping this one with my cell phone's camera.

I literally jumped out of the passenger seat of my car, leaned against the car to brace myself and snapped this one, not expecting it to come out very well.  It was one of those five seconds to take a quick picture situations.  I called the resulting photo "Speed at the Crossing".  (Yes, it was shot on film, about 10 years ago, with a Minolta Maxxum.)

And sometimes your composition is good, but one of the objects in the photo isn't.  Here's photographic proof dogs laugh at their owners.  (Sylvia had just told Mick, "Mick, let's get a nice photo with Dad."  Yeah, right...)

I tried to compose a nice shot here of Sylvia and Mick in the Finger Lakes wine region of NY State.  The composition was great until one character decided to re-stage the scene.  The photo still came out pretty good, but it instantly told a story any parent can understand.

Some model...and some real trains I've photographed.  Matt

I think one thing that puts many of todays digital users at a BIG disadvantage is having a camera where you cannot put the camera to your eye and look through the lens. Looking at a small screen at arms length does not make for a ideal image.

Joe,

I can't tell you how many times I have embarrassed myself when someone asks if I will take their photo with their camera. Instinctively I still put it up to my eye, while everyone wonders what the strange man is doing with their viewfinder-less camera!

Jim

Jim, you are not alone. I have done the same many times.   It probably doesn't help that (With one exception.) all of my cameras, both film and digital, have eye-level viewfinders.

Besides not helping with composition, I don't think that the 'Zombie pose' method of taking photographs does anything to help sharpness either. 

I'm slowly getting used to the digital displays but it takes something out of snapping a picture.

Still, this is my excuse guys, as in "Yes, that picture stinks, but you should see the photos I used to take with cameras that had viewfinders!"

That fireman is gonna get written up.    Nasty smoke, lots of unburnt fuel.

Pete

My Sony DSLR has the option of either using the viewfinder or the display.  I use the display (it pivots, so I can place the camera and view from a slight distance) when shooting model photo's, but outside in the real world I found using the viewfinder is best.

I have a little pocket camera that only has a display, but I only use that for when I don't want to lug around the DSLR, like at train shows.

What I find funny is watching folks wrestle with their I-pads to take photos.  Talk about awkward...

Rusty

This is all done with studio lights.

He was!

Rusty

I have a Nikon D80.  I don't have the pic showing on a screen.  Still put my eye to the view finder and look thru the lens.  Matt

The cameras with the articulated LCD panel really change all that and my T4i's touch screen really helps with removing any shake when taking the picture on a tripod or stable sufrace with long shutter times.  The articulated LCD gives me the opportunity to put my camera in my layout and frame the shot from a distance. gently touch the LCD and it snaps the picture.

The industry is going mirror-less, Sony already has a small LCD in the eyepiece, you are no longer looking through the lens bounced off a mirror through a prism.