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You folks know I always share our videos here first. I even made this one a bit "LOUDER" for those that requested it - you know who you are!

 

As always, a look into "how I" do stuff with a comic spin. This is also some of the last videos and photos you will see of the original Spruce layout as we are constructing a new layout.

 

Enjoy and happy model railroading - and ......collecting.....

 

Joey

 

Last edited by Joey_Ricard
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My job of selecting photos for publication--and having even a greater variety to choose from--would be SO MUCH easier if more folks followed the basic tips Joey presented in this model train photo primer of his.  I eagerly look forward to future installments in the series.

 

But the heck with trains...I get to see them just about 24/7.  I wanna see more photos of Doreen (she already knows I'm one of her biggest fans).    

New Shortcut: New video - Model railroad photography part 1 - back to basicsHey Joey Brandy here, thanks for remembering me! I forwarded this email and video, to all of our club members to view. I'm still pushing for the Club to make an effort to help pay your way to our Huntington Wva Show, weekend after Thanksgiving day! I did remember you saying you might having some conflicting date during that time.....................Brandy
Once again I watched all of this video a couple of times, and now, I believe I can do some videos of our layouts.
----- Original Message -----
From: O Gauge Railroading On Line Forum
To: Brandy
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2014 10:31 AM
Subject: New Shortcut: New video - Model railroad photography part 1 - back to basics
I'd love to have Joey show up at that show. Been going to it since we moved to WV in 2002 and the kids were at Marshall U.
But the date of the show is either GREAT for you or HORRIBLE for you....no in between! For me it's perfect as the kids still live in the area......we visit for Thanksgiving and then I go to the train show while others shop!  Any way you could make it Joey would be GREAT!!
 
 
Originally Posted by Brandy:
. I'm still pushing for the Club to make an effort to help pay your way to our Huntington Wva Show, weekend after Thanksgiving day! I did remember you saying you might having some conflicting date during that time

Thanks folks, glad you found it useful. I can assure you that I practice what I preach in my photography work as well.

 

Brandy and Dave, I'd love to be able to come but it would surely take some work being that time of year. Keep my posted, I am surely open to it.

 

Did I mention - use a tripod? My lovely assistant likes to make sure I am caught in the act.

 

Well i watched the video and it got me thinking how good is a s4 camera and what can be done with it. So after reading a few internet searches o  the subject one thing it said was never leave it in auto. So with a small hand held clamp. I set out to test the s4 shooting model trains no helecoptor photos. Most with lights off no flash and the camera clamped in the handheld clamp to stablize the phone and a setting of 2 second delay. Alot of what was learned in the video. Here is the results.20140820_013649_LLS20140820_013620_LLS20140820_013528_LLS20140820_013208_LLS20140820_013044_LLS20140820_013004_LLS20140820_012836_LLS20140820_012706_Richtone[HDR)20140820_012329_Richtone[HDR)

Attachments

Images (9)
  • 20140820_013649_LLS
  • 20140820_013620_LLS
  • 20140820_013528_LLS
  • 20140820_013208_LLS
  • 20140820_013044_LLS
  • 20140820_013004_LLS
  • 20140820_012836_LLS
  • 20140820_012706_Richtone(HDR)
  • 20140820_012329_Richtone(HDR)
Absolutely fantastic shots there. it's hard to limit what I show in each video, especially this one. As far as cameras go, in the future videos, its going to be more of a generalization.  Any less expensive digital camera that allows manual functions will do.  In laymans terms, I am referring to the ability to change the shutter speed for those not familiar.
Originally Posted by Joey_Ricard:
Any less expensive digital camera that allows manual functions will do.  In laymans terms, I am referring to the ability to change the shutter speed for those not familiar.

Pretty much a "must" in my opinion.  I can't begin to tell you folks how many otherwise fine photos I receive that are diminished--and not usable for publication--due to limited depth-of-field.  (For the uninitiated, depth-of-field relates to the ability to depict the foreground and the background behind the primary subject in sufficiently sharp focus.)

 

Much/most close-up photography of models and layouts requires long exposures to achieve the camera apertures needed for extended depth-of-field, and this requires (1) a tripod and (2) adjustable settings so one can control shutter speed and the related aperture settings.  That is the most basic way to achieve good depth-of-field.  There are other methods as well, and I imagine Joey will also discuss those at some point in his excellent series.

can you explain the depth-of-Field.  if you look at the 3rd and forth photo above depth-of-field is it that you can see the rest of the station. but it is blurry so that would get thrown out correct if it was to be published?
 
 
Originally Posted by Allan Miller:
Originally Posted by Joey_Ricard:
Any less expensive digital camera that allows manual functions will do.  In laymans terms, I am referring to the ability to change the shutter speed for those not familiar.

Pretty much a "must" in my opinion.  I can't begin to tell you folks how many otherwise fine photos I receive that are diminished--and not usable for publication--due to limited depth-of-field.  (For the uninitiated, depth-of-field relates to the ability to depict the foreground and the background behind the primary subject in sufficiently sharp focus.)

 

Much/most close-up photography of models and layouts requires long exposures to achieve the camera apertures needed for extended depth-of-field, and this requires (1) a tripod and (2) adjustable settings so one can control shutter speed and the related aperture settings.  That is the most basic way to achieve good depth-of-field.  There are other methods as well, and I imagine Joey will also discuss those at some point in his excellent series.

 

The phrase "depth of field" is easy to explain in concept, but a little harder to explain in technical camera terms so honestly folks, for ease of understanding when I do explain it in an upcoming video, I am going to use the words "Focus and sharpness".

 

I say this because not everyone wants to be a camera pro, they just want to get better shots with as little hassle as possible.

 

Even with image stacking in most cases, NOT Everything will be in perfect sharp focus, nor does it need to be. In the most simple terms, if you can make your model photos look something like a real railfan image, that is good enough. 

 

Sometimes a shallow depth of field makes for very interesting images

I use my real world photos for explanation

 

I'll try to add some more examples of this over time if anyone is interested.

 

 

First 3 are very very shallow depth of field images

 

 

 

 

 

And..................................................

The complete opposite

 

This is a very wide depth of field where almost everything from 2 feet to 1 mile away is in "reasonably sharp focus"

 

 

 

Last edited by Joey_Ricard

As Joey amply demonstrated with his above examples, depth-of-field (also often called depth-of-focus) can be and is used very creatively in the photographic world.  On some occasions, it even has a place in model railroading publications, but the examples there are relatively few and far between.

 

Generally, when I am selecting photos to use with, for example, a layout feature in OGR, I look for images that come close--as close as possible--to depicting what a real person would see when viewing the particular scene depicted in the photo.  Our eyes--thanks to our brains--do not see the world in "limited depth-of-field," where the foregrounds and backgrounds of whatever we're looking at are fuzzy or out of focus.  All things being equal in terms of our human eyesight and minds, we see things close to us sharply focused and things in the far distance also sharply focused.  That's also kind of what is looked for in layout photos.

 

The difference is that a camera lens--any camera lens--can really only focus sharply on one plane that is in front of it.  Everything in front of and behind that one plane is out of focus to one degree or another.  But the perception of sharpness can be controlled by the photographer to a considerable degree via focus, shutter speed, and lens aperture manipulations, and this is what results in photos that, like Joey's last example, seem to be in focus front right in front of the camera position to all the way back to the distant mountains.

 

Anyhow, stay tuned, because you can be sure Joey will explain things with far more clarity and with easy-to-understand terms and examples.

 

 

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