HO Photography

[jonathan]

I have been interested in learning the art of modeling photography.  After all, someday I will not have the eyesight or dexterity to continue to build models. But shooting photos is an ability we can continue as we get older.

I finally got myself an entry-level DSLR and have started the basics.

This is a craftsman kit boxcar I am close to completing and used it as a test subject.

First is a standard point-and-shoot-type photo:


Then a standard flash:


Then an enhanced, more subtle kind of flash that doesn't overwhelm:


What I'm REALLY after is depth of field or aperture.  The f-stop on the camera is set to f36 on this shot, in order to be able to bring the background into focus:


Didn't work out so great.

Here's another attempt up close:


With the enhanced flash:


Now the big f-stop to get the depth:


For the last shot, I set a timer delay, hit the shutter and walked away from the camera while it took the picture.  Anyway, just sharing an interest I just started.

Regards,

Jonathan

[jbrock27]

Perfect timing.  I was planning on looking for an SLR myself after Christmas.  Any advice you can share on features you considered?  What did you end up with? And where did you get it from, if you don't mind all my questions.  Thanks Jonathan.

[Jhanecker2]

To Jonathon :  A tripod is always  a good thing to have if you are taking  closeups . Also consider a shutter release if your camera supports use of one , There are supplementary lenses that allow for greater magnification as well as macro focus lenses .  There are also books about close up photography . John2.

[jonathan]

Jbrock,

I acquired a Nikon D3200.  It is the most basic of DSLRs.  The package came with two nice lenses, lens shade, bag, and various other niceties.  I was going to look at some of the more advanced camera bodies, but feared I couldn't do them justice.  At least, now I can look at advanced camera bodies in the future, while still having something nice with which to learn.

JH2,

I do have a tripod which is very helpful.  The camera does accept a remote shutter release which I will acquire in future.  I've already discovered the timer is a priceless tool for sharp images.  The camera came with the standard 18-55mm lens and a 55-200mm lens.  The longer lens seems to be good for shooting outdoors and kids' performances--doesn't seem to be helpful for model trains so far.  I will be looking for a macro lens. 

And I have done a little reading on model photography, but need to read alot more.

Thanks, guys.

Regards,

Jonathan

[jward]

I have the slightly older Nikon d3100, and while I haven't done much model photography with it, I am very impressed with it out in the field. the zoom lens lets me take usable photos of objects a half mile away.

for model photography, you may want to look into a pinhole type lens or attatchment. the smaller aperture increases depth of field, but the trade off is that your shutter speed will be lower.

[bapguy]

I have a DSLR as well and use a free focus stacking software. There are several out there. Google free focus stacking software. Basically, you take several shots of the model at different focus points and combine them into 1 photo. Here's a photo using the software. 4 photos combined   Joe

[jbrock27]

Thank you Jon for taking the time in your response and Captain and Joe as well for the info.

[ACY]

For all those interested in DSLR cameras, keep in mind having a $500 DSLR camera does little good without having an accompanying set of lenses for what you want to photograph. Good lenses are often more expensive than a decent DSLR camera,  the camera alone is no better than taking a photo with a lower end camera.

[Doneldon]

Jonathan-

It looks like you are approaching model photography in a systematic way, which is the only way to acquire the basic technical skills which will allow you to exercise your creative talents (read: composition) productively. However, I do have a couple of suggestions.

It's not generally a good idea to have an extreme depth of field when shooting small or featured items, like your "test" car. It's more often better to have a fuzzy, out-of-focus background and foreground in order to emphasize the star of the shot. And that means a large aperture. Your f36 is effectively a pinhole aperture which is why the whole scene is in such good focus. Yes, there are times you want the whole picture in crisp focus but that true far less often than when you want to feature or vignette a subject. Think of your purpose in photographing a hillside covered with gorgeous colors versus what you want to accomplish in highlighting one exquisite rose amid other blooms in a garden.

Also, a clarifying note on aperture: An f36 is a much, much smaller aperture that an f2.8 or f4.0 because the f-stop is the reciprocal of the size of the actual lens opening. Thus, an f36 means that 1/36 of the lens' total area is opened to admit light which a bunch less than an f4.0 which means that 1/4 of the lens' total potential opening is being used. That's why you get sharp focus and great depth of field with a high aperture number and terrific low light performance with smaller f-stops. And that brings me to another technical point.

From the earliest days of photography until the digital camera era, f-stops, shutter speed and film "speed" were all interconnected and proportional to one another. Thus, a camera (or, more accurately, a lens) admitted exactly the same amount of light at f8.0 and 1/100 second as at f 16 and 1/50 second (usually 1/60 in practice). This proportionality permitted (and permits) photogs to exercise creative control of the exposure to get different results with identical exposures. In the film days, we also had film speeds, which means how sensitive a film is to light. And, happily, those film speeds were also proportional to aperture and shutter speed. This gave us another way to control the results. For example, a portrait photographer could select an extremely fine-grained but slow film to get the soft, translucent skin tones which look so great in portraits while a sports photog could select the fastest film available in order to stop the action on the court, field or race track. There are still ways to manipulate "film speed" with most modern digital cameras, but this dynamic is pretty much ignored today.

[jonathan]

Nice photo, Joe!

This is exactly what I'm after.  As Doneldon so aptly put it, a focused depth of field is what I'm after to capture an entire scene or vignette. The boxcar was merely a way for me to experiment and see what various setting do to the shot. The learning curve is high.  Hopefully I'll learn enough to take some decent photos of the scenery on my layout.  I already have that stacking system built into the camera, just haven't played with it, yet.

Should be fun.  I'm aware of the lens issue.    At least now I have something that will accept some decent lenses as finances allow.

Thanks for the comments, folks.  They are always welcome.

Regards,

Jonathan

[jonathan]

Still experimenting...

Along with learning camera settings and playing with lighting, I've also downloaded some photo editing software that's a bit more advanced than what came with the standard Microsoft package.  So I can 'sharpen' the image with software.  After studying online, I've learned that most photographers recommend not to exceed f-14 with a digital camera.  One can end up fogging an image more than sharpening it, if the aperture settings are to small.

Anyway a few photos follow, some new, some retakes with crisper edges.  I still need to work on lighting, but that's a whole new lesson for me:

Regards,

Jonathan











Flash is bad.


These last images are much sharper and look better on photobucket than here:

[BaltoOhioRRfan]

HEres a few shots from my DSLR camera.






P.S. Jon you have a message

[jonathan]

OK, this is a highly modified Connie, in need of minor repairs, on my workbench.  Also, one of my brassies... subjects of my camera play:















If you click on the photos, you can see larger images that demonstrates progress made on sharper images.  Soon, I should be able to take some broader scenery shots.

Regards,

Jonathan

[WoundedBear]

Looks great so far Jonathan. Have you had a chance to try the video mode on the camera yet? I really need to upgrade my old digital. We bought our daughter-in-law a Nikon a couple years back for Xmas and she's certainly had good results with it. I think I might just lean to Nikon for myself too.

Keep the pics coming, I'm interested to hear what you finally think of this unit.

As for the "photo enhancing" software.....well call me a bit of a purist, but it's not for me.

Sid

[Len]

Don't know if you've seen this, but there's an interesting article on photographing model trains on the NMRA site at:
http://div8.ncr-nmra.org/nav/files/lewis_photo_clinic07.pdf

You might also want to look into trying some "pinhole" photography for models. It's a neat technique, and easily adaptable to DSLR's.

Len