Model Railroading > Model RR photography question

This could be posted on the Electronics forum, but I know you folks all take photos of your railroads, and I have seen some good ones. I've been trying to get some good, clear shots, but they always seem to come out blurry, except for a small area.

I'm using a Canon Dig Rebel with a 28-105 f/3.5-4.5 USM lens. Do I need a lens with a smaller f-stop, or is there a technique I am missing?

Thank you in advance for any suggestions, and Merry Christmas.

I am a bad photographer, but I can tell you this, take it off
auto exposure, put camera on a tripod, set aperature to lowest
setting which will lengthen the shutter speed, use a cable release
to take the pic (otherwise pressing the shutter will cause the
tripod to shake just a tad). This will increase the depth of field
making the complete picture in focus.

The Eagle has it right. The smaller the f Stop (on REAL, i.e. chemical) cameras, that means the hole through which light passes, the more depth of field. That's the ability to focus on things in the foreground and background at the same time. This lets in less light, therefore the exposure (length of time the light hits the film) has to be longer. If the camera is shaken while the aperture is open, the image is blurred. That is why a tripod is essential. A cable release isn't essential if you have a timer. Set up the shot, set the timer, and let 'er rip. the camera will take the picture 5-10 seconds later with no jiggling. Most moder cameras are set up with the snapshot in mind. Most people are not trained in photography and have ne desire to learn. THis is why I really hate auto everything cameras. I like our little digital, but for REAL photos, I prefer my 35 year old Minolta SRT101 with manual everything. It lets ME do what I want to do, not what some tech weenie THINKS I want to do.

Sometimes using the telephoto will work too. The photo I posted a few posts down the list about the Walther's turntable is an example. The last one showing the service area was with a telephoto lense stopped down to f 32. My camera has an Av setting that allows you to set the f stop. The other things mentioned by Shane were also used. The cameera has a button for a 10 second delay for the shutter to snap. This lets everything settle down.

I usually get better photos with the flash turned off, ie. shutter opens more. Telephoto is better when using the flash. Worth a try...

Loren

I haven't been doing any of these, great info, thanks a lot. This time of year its fun to take shots of model RR's.

I shoot my model photos with a Cannon A70 pocket-size point & shoot camera. The small cameras have a very short distance between the lens and chip, which gives them awesome depth of field. I set the camera to manual f-stop, and manually set it as high as it goes. I don't use a flash, and either set the camera on the layout or use a tripod. I also set the manual white balance for the lighting I'm using. You can sample my work by doing an author search on this forum.

Dennis

Good, bright lights will also help along with f-stop, tripod, etc. The small aperture (high f-stop) really reduces the amount of light falling on the film/sensor. The effect is to make the image noisy or grainy. You don't have to resort to professional studio lights. Just get a work light with large reflector from Home Depot or wherever and use a 150 watt or even stronger light. The daylight compensated lights work well, too. A strong halogen can do the job, especially to cast shadows for that effective outdoor daylight look. Too many lights from too many directions diffuse the light and make for a shadowless result that does not look natural. Of course, this depends on what you want to achieve in your photos. They can be good display photos, in which case the more diffuse lighting is better, or they can be the natural, outdoor type, your choice.

And remember, Photoshop is the indispensable tool...

You don't even have to resort to large bulbs. Just make sure to set the white balance for the lighting you are using. The photo below was taken with the light from a 60 watt daylight bulb that I had in a cheap reflector light that I bought at Home Depot. If you use large wattage bulbs you have to be VERY careful, as the heat will melt the plastic models if left on too long.


Chris Toth
NSDash9.com

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I recently bought a Canon S3 and when I take photos of the layout, I use the smallest aperture (f8) and use a tripod because the the shutter can be open as long as a second or two. I then use the timer, so I don't have to press the shutter release. The result is a larger depth of field, which puts much more of the photo in focus.

-Ken

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Smallest shutter aperture possible, tripod, cable release/timer, all mentioned.

I use film and don't know what you can do with digital. You should be able to do this though. Get back as far as you can. This will increase the depth of field. The picture may take in a much wider area than you want but crop the picture down so it is only what you want. You should be able to do that with a digital. Set up your shot so depth of field doesn't come in to play by photographing next to a structure. Like the train at a shipping dock. I used the slowest speed film I could find. With black and white you don't have to worry about the lights. If your layout is set prior to the 40s you don't see any color pictures of steam so B&W would be prototypical. With color you can use tungsten film or filters. With color I would set up the shot and then take the same thing with two or three filters. KEEP NOTES OF EVERY SHOT YOU TAKE and then compare which is best and go back and try to improve on that.

The camera is very unforgiving and will point out things that you can improve in making your models. Maybe one decal was applied slightly crooked. The coupler trip pin really shows up in nose shots. You may want to start modeling that lead loco (where the nose never couples to anything anyway) with a cut off trip pin. Or even a scale dummy coupler.

jb

Hey Winks,

Wondering how this turned out, with that camera, assuming you are shooting a stationary scene, "all auto" settings should take great pictures with a slight delay.

The problem shooting real trains moving fast is different, point and shoot cameras will never take pictures at a predictable times unless you use all manual settings -- even then there's a shutter delay and the processors are slow. Even most digital slr's will have a noticeable delay between choosing settings and taking the photo if you use auto settings.

If your camera is on manual settings and you are choosing aperture and shutter speed, etc, then your shutter delay should be almost zero. People above made great points but I wonder what the problem was?

Using all manual settings and/or shooting a layout at home may take some depth-of-field adjustments, but when you said you only get one small area focused, it leads me to three questions:

1) Did you get this figured out yet? If so, how
2) Your camera may be broken. Its always a possibility. How does it shoot things 15 feet away that don't move?
3) You have a nice camera, you don't need a new lens.

Jim

Jim,

1) Did you get this figured out yet? If so, how

I did some experimenting at home with a number of objects (I don't have a model RR), and I am getting better results using the DOF. I set it at F22 and it provided a much better clarity of the area being photographed.

Thanks