Building a LNWR D1 wagon kit from Williams Models.

[Richard T]

Love those diamonds ................

R

[Andy B]

Steve,

What sort of camera & lighting do you use when photographing your models? Do you use a tripod or other support?
Your close-ups have a good depth of field and the colours also look good - much better than my hurried W.I.P photos, which I think suffer more from lack of set-up rather than the camera itself (a Canon A540).
Any hints and tips welcome.

Andy

[Steve Cook]

Hi Andy

I use an old point and squirt digital camera, its an Olympus D540 I've had for 6 or 7 years now (3.2 Mega Pixel).

Lighting wise, the bench is below two halogen downlighters (@35W each), then to offset the yellow cast they create, I have a daylight bulb in my modelling lamp (flexible arm jobbie from HobbyCraft). The daylight bulb is used to create some side lighting which the downlighters fail to provide.

I use the inbuilt light correction on the camera and often shoot as if its daylight as opposed to indoor lighting. Some of the shots are made from a tripod, but in the main I shoot from a sitting position, but with one foot on the seat base so the camera can rest on my knee - making me the tripod in that case 

A lot of the close ups are cropped shots from further away to preserve the depth of field. Its a technique that works OK for forum photography where one can accept the compromise in quality a bit more. I have discovered a 'super macro' mode on the camera today which I shall use to see if it stops me having to crop close-ups.

I generally shoot a minimum of three times to give me the best chance of getting a good shot without camera wobble. I'm also not adverse to using the colour correction facilities in Microsoft Office Picture Manager to get what I want.

Hope that helps

Steve

[Ted Sadler]

Excellent advice, Steve, and your photos are great. Generally, the brighter the light (within reason), the smaller the lens aperture (f number) that an automatic camera sets and the greater the depth of field resulting. As you say, a secondary lighting source (such as fill-in flash in broad daylight) can reduce dark shadows. Brighter light means a fast shutter speed and less likelihood of shake.

I use not only colour correction until it 'looks right', but also rotation/perspective correction - verticals should be vertical!

Regards, Ted

[John Candy]

Steve, your wagon looks great and I look forward to seeing it completed.

These tips on photographing models both from you and Ted are useful in their own right and I think I should set up a board for advice on how to effectively photograph G3 models.

Ted regularly provides both Ian Turner and myself with excellent photos for the Newsletter and website respectively.

To increase interest in the possibilities of G3 modelling it is necessary to have plenty of pictures of high quality, to publicise the level of detail possible with a large scale and the realism achievable.

Taking close-ups of models requires more than just a camera with a macro lens, there are lighting and other considerations (the fish-eye effect of a wide-angle lens being an example) to be taken into account.

Comments on proposal welcomed.

John.

[Andy B]

This has drifted off-topic a bit from Steve's wagon - I probably should have started a new thread originally, so apologies.
Is there a difference between pictures for the Newsletter, and pictures for the forum? I think there is, especially to support 'workbench' threads such as this.
I am grateful to those, like Ted, who spend their time and develop their photographic skills along with buying specialist equipment to produce great pictures for the Newsletter.
Others, like myself, may simply wish to get a few work-in-progress pictures that we can use to share ideas on the forum - so Steve's simple set-up sounds good to me!
Thanks,

Andy

[John Candy]

Andy,

Yes, Steve's simple setup is certainly fine for the forum to illustrate construction techniques but for the main website (and the Gallery) I really do require a supply of good, well-composed images (particularly of layouts) to show G3 to best effect.

Photographing indoor layouts (e.g.Blackgang, Wharton Road, Tiptree, etc.) does require specialised skills and techniques (especially in the lighting department) to achieve professional results.

I am hoping that the Railway Modeller session at Blackgang may produce some material for the website.

Regards,
John.

[Steve Cook]

Steve, your wagon looks great and I look forward to seeing it completed.

These tips on photographing models both from you and Ted are useful in their own right and I think I should set up a board for advice on how to effectively photograph G3 models.
...snip.....
Comments on proposal welcomed.

Thanks John.
I'd be happy to contribute what little I know to a photography board, it would also be a good place for me learn some of the skills that Ted shows. I'm happy if you wish to slice and dice some of the posts in here to transfer over, but I've no objection if they stay either (I can cope with a bit of O/T meanderings Andy  )

I have a little play with the super-macro feature on the camera today, so just for Rich T, a close up of one of the diamonds



Steve

[IanT]

I have to say that the end result you've achieved is absolutely stunning Steve.

If I didn't know any better - I would look at this photo and believe it was a real 'wooden' side I was looking at, the grain and weathering effects are fantastic. That 'capping' works very well too - a nice finishing touch.

Terrific!

Ian T

[Steve Cook]

Very kind of you to say so Ian, I'm glad you like it 

I can't take credit for the grain though, that is already a feature of the resin casting, it just needs light coats of paint to ensure it doesn't get swamped. The capping is part of the supplied body too, but when cleaning up the edge on this one, a slight gap appeared between the capping and bodyside. Looking at the close up, perhaps I should have refined the opening a bit more (but then it is about three times the actual size).

Steve

[MikeWilliams]

Cappings on these real wagons are steel strip with a rounded top face, not unlike those still used today for handrails on steel railings.  They were fixed by woodscrews and bolts from the top which I believe were countersunk into the capping.  What surprises me is how they actually put the wagons together because those bolts went right through the 9in plank, and the curb rail, with square nuts underneath.  That's not too bad, but with a 4-plank wagon and 36in sides, the bolts still went right through the whole lot.  I guess it just required jigs, power tools and care cutting all the holes before assembly but as this was 90 - 130 years ago I am constantly amazed at the workmanship they managed to achieve.  We couldn't afford to build wagons like that today.

Great pictures Steve.

Mike

[Steve Cook]

Its taken longer than I thought it would to get round to finishing the model – a new job and a busy start to the year put paid to any modeling time – but a day off and plenty of rain outside saw it finished and some photos taken. Well, I say finished.... in the act of taking the photos I've noticed a couple of areas that could do with a bit of re-work. Nothing major and the end result will look barely any different, so we'll call these the finished photos and be done with it 

All I've done since the last post is to weather to solebars with a grubby black wash and a bit of drybrushing, remove and refit the brake lever support (but with a more prototypical joggle in it) and add a bit more drybrushing and staining to the interior woodwork. The whole lot has then been subjected to some dusting with ground pastels to tie it all in.

You'll have to excuse some of the variation in background colour in the photos below, these are the first photos using a light tent and lights and I'm having to learn how to get the best out of them and the camera (to be honest, think I'm reaching the limits of my old point and squirt). Anyway, enough waffle, finished (ish) photos












Steve

[IanT]

Still stunning Steve - well done.

Regards,

Ian T

[Steve Cook]

Cheers Ian, pleased to know I haven't made a hash of it!

Steve

[bolingbroke]

Steve,
Have just seen your wagon photos. Superb job. Could I be nosey and ask what colours and material you used for the underframe details? Your weathering looks so realistic.
Regards,
Roger.