Thanks again for the feedback on taking pictures. I tried my hand at it tonight and have learned a couple of things: given that my basement is unfinished, pictures with the water sealed wall (i.e. white) in the background screw up the exposure; and I need to make sure that the flourescent light is behind (i.e. shining on the front of the engine) rather than the reverse.
Having learned this, I would love some additional feedback. Here is a picture with just the ambient light in the room:
Here is a picture, adding some halogen light from behind and to the right of the camera:
Which one looks better? Any additional suggestions for improving the pictures (e.g. reducing glare, etc.)
I like the fact that I can now make out the colors of the engine. (But I don’t like seeing the big stretch of track I missed during my airbrushing!) [sigh]
Thanks again for the feedback, I am having a blast with this.
Looking good, much better. The whites are really bright, almost overexposed. Will your camera let you bracket repeated shots? Go ahead and take several pics in the same position but bracket your f stops and see what looks best and then write it down with the asa you used. It won’t take long. You gotta love the beauty of digital and the delete button
Keep at it, you are on the right track, so to speak! When you win the lottery let me know, I can guide you to one of the best retail outlets around for professional grade cameras. For less than the price of an Acela you can have a great DSLR.
I like the second one. I believe a black steamer is the hardest to photograph and bring out the details. That shot looks great. I get a lot of comments on my photography. Non of it deserved. I take many shots. Varying the settings on the camera as well as adjusting lights. I then sit at the computer and pick out the best one. Many times I delete them all and start over. I have an unfinished basement and not the best of lighting. Fine for running trains but not the best for taking photos. Trouble is. What works in one part of the room may not somewhere else. The new camera which is a Canon. Seems pretty user friendly for getting consistent results.
One thing I learned from a friend thats into photography. If you have a light thats over your subject and it’s washing out the photo. Try diffusing it with something simple like a paper towel. I usually use a Tripod and try to set the timer. This gives you a few seconds to try and hold something up and diffuse the lghting by whatever means.
Hi, your photos look great. I am a professional photographer and am willing to help as much as I can. usually the best thing to do is set up and then turn off some of the the lights so they don’t influence the photo. especially flourescent lighting. it will turn things green. incandescent will go orange or red. the halogen should be a bit more neutral.eliminate the overhead lighting it will cast shadows on an already dark subject. if you want more fancy of a set up the set up gets a bit trickier. as to the whites washing out your camera might have an adjustment on the flash. dont adjust the exposure just the intensity of the flash. the lower the flash is set the more of the ambient lighting you will see. usually the setting you want will have this symbol on it: +/- good luck let me know if you have any more questions.
If you have a Digital SLR, try different lens filters.
Also, you can wrap something transparent around the light (halogen gets hot so be careful) to filter the light a bit (mute it) this will reduce the ‘glare’ on the engine.
I like the background! Thank you for your input. I will continue to try to experiment tonight. The shots I attached on this post were with the flash off, camera on a tripod (with timer), and on a “Aperture Priority” setting with the f-stop set at 5 (or 5.6, I am not certain). Whenever I used the flash (regular, slow, or rear) it would reflect too much off of the engine. I will try to turn down the intensity of the flash (which would translate into a longer shutter opening, correct?) and see how the results change.
I am envious of your ability as I have always liked photography, but have never had any success at taking good pictures. Any help you provide will be greatly appreciated.
I spent some time taking some pictures again tonight. Tonight I only utilized the “landscape” setting on my camera (with tripod and timer) and played around with the lights (on/off, location, intensity). I did not like the results with the flourescent light turned off, but with it on, there is a reflective glare on the engines. Would a diffuser help? Also, I could not locate any white or other reflective material to deflect the halogen light and Chief is right, it would not be practical to paint the ceiling white. [:O]
Are you recommending a sheet covering the flourescent light? Obviously I do not need to worry about a fire with that. However, if you are also recommending to place a sheet between my work lamps and the subject, heat does become a concern.
Is it possible my work lamps are too bright? DWeimer recommended using smaller lights and spreading them out around the subject (he recommended at the 1:00, 4:00 and 8:00 positions). I did not try that because I was trying to utilize what I had on hand. I have two work lamps that put out a lot of light. Do I need to dial it down a bit?
It is also amazing to me that pictures with the wall in the background have their exposure overly weighted to the white wall. I did try some “spot metering” but without much success. I regularly see such beautiful pictures posted on the forum and I never thought it was such a challenge.
Fifedog recommended lowering the flourescent light. I tried that, but it seems like the glare got worse, which is why I wondered if some sort of diffuser would help.
with any kind of light source you can get harsh shadows or glare. if you put a thin piece of material (I actually use a thin piece of white nylon) between your light source, whatever it is, and the subject, it will soften shadows and glare. don’t put it on the lamp or fixture just anywhere between the two. actually the closer to the light source the less diffusion the farther away the more effect you will get.
Where do you get this type of material? I imagine you can also get different colors to provide a “filtering” effect. How do you place the material between the subject and the light? (e.g. a stand, clothes pins, etc.)
John, For flourecent lights, you can try placing a green “filter” between the light and subject. As to where you can get it, try a crafts store and you basically want rolls of plastic that are not opaque, but “clear” and colored. cut a sheet big enough to cover the area of light between the source and the subject. I use spring clamps and attach it to a frame of lightweight aluminum bars that make up a frame.
Another method would be to make a “photo hood” in which you make a large size box frame that you have white sheet material hanging down from. then, you place the hood around your subject, including background, etc. Then, you simlply adjust available lights to the effect you want.
A great source for photography items is B&H photo in NYC. They do have online sales and a catalog you can request. I am not trying to drum up business for them, just passing on where I get my supplies.
HI, the thing I have was made for photography and attaches to the studio lighting. you can hang any color you like and different texturex to get different effects. use thumb tacks, hang it over a string use clothesline and clips it doesnt really matter. just remember to make sure it is relatively flat so it won’t show lines or anything. you can use different colors also.remember flourescent light is green already. if you use green over one it will be really green. using green over your flash will tune it toward the flourescent then you can compensate from there. you will run into problems when you have different colors of light trying to adjust. if you adjust for the flourescent the incandescent will go off etc.
I am back for another photography lesson. I have been practicing my picture taking utilizing many of the tips provided. In addition to the white walls providing exposure issues, my pink base and white hills have not been helping either. I am hopeful that landscaping the layout will provide further photographic benefits:
Here are a couple I took last night:
What do you think? As usual, any feedback would be appreciated.
go to the local craft store and pick up a couple sheets of poster board to use as reflectors. straregically place them to get rid ot any unwanted shadows. they work great because you can fill in spots with soft light that matches your primary source and will also have a bit less intensity which looks more natural.
Thanks. I have been paying attention to reduce the glare on the pictures but I have not been paying attention to the shadows. Is my assumption correct that as I landscape the layout, picture taking will become easier?
I just found your post. I’m assuming the reflective glare from the flourescent light that you are concerned about is the long horizontal highlight across the engine and tender. There is nothing wrong with that. In fact it helps to define the surface, giving it more visual interest. Look at advertising shots. Professional photographers use highlights like that all the time especially on autos. I know-I’m one.
Dennis Brennan
PS - you’re on the right track. Don’t use the flash.
