Happy New Year!
I am looking for tips on how best to photgraph my buildings with lighted interiors. When I use a flash it tends to neutralize the interior lights. Thanks. Joncor
If you have a digital camera with a night shot feature, try using that. It turns off the flash and holds the exposure open longer. You will need to set the camera on a stable surface. It’s probably best to use a tripod, but even an inexpensive one has worked fine for me.
Also,
If your camera supports it, use a remote control. Some digital cameras now support remote controls so you can take a picture without touching the camera.
Use the “Backlit” setting. The camera actually takes a double exposure, one w/ flash, one w/o, so use a tripod.
Rob
Another feature available on some SLR digitals when using flash is a setting where the flash goes off first and the shutter is held open a bit longer, the converse is the shutter is opened and the flash goes off at the last moment of exposure. I don’t know if either of these would help.
If not remote maybe the “Timer” feature. I take these shots sometimes without ANY flash just very slow shutter speeds and on a firmly stable tripod. Then using the 2 second timer I depress the shutter and remove my hand from the camera then 2 seconds later (and hopefully after all camera movement has stopped) the shutter automatically releases. I have a 10 second timer too I could use if I was too slow for the 2 second mode. [:)]
Depending on how much ambient light is in the room the building lights could expose very bright, in which case more ambient lighting or a Slow Sync flash fill is prescribed.
Roland
does your camera have manual settings for exposure?
I do multiple exposures. First I expose for the exterior of the building with the lights off then I turn off all of the room lights and turn on the building lights and make the second exposure.
I just took this with only track lights at half brightness
I use 10 second delay, set for “tungsten” which I guess takes some of the red out and then to my “custom color” (a setting on a Canon SD750)
there are many times when I will still need to edit it to get the color just right
Good shot Ray, I particularly like the effect of the porch light and the bracket light between the two doors. Very realistic looking.
thanks John
I checked out your layout pics, very nice
The stock pen is one of the best O scale that I’ve seen
I posted a couple of pics on in “New Year’s Day Photo Fun”. The Plasticville buildings were lite with old christmas tree bulbs. To get the photo not wash out that effect, I took the picture with NO FLASH, then used the computer “picture edit” and “auto correct” software to lighten-up the photo till the desired results were achieved.
Good luck!
Wes
I’m not sure how close you want to get in terms of actually showing the interior. I still use film for most of my photography, but for super-close, you’ll need a small lens opening (f22 or higher) to get the greatest depth-of-field ( nothing out-of-focus). This will require a long exposure (2 seconds or more), so a tripod and shutter release (or timer) is needed.
I assume a digital camera will give you better control of color balance. With film, you’ll get “warm” (orange cast) lighting, unless you use special film. Often, however, the “warm” lighting looks quite nice (less “harsh”). Joe
This was also taken with the Canon SD750 in manual mode with no special settings and no editing. This is the actual original.
No flash and taken using the timer. It is unusual however for something this dark not to need editing, at least for me.
I was able to get good focus on the interior but had to sacrifice the closer area to do it
Great pics! I love your attention to detail. Thank you for the photographic suggestions, I will try those on my layout.
Regards,
JO
experiment
JO make sure you show us your results
FJ and G that is a fantastic looking scene