Photographing Your Inventory

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Years ago, I managed to photograph my engines and rolling stock using a simple L shaped foam core background. I am planning to redo this, as my collection has grown a great deal since then. Should I stick with a plain white background, use a flash when imaging, etc? I use a 14 mp camera nowdays, and would like to do the job as good as possible. Any tips?

Cedarwoodron

2

I believe that MR recommends a light blue background for any pictures that are submitted with articles that don’t have a scene in them. For a long time I just used a sheet of bristol board but last year I treated myself to an inexpensive photography background that has a frame which supports a 30" x 60" light blue vinyl background.

I still have to buy some extra lighting. The flash by itself leaves harsh shadows.

Dave

3

Hello Ron,

below is an “Alcladded” passenger car from my metalizing colleague, Bob Chapman. A pleasant blue background does a nice job of enhancing a model’s appearance in a photo.

4

Propping a couple large pieces of white poster board on either side of that blue backdrop would help to fill in flash-generated shadows. Experiment a little bit with the angles of the poster board.

5

I show how I do it in my model railroad photography website, see below.

6

Bob,

Excellent guide. Thank you.

7

I agree, thank you. I only went through the basic part, and already seen how I can improve my photos.

Thanks,

Mike.

8

I try to photograph all of my inventory sitting on the rails like a railfan. If you wish to take pictures on a display non reflective sky blue backgrounds are best because white can be too bright and make the exposure dark. Read the article in last months MR. It has lots of good tips. Lights on each side at 45% angles are much better than a built in flash which may cause glare. The more light the better because it makes the field of focus larger so more of the item is in focus. I use clip on lights with tough spun diffuser covering them, Use the macro settings and zoom out for the largest field of focus. If possible look at the image on a large screen instead of a tiny viewfinder.