Taking a picture

Okay let's make a start. I shall begin with a photograph of one of your loco's or perhaps a building you have scratchbuilt, or what ever takes your fancy. Let's begin by loading up the camera with film. Find a small table, place it about one foot from a wall, dig out one bed sheet (white or pale blue an keep an eye on the (Wife), I know a bed sheet is not quite the answer, but lets face it, -- it's cost effective)Now iron any wrinkles out, then drape it over the table from the front and up to approx. three feet above the table and place a few drawing pins into the wall. (when nobody is watching) Make sure when it is placed on the wall and over the table that the wrinkles you ironed out have not returned.

If it is a model of a locomotive, place a piece of track onto the table about midway from the wall and centered on the table, and please make sure that the wheels of the loco are all on the track. Make sure the loco and track are at a slight angle to the table top. Now the fun can start, placing the floodlights in the correct place is important, so here we go. The main flood light is to light up the subject and a fill in light to highlight the subject. If you have three floods then the third light is used to bring the subject out of the background.

Photo Number 4 shows one of my buildings taken as per the drawing lighting plan. Photo Number 5 shows the same building on the layout...

Placing the lamps

Drawing No.1 shows the position and distances for each of the three lamps. All distances, i.e. 24" - 4O" and 6O" are only approximate, and besides you may have to move them slightly to get rid of any unwanted harsh shadows that may fall on the subject.Place the camera in front of the subject you are going to photograph, and approx. 3O" from the subject, make sure that the camera is square on to the subject, otherwise the subject will appear to lean one way. all the distances are not critical, only a guide for future reference when taking other photo's in a similar position. When all the lights are in place, you are ready to take the first of many photographs. Also do not forget to set the ISO to the setting recommended on the film,- on the camera. that is unless the camera used has an automatic DX setting, then the film speed is set for you.

I always bracket any photographs for the first time to ensure I have the correct exposure needed for the perfect print. Do not alter the f stop which should be f22 or better, but bracket the time taken for the particular shot. Always keep a record of what shot was the best, to do this I place a penny (HERE'S THAT PENNY) in the background and move it for every shot and keep a record of the time taken plus where the penny was when the shot was taken.I have very often used a full 24 exposure film for just one or two shots that were needed for publication. Believe me, you will get some very good photographs this way. Try it and see. Before I forget,- to delay the shutter release when the mode/shutter-speed selector is set to "B", do not forget the cable release. Before you press the shutter release or press the cable release, please make sure that what you are looking at through the view finder is in fact in focus.

The camera I use has a focusing aid consisting of a split-image spot surrounded by a band of micro prisms in the center of an Acute Matte field. All I have to do is focus through the view finder, turn the lens focusing grip until the images are aligned. The split-image spot is used for subjects that have vertical lines, micro prism for subjects without vertical lines and the Matte field for macro etc. ,p> I mentioned briefly Film speeds - slides - 5OO/1OOO watt photofloods, and said I would come back to this later, that time has come. A little explanation on colour temperature verses' colour prints, or for that matter colour slides. Light is measured in degrees Kelvin, and at around mid-day outside, is roughly 55OO degrees Kelvin. Now, When using the 5OO watt photofloods, as these are rated at 32OO degrees Kelvin so some sort of compensation filter is needed across the lens of the camera when prints are required. With the 1OOO watt lamps, these are rated at 34OO degrees Kelvin so the compensation needed for 32OOK is slightly different to that of 34OOK. So what do you need.? One 8OA and one 8OB filter, these screw onto the front of your lens.

The 8OB is for 32OOK and the 8OA for 34OOK. Again, this is only for COLOUR PRINTS NOT SLIDES. ( unless you want to use a daylight type slide film )The best slide films to use are :- EKTACHROME 64T and FUJI CHROME 64T these are a Tungsten based film and are colour matched to 32OOK. no filter is required. The 64 means 64 ASA or DIN rating, so exposure is going to be long, longer than that you took last time. These are two very good slide films, and are professional films, so I expect you will have to order these from your local Photography shop. If you do buy one of the above and are not expecting to use it for a while, please place the film in the fridge to keep it cool, not in the freezer. If you have the 1OOO watt lamps, and want to use one of the above slide films then do not worry, I have used 25Owatt 5OOwatt and 1OOOwatt lamps with perfect results.

Fluorescent Tubes

There is another source of lighting which can be used for both colour prints and slides, and that is the use of FLUORESCENT DAYLIGHT TUBES, these tubes are rated at 55OO degrees Kelvin and are perfect match for colour photography, when using daylight type slide or print film, they come in 4' 5' and 6' lengths, and are only a little bit more expensive than normal household fluorescent tubes, and as they match daylight temperature no filters i.e. 8OA or 8OB are required. Unfortunately, Household fluorescent tubes cannot be used because they give a greenish cast to slide or colour prints. You can buy a filter for use using the tubes, but I would not recommend it.

As for film speeds, the slower the film speed :- 25 ISO - The better the quality photograph, with hardly any grain what so ever, but exposure time will be very long. With a higher film speed :- 4OO ISO - slight grain will be in evidence but the exposure time will be a lot quicker, but as the photographs you are taking will hardly ever be any bigger than say a 1O" by 8" then the problem with grain in these photographs will be negligible. Now lets make a start taking some photographs of the layout Get out the lights, clean your track and drag-out some loco's and rolling stock. Now, I want you to imagine that you are the same size as those tiny people scattered around the layout, and get your eyes down to that level. Keeping down low with the camera is the key to good interesting photographs. I do not say take all the photographs this way, some will have to be taken from above, as if you were standing on a bridge looking down, but for the most part, do try and keep down low. Make the photograph appear to have plenty of action going on as well. Also have a look around the area you are going to photograph just to see if there are any non-railroad objects floating around the track, i.e. :- track pins - old rail joiners - ashtray (If you smoke) tools of any kind. I know this might seem to be stupid, but if you have something's laying around the place, you yourself, because they have been around for awhile have got used to seeing them, and in fact do not notice them, the camera will, and take a smashing photo of everything in sight.

Don't just take photographs with the camera in its horizontal position, turn it sideways to the vertical position. Using vertical shots, make sure that whatever you are going to photograph fills the viewfinder. Always try and keep the camera level to what ever you are taking photographs of, also when looking through the viewfinder, and focusing say a building, make sure that the vertical side of the building is of equal distance from the vertical side of the viewfinder and not leaning to one side or the other, the same applies to the horizontal position of the camera.

Photo Number 6 shows a horizontal shot....

Photo Number 7 shows a vertical shot....

With layout photography, it is more difficult to place the photofloods in the right place for taking photographs, so here is another tip I very often use. If you cannot place a lamp say to the side and to the rear of whatever you are photographing, use a large mirror to reflect the light to that place. Take one of the lamps and place it near the camera and point it towards the rear wall and either to the left or right of the subject. Now hold the mirror by the wall where the light is, and reflect the light back towards the rear of the subject This way you will still be able to use two lamps in the front and still have the rear lamp to bring out the subject. The distances for placing the lamps for layout photography is on a par to that used in the first part of this article, but do not be afraid to move the lights around. Make sure that what you want to photograph is well lighted and that there are no harsh shadows. Also pay attention to the background, make sure that this is also well lighted. When photographing large area's of the layout, it is important to take a central point and focus in on this. When using the f-stop at 22 or 32, if you focus from the middle, then the object focused on, will be sharp, also in front of, and behind the subject is going to have some degree of sharpness, depending on how large an area you are photographing. Also, it depends how far from the object the camera is placed. The closer the camera, the less depth of field. Conversely, the further away the camera from the subject, the more you will get in focus. When taking photo's of your layout, move vehicles around and place them in various positions, and look at them through the viewfinder of the camera. Changing the position of one or two items can make a good picture better.

Make sure that what ever you are going to photograph, the back wall has in fact got some sort of back scene to it. It is very easy to forget about the workbench, it is always there and we tend to forget that. The camera doesn't know that it's not supposed to be in the picture, so if you do have a workbench, then use something to cover it over with, similar to the sheet used to cover the table mentioned earlier, or better still have a piece of hardboard with some sky paper glued to it and move this around if you have not got a back scene. I have a piece of hardboard that is 6' by 2' and covered in sky paper, and use it to hide the doorway sometimes. (Remember to bracket the shots to get that perfect picture)

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