Camera Labs

Ok here is the story, my Father wants me to take pictures of his model train set that we can submit to some train magazines. I took this picture handled just to get an idea of what some might look like.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/brate/2400181608/
D40
66mm
F/11
1/25 second
ISO-1600
Manual Mode


I did not want a lot of DoF and I did want a darker image.
What is your advice for this kind of picture.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/brate/
Nikon D40 w/18-135mm, Quantaray 70-300mm
Adobe Photoshop CS2 w/Eyecandy Plug in, Paint.Net (Open source Photoshop clone), Photomatix, Google Picasa.

I like that look a lot, could do with being a bit bigger though any chance of uploading one so we can see a bit more detail please?

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EOS 5D | EOS 40D | 28-80 L f2.8 - 4 (took a swim) replaced with 24-105 F4 L IS USM | 70-200 L F2.8 IS USM | 17-85 | 70-300 | 100mm USM Macro | 50mm 1.4 | 50mm 1.8 II | 2x Extender | 100mm Macro USM 2.8 | 3x 285HV Vivitar Flash | Cactus V2s Wireless Trigger system | 430EX

My DPC Profile | My Website

Yes I edited the original post with a link to the picture in my flickr account.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/brate/
Nikon D40 w/18-135mm, Quantaray 70-300mm
Adobe Photoshop CS2 w/Eyecandy Plug in, Paint.Net (Open source Photoshop clone), Photomatix, Google Picasa.

That's better

I really like that image, the only thing that springs to mind is I cannot see where the light would be coming from to illuminate the lady in blue and the child in red and I feel they are a bit far away, is there some way that light could be toned down a bit? Other than that I really like it, the shadows cast on the other people give some real depth to the picture.

Nice work.

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EOS 5D | EOS 40D | 28-80 L f2.8 - 4 (took a swim) replaced with 24-105 F4 L IS USM | 70-200 L F2.8 IS USM | 17-85 | 70-300 | 100mm USM Macro | 50mm 1.4 | 50mm 1.8 II | 2x Extender | 100mm Macro USM 2.8 | 3x 285HV Vivitar Flash | Cactus V2s Wireless Trigger system | 430EX

My DPC Profile | My Website

I'm not sure if the lights on his set a on a dimmer switch I would have to check.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/brate/
Nikon D40 w/18-135mm, Quantaray 70-300mm
Adobe Photoshop CS2 w/Eyecandy Plug in, Paint.Net (Open source Photoshop clone), Photomatix, Google Picasa.

Hmm.. i actually dont like this extremely dark look i think it needs a brighter look to it.. and it may look very cool with light added from the side of the train that matches the lamps next to the train to give it a nice glow.. i see what you were trying but i just dont like the effect.

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Nikon D80/MB-D80/ ML-L3
AF-S 18-55 f/3.5-5.6, AF 50mm f/1.8D
SB-600
Vivtar 2800
My flickr
~Dan Nelson~

A field day on this one...where to begin? It's not a pretty image, though the effort put into it can be seen.

A tripod really is a starting point to reduce the handshake, and then you can lower your ISO. It's a fairly noisy image, especially when you aim to shoot shadows.

I don't quite understand what you mean by "did not want a lot of DoF" and then ended up using f11. Are you saying to want a shorter DoF or front-to-back sharpness?

Composition-wise, it lacks a focal point and has a little too much going on despite the darkness. I'll suggest an improvement below.

You really need to work on lighting, and for me, I'd like to see some of the train rather than all shadows. If you can replicate a dusk setting, then that would be perfect. How to do this? Well go to an art shop/photography store and find a blue gel. Place the blue gel onto the front of a lamp (make sure the bulb doesn't touch the gel) and then you'll end up with a blue lighting. Keep the light at a fair distance from the train and you can replicate a little moonlight.

Now with the moonlight effect, keep the same compositional layout, but reduce your aperture to the smallest it can be. Have the lamp behind and above you so it's shining down onto the head of the train. Make the train the focal point and the short DoF will reduce the background so that there is a clear subject. Just make sure the DoF isn't too short that you lose all grasp of the background models.

Good luck with the submissions. Thanks for sharing your image with us.

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Nikonian

http://www.edtangphotography.com
http://journeysintophotography.blogspot.com/

Thanks photoj the thing with the lighting was exactly what i was getting at.. although i didnt think moonlight but that would work to.

_________________
Nikon D80/MB-D80/ ML-L3
AF-S 18-55 f/3.5-5.6, AF 50mm f/1.8D
SB-600
Vivtar 2800
My flickr
~Dan Nelson~