Photographing Models

[SimonT]

Heather,
thank you, I now need to have a go and see if I and my Sony DSC-HX400V are up to the task. If not I still have the Nikon D50 with which I never settled in a draw somewhere.
Simon

 

[Heather Kay]

The Helicon software looks impressive, I must say. It's a reasonable price, too. Right now, I can't justify a purchase - but now it's on my radar, as it were.

When I have time, I will take more care over the setup and number of shots I take for studio portraits of commissioned work.

 

[FiftyFourA]

Heather,

Just got back from winter maintenance on the J72 in 12" to the foot scale and read through all the stuff from today - thanks for the info, I shall read and inwardly digest.

Peter

 

[S7BcSR]

Heather

thanks for that as when I saw Simon T's original note I was going to ask for explanation as well. I installed Affinity Photo about a month ago and am still playing with it. I intend to use it to improve some shots of stuff at Pendon when I go down next week.

Rob

 

[Rob Pulham]

I have been experimenting with photo stacking for some time using the free software 'CombineZP' but only recently have I played about with changing the point of focus.

Here are some of my experiments using a couple of timber and ore wagons

Using a Canon 350D, first I used the manual point of focus setting for the following shots. They were then stacked using CombineZP.





Unfortunately there are only 5 manual focus points on the horizontal plane (there are only 3 in the vertical plane) and for some reason I cannot seem to select the one on the extreme left (unless it is selected but the LED has died). This means that some of it is out of focus.

The last photo is taken using the cameras Auto Depth of field function and then 6 shots stacked.



It has turned out to be the best of all of them.

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

I hope that was interesting and useful. Comments, questions, brickbats, all welcome!

Thanks for this mini tutorial Heather .

I have recently acquired Affinity Photo (following your recommendation elsewhere on WT) and still finding my way around it.

 

[Lancastrian]

A photo I took for Nick Baines on Wednesday. Only processing has been to even out the creases at the back of the light tent. Diffuse light, indoors.
Unfortunately the majority of modern cameras do not allow one to set a hyperfocal distance to maximise depth of field for a given aperture :-(

 

[Jim smith-wright]

You should be getting much better depth of field straight from a 350d than that Rob. Are you using the smallest aperature it will go to? Canon cameras always under expose by 2/3rds so its worth going over by the same amount
Also remember there's a lot more of an image in focus behind the focal point than in front of it so always focus towards the front of the model.

HTH

Jim

 

[Rob Pulham]

Hi Jim,

I was very much trying things out at that point - although I have had the camera for years I have pretty much always used it on auto and I haven't really taken the time to study it's idiosyncrasies on manual. I am slightly ashamed to say that for many years I did quite a bit of photography starting with a relatively cheap SLR and eventually moving up to a Pentax ME Super all of which I used manually.

Sadly unlike my return to railway modelling, my interest in photography/cameras has never rekindled itself and it doesn't stir me like it used to.

 

[oldravendale]

Funny you say that, Rob.....

I've been scanning a lot of my old Kodachrome and Ektachrome slides shot with my Nikon FM. They certainly have the edge on digital photos from my Canon. As far as I'm concerned the benefits of the DSLR are simply convenience.

There remains a strong professional undercurrent in favour of traditional film but it will never recover it's original pre-eminent position.

As a senior technician from Sony said to me a few years ago "if film didn't already exist we'd have to invent it"

Brian

 

[Lancastrian]

Brian,

I do miss my old FE and FE2. Lost them when the house I was living in at the time was burgled :-(

Ian