@goldngreen Happy 2023!

Photography is not my day job but I did study it to city & guilds level before we went digital so here are some tips, ..

• Focus - I am not sure what is behind your wide angle lens. I have canon systems and I can use the back screen to focus and more importantly zoom into to check focus. 
• Depth of Field  - To get the best from the depth of filed pick a point 1/3 into your scene, say the back edge of the coal bunker on the right of your scene.
• Lighting - I think the only thing letting down your lovely photo is  some shadows on the back scene . So to try and get a bit of a wash of light onto it to reduce the shadow behind the tree and just to the left of the water tower. That'll give you a better illusion of depth.
• Composition - Possibly add a couple of figures in the grass foreground walker farmers etc. this should add more depth and create more of a story 
• White Balance - The picture could maybe a bit warmer though it all looks a bit green.  The right White balance can give you a nice period feel as well

This might get your shot form 8/10 to 10/10 as it is already pretty good, so have fun and experiment

22 hours ago, deepfat said:

@goldngreen Happy 2023!

Photography is not my day job but I did study it to city & guilds level before we went digital so here are some tips, ..

• Focus - I am not sure what is behind your wide angle lens. I have canon systems and I can use the back screen to focus and more importantly zoom into to check focus. 
• Depth of Field  - To get the best from the depth of filed pick a point 1/3 into your scene, say the back edge of the coal bunker on the right of your scene.
• Lighting - I think the only thing letting down your lovely photo is  some shadows on the back scene . So to try and get a bit of a wash of light onto it to reduce the shadow behind the tree and just to the left of the water tower. That'll give you a better illusion of depth.
• Composition - Possibly add a couple of figures in the grass foreground walker farmers etc. this should add more depth and create more of a story 
• White Balance - The picture could maybe a bit warmer though it all looks a bit green.  The right White balance can give you a nice period feel as well

This might get your shot form 8/10 to 10/10 as it is already pretty good, so have fun and experiment

 

Thanks for the comments. This is an effort to see what kind of results I could get with an iPhone13 Pro, which includes an optical wide angle sensor. I do have a Canon DSLR which I will probably attempt another version with later, but, to get the wide angle, I would have to invest in another lens. On the depth of field, the reason I called it cheating is that I used focus stacking on this one. It is my first attempt - the results are far from perfect but it was an interesting exercise. The lighting on the photo is a cop-out using a couple of LED desk lights at the front plus the overhead LED light installed on the layout. I completely agree with you about the shadows. I have previously taken better lit shots using my DSLR and a flash gun pointing away with a reflector, consequently avoiding the shadows. I also agree with your points on composition - building of the layout is progressing very slowly (an almost geological timescale!) so this kind of detail is on the TBD list. I did a post-adjustment on the white balance to try to get a daylight look from a photo taken in doors - perhaps I went a bit too far!

I will take your tips on board for the future.

see my comment about the lighting re shadows

Don