Jump to content
 

Stoke Courtenay


checkrail
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • RMweb Gold

Further to Mike's thoughts, could we see one of the original images without it having passed through RMWeb or any other software's processing?

 

I guess they are quite large files so perhaps you could you upload one of the original files, straight out of the camera, to Dropbox, Google Drive or equivalent file sharing service, then share it and post the share link here?

 

Then we'd be able to tell you much more about what's going on - we'd be able to see the EXIF data for one thing.

 

  • Informative/Useful 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold
12 minutes ago, Limpley Stoker said:

 I see your pictures’ colour balance and exposure changed in February when you started to download to the new improved RMWeb. I wonder the process of adjusting the file size to fit altered some picture characteristics . Everything was perfect before that. Just a thought.

 

Hmm, that hadn't occurred to me Mike.  But it might be too easy for me to deflect the blame by praying that in aid.  It's probably just me and my inability to get along with manuals.  

 

(I'm just looking at Chapter 5, p95, of the 'Photographer's Guide to the Panasonic ZS100/TZ100', in which 8 shots of the same beautifully portrayed bowl of multi-coloured fruit are shown, to illustrate the various white balance options.  I have to say that I can't honestly see any difference between them, so perhaps it's just as well that I have a routine check-up appointment at the eye hospital tomorrow!)

 

John.

  • Friendly/supportive 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Hoping these might be a bit better.  Grange and parcels on down line.

P1050049.JPG.48a70d44a8307a4e7a721c3be4a8fa93.JPG

P1050050.JPG.1065fb23fc260816d7be93d090d42003.JPG

Have spent the day experimenting, following advice from Martin, Kevin et al.  In the end I found the 2-axis thingy that adjusted the white balance, and moved the crossing point of the two axes away from the blue bottom corner.  Will keep experimenting with that.

 

But also, something was set wrong, as Martin suggested.  I think the fact that the 2 pics herewith come out at around 2.2 mb each, rather than 9 point something, says a lot.  

 

(But re the 4K facility, I could find 3 options as icons, listed vertically from the menu, but no option to turn it off entirely.) 

 

John C.

  • Like 17
Link to post
Share on other sites

Looking better, crisp and sharp along the focal plan.

Colour much better and not so pixelated.

 

Now doing the model some justice.

 

Just need to master Post Focus....!

OK...OK....one step at a time

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

On 04/03/2019 at 19:11, Brian D said:

Hi John,

Fantastic layout, wonderfully evocative.

I assume the photo issues you are having are due to a lack of natural light in your attic and getting the camera settings right.  You could try a bit of image processing.  I have taken the liberty of downloading this image...

 

TC5.jpg.8763abfb7cc2b5fd7727db9478d7e7f4.jpg.96851414aaf3e99c80ca7a56066b143b.jpg

 

...and tweaking it as follows.

 

Firstly I have Microsoft Office 2010 installed on my PC and I can open jpeg images using it ("Open with").  There is an auto correct button which yielded this result.

 

43961657_MSOffice.jpg.bce454b715eabdb820901f8a0039d984.jpg

 

I also have Photo Shop Elements, the cheapo version of Adobe PS, which can also automatically adjust pics and the following image resulted.

 

842260958_PSElements.jpg.abe58c55599463faaac621e611274541.jpg

 

Both tweaks I think have improved your image.  If you have access to this sort of software you could give it a try.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Best Regards,

Brian.

Spot metering on the smokebox door would have helped improve it.

Edited by lightengine
Erratum smokebox for firebox
  • Like 3
  • Agree 1
  • Funny 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Hi John,

 

I tried reducing the blue cast, corrected the diverging verticals, and cropped off the out-of-focus foreground:

 

stoke_courtenay_mod.jpg.f3e41e6ab4d76d5a2537a2936f319a3b.jpg

 

There is an option in the TZ100 settings to reset the original factory settings. If you are not sure what changes you have made, it might be worth trying. It's in the Setup menu (spanner icon):

 

tz_100_e.png.5767577e546ba27fadf7a2f4de739225.png

 

cheers,

 

Martin.

  • Like 10
  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold
2 hours ago, lightengine said:

Spot metering on the firebox door would have helped improve it.

That would be impressive: the firebox door is out of sight in the cab...

(Before anyone jumps in, we all know and probably read smokebox door. Or were too polite to mention it.)

  • Agree 1
  • Thanks 1
  • Funny 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold
10 hours ago, martin_wynne said:

There is an option in the TZ100 settings to reset the original factory settings. If you are not sure what changes you have made, it might be worth trying. It's in the Setup menu (spanner icon):

Thanks again Martin.  Will use if I need to.

 

BTW, you've made a very nice job of tidying up that shot of 6801.  Cheers!

 

John.

  • Agree 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold
On ‎10‎/‎03‎/‎2019 at 09:14, Anglian said:

Do you spray or brush paint those you build?

 

Glad you like my wagons.  I've used both methods - don't think it's critical with wagons.  But recent GWR wagons have been sprayed - it's quicker!  

 

The pic below shows an 030 steel open built from a Cambrian kit and completed this week.  It was sprayed with Precision freight stock grey. The van to its right, built from an old Cooper Craft kit a few weeks ago, was sprayed with Railmatch GWR freight grey, just before the rattle can ran empty.  I'm sure the Precision colour is correct - it matches ex-works photos insofar as one can tell in b & w!  But I prefer the slightly faded in-service look of the Railmatch paint and have just acquired some more.  I also find that Precision paints sometimes have a slight sheen.

 

67c.jpg.0706f73cda2a1b091394548b2a89580b.jpg

 

The cattle wagon to the right of the Mink in the next picture is faded and weathered Railmatch.

 

59C.jpg.d354f41444f7159cef431a08597304a9.jpg

 

The final photo also includes another open, an old Hornby model resprayed with Railmatch from its original private owner livery.  Again, faded and weathered.   Now thinking of attacking the new Precision sprayed wagons with Vallejo light grey wash.

 

63c.jpg.59dad0a5f4810bee83cd6d8b1ade0882.jpg

 

Non-GWR stock, like my recent builds of LMS opens, are brush painted.  Can't justify buying an aerosol for everything!

 

John C.

 

 

  • Like 12
  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

62c.jpg.96cdf1c2abd3256c113c9f97dd15a4fc.jpg

 

A few weeks ago, looking for something quick to do (and putting off potentially time-consuming projects like coach kit building and loco weathering), I decided to get rid of the supernumerary window on one side of the B set coaches.  That'll only take half a day or so, I thought.  Wrong!

 

64c.jpg.88e67a4f38a2b5c3fe7aa17692f7277a.jpg

 

Making and fitting plastikard blanking plates was easy enough, but after filling gaps with plastic putty and rubbing down I managed to obliterate some of the lining.  It took several days to restore this to any satisfactory degree.  But the most frustrating thing was that, try as I might, I just couldn't match the 'cream' colour that Hornby used, in spite of countless experiments with every shade of yellow and cream that Humbrol produce. Grrr!  So I decided that a complete repaint of the cream was necessary.  Needless to say I got some cream on the brown here and there (the door and grab handle detail got in the way of effective masking), and so then the brown needed touching up.  All this handling led to some shiny spots on the roof, which matt varnish won't chase away, so a roof dirt respray is the next job.  Almost wish I'd never bothered!

 

66c.jpg.6006aefab061003fc693387fa6678ed6.jpg

 

Still threatening skies over Dartmoor in these pics.  Hoping the sun will shine soon (after further experimenting with camera settings!)

 

John C.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Like 16
  • Agree 1
  • Friendly/supportive 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold
7 minutes ago, checkrail said:

A few weeks ago, looking for something quick to do (and putting off potentially time-consuming projects like coach kit building and loco weathering), I decided to get rid of the supernumerary window on one side of the B set coaches.  That'll only take half a day or so, I thought.  Wrong!

 

Making and fitting plastikard blanking plates was easy enough, but after filling gaps with plastic putty and rubbing down I managed to obliterate some of the lining.  It took several days to restore this to any satisfactory degree.  But the most frustrating thing was that, try as I might, I just couldn't match the 'cream' colour that Hornby used, in spite of countless experiments with every shade of yellow and cream that Humbrol produce. Grrr!  So I decided that a complete repaint of the cream was necessary.  Needless to say I got some cream on the brown here and there (the door and grab handle detail got in the way of effective masking), and so then the brown needed touching up.  All this handling led to some shiny spots on the roof, which matt varnish won't chase away, so a roof dirt respray is the next job.  Almost wish I'd never bothered!

 

Still threatening skies over Dartmoor in these pics.  Hoping the sun will shine soon (after further experimenting with camera settings!)

 

John C.

 

Wish I had done this when I was respraying a pair into wartime brown, cant think why I didn't (given how much of a difference it makes).  At some stage I will get round to correcting it, especially now with Hornby having released the non corridor coaches it appears our chances of an accurate E140/145 B Set are a lot slimmer. 

  • Informative/Useful 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold
2 hours ago, checkrail said:

Still threatening skies over Dartmoor in these pics.  Hoping the sun will shine soon (after further experimenting with camera settings!)

 

Hi John,

 

It's possible to improve the weather:

 

stoke_courtenay_mod3.jpg.12d1bb84094350dce23e9b03ac93a8af.jpg

 

 

stoke_courtenay_mod2.jpg.6303f91298097b5f68d98d2c95160a89.jpg

 

Have you tried doing a factory reset on the camera? I feel sure you have inadvertently changed something, but without the camera to hand and knowing all your settings, it is difficult to advise.

 

The loco needed a bit more light this side. Just a large piece of white card behind the camera would make a difference, it doesn't have to be hi-tech.

 

cheers,

 

Martin.

Edited by martin_wynne
  • Like 8
  • Agree 1
  • Informative/Useful 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Hi John,

 

The last one is best -- much better than before. It would have been the middle one but for the loco being underexposed. As Kevin says, a bit of reflected light from a white board or some such might have improved it.

 

It's always a good idea to crop away any out-of-focus foreground -- we don't naturally notice anything being out of focus out of doors.

 

If you have some perspective/rotation controls on your computer, it's a good idea to correct for any lens distortion as far as you can, and make sure that everything which is supposed to be vertical, such as the bridge pilaster here, is vertical in the pic (unless it is intended to be a view at an angle, such as looking down off a bridge).

 

There is less distortion, and less out-of-focus, if you can move the camera further away, and then crop out the middle of the picture on your computer.

 

The hard edges in the sky can be got rid of by using the blur controls:

 

stoke_courtenay_mod4.jpg.3938bdd2f86cf7ab0ccb632276711a4c.jpg

 

The grass colour on the embankment is a bit dominant there. You might prefer to reduce the colour saturation, although it spoils the GWR green a bit:

 

stoke_courtenay_mod5.jpg.cd2dc31e7d364b2fb8af13afa8d842d3.jpg 

 

Or maybe in monochrome:

 

stoke_courtenay_mod6.jpg.92af15d951d5519fabe29ef27368e631.jpg

 

cheers,

 

Martin.

 

  • Like 6
  • Agree 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...