RMweb Gold Harlequin Posted March 4, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 4, 2019 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. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold checkrail Posted March 4, 2019 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted March 4, 2019 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. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold checkrail Posted March 4, 2019 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted March 4, 2019 Hoping these might be a bit better. Grange and parcels on down line. 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. 17 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KNP Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 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 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Limpley Stoker Posted March 4, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 4, 2019 That’s so much better John. Now we can all relax! 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightengine Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 (edited) 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... ...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. I also have Photo Shop Elements, the cheapo version of Adobe PS, which can also automatically adjust pics and the following image resulted. 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 March 15, 2019 by lightengine Erratum smokebox for firebox 3 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KNP Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 2 minutes ago, Limpley Stoker said: That’s so much better John. Now we can all relax! Not quite yet, don't forget Post Focus!!! 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold martin_wynne Posted March 4, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 4, 2019 Hi John, I tried reducing the blue cast, corrected the diverging verticals, and cropped off the out-of-focus foreground: 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): cheers, Martin. 10 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted March 4, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 4, 2019 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.) 1 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold checkrail Posted March 5, 2019 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted March 5, 2019 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. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Popular Post checkrail Posted March 6, 2019 Author RMweb Gold Popular Post Share Posted March 6, 2019 On 28/02/2019 at 18:31, Anglian said: I'm really not up to speed with good stock, are yours a mix of kits, RTR and modified RTR? Sorry for late reply Anglian - got sidetracked by all this photography malarkey! You're quite right - goods stock is indeed a mixture of kits and modified RTR. It's a rather undeveloped area at present, with stock of varying provenance and quality. I have in effect three distinct pools of vehicles, as follows: 1. Wagons used for pick-up/branch goods trains, mainly using good quality modified RTR or kits, and fitted with the 'Brian Kirby' adaption to the t/l couplings to allow hands-free shunting. Happy with these in general. 2. Coal train. Same mixture but there are still three PO wagons lurking at the back with 17 1/2 foot bodies on 10 ft steel underframes, to be replaced in due course. In the medium term I have a vague intention of re-equipping this train with 3-link couplings. After all, it's not subject to shunting. 3. The rest is an ever growing ragbag from which various other freight trains can be put together, and includes recently built kits (as per the pics below of Ratio GW and Cambrian LMS opens, completed a week or two ago from a large stash of unbuilt kits) as well as some real horrors, like old Mainline vehicles where the brake blocks don't align with the wheels. I hope to improve/update/replace the latter as time goes by. In the meantime I just wanted stock - at the moment the best is the enemy of the good. John C. 20 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anglian Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 Thank you for responding in so much detail. Your kit built models look to be of a very high standard. Do you spray or brush paint those you build? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold checkrail Posted March 14, 2019 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted March 14, 2019 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. The cattle wagon to the right of the Mink in the next picture is faded and weathered Railmatch. 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. Non-GWR stock, like my recent builds of LMS opens, are brush painted. Can't justify buying an aerosol for everything! John C. 12 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlfaZagato Posted March 14, 2019 Share Posted March 14, 2019 Have you thought of investing in an airbrush? Seeing your comparisons of Railmatch and Precision makes me jealous. Neither are available stateside. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold gwrrob Posted March 14, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 14, 2019 Beautiful wagons John. 6 4 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted March 14, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 14, 2019 4 hours ago, AlfaZagato said: Seeing your comparisons of Railmatch and Precision makes me jealous. Neither are available stateside. Same here. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold checkrail Posted March 15, 2019 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted March 15, 2019 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. 16 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Fatadder Posted March 15, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 15, 2019 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. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KNP Posted March 15, 2019 Share Posted March 15, 2019 Regarding the darkness of your pictures, one thought comes to mind and that is the lighting. Have you tried any additional lights to see if that will help? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold martin_wynne Posted March 15, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 15, 2019 (edited) 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: 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 March 15, 2019 by martin_wynne 8 1 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Popular Post checkrail Posted March 15, 2019 Author RMweb Gold Popular Post Share Posted March 15, 2019 This B set has seen various incremental improvements over the past few years - droplight and roof painting, new headstocks & buffers on outer ends, branch branding, tie-bars on bogies, and now the window. I suppose one of these days I'll have a look at correcting the underframe detail. I've also considered the Lazerglaze windows, but the Hornby ones have such a nice representation of the 'smoking' etc. stockers that it seems a shame to remove them. And anyway, I'm lazy. Here 5557 waits for departure in the branch platform while 3603 passes on the up main. And here's one of 5557 leaving for Earlsbridge. And a final close up of 5557. Now to drag myself away from the workbench, the laptop and the newspaper, and have another look at that camera, trying Martin's suggestion of restoring factory settings as a starting point. John C. 19 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold checkrail Posted March 15, 2019 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted March 15, 2019 Ok gentlemen. Been experimenting, using your generous hints & tips. So are these any improvement, and which is best? (Don't trust my own eyes anymore!) 12 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KNP Posted March 15, 2019 Share Posted March 15, 2019 Last one but if you used a reflective board then you could get some light on the wheels using some redirected room lighting 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold martin_wynne Posted March 15, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 15, 2019 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: 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: Or maybe in monochrome: cheers, Martin. 6 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Limpley Stoker Posted March 15, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 15, 2019 On 04/03/2019 at 20:48, checkrail said: characteristics I agree the third picture is best. The time stamp says it only took one hour of your time to fix it! 1 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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