Tase Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 Hi Jon, i see you've painted one of the insulators in the pic of the class 66....what colour did you decide on in the end? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandhills Posted August 23, 2011 Author Share Posted August 23, 2011 Hi Jon, i see you've painted one of the insulators in the pic of the class 66....what colour did you decide on in the end? I've not chap ! The one in the pic has had several shades of brown applied but im still not sure. Been to Nuneaton this afternoon and seen light grey, bright red & chocolate brown examples !! ......speaking of Nuneaton, took some timeout from models this afternoon and Joey and I spent a brill afternoon with the full sized stuff ! 18 freight in 2 1/2 hours, 24 locos & wagon weathering inspiration galore !! A few pics from the afternoon to show what 'proper' realistic images should look like ! Might inspire me to crack on with some scenics tmow ! If no one minds, going forward i'd like to sprinkle around the thread some of my prototype images as for me, drawing inspiration and accurate detail from the real thing is something ive started to do after following valuable advice from members on the forum. Anyway, enjoy........these arent fake !! ................. Roll on the release of these wagons in model form - My train mad cheeky monkey - Wishlist pleae - Why do DRS go everywhere at 4 million miles per hour ?! Should have snapped earlier, Voyager just that bit too far away ! Hornby, please re tool your Skoda ! ......and finally......the closest ive got to one of these brutes ! Has anyone heard the DCC sound option on these and is it any good ?? This one sounded like a cross between our number 14 bus and a poorly Deltic :-/ !! Hope they were of some use and since ive sat here posting this, its become dark enough for me to nip outside and try some night shots with the 66 & 09............................... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon020 Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 Oh to live near a proper railway with such diversity of traffic: it's just not quite what it should be on the Brighton main line there's only so many 319s and 377s a guy can take. Lovely images Jon... looks like your lad is enjoying himself in his hols. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crisis Rail Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 A good Lad and Dad outing...! We had one on Monday... Seeing the Black 5 off from Preston on the Cambrian Steamer - At the same time 66122 emerged from the Dock Line with the Lindsay Oil - 10 Mins later "Wagner" Class 92 was on the Lessco2 Intermodal to Mossend Hopped on a Voyager then a 185 to Windermere (Lakes) witnessing a 31 Network Rail Tester at Lancaster - returning via a London bound Pendo - Home in 35mins - a good day. Good shots BTW - Thought they were your models initially! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandhills Posted August 23, 2011 Author Share Posted August 23, 2011 Not an overly successful night shoot......again.........GBRf Orange doesnt look good in the dark ! Just a handful worth showing - Night all ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandhills Posted August 24, 2011 Author Share Posted August 24, 2011 Having taken a half decent shot of the GBRf 66 this morning I thought id post a series of pics showing the photo processing I go through from 'off the camera' to 'on the forum'. IMHO this is where my stuff tends to transform from model train to something a little more realistic/believable. See where you would be happy with the image during the process, where you would stop with the processing and would you do anything different ? It will be interesting for other eyes & minds to comment on the image as it goes from just another file on the camera to a good all round quality model shot. Dont be afraid to let rip, I could learn some serious do's & dont's from this ! IMAGE 1 is straight out the camera, a canon 500D, iso 100, mode - A DEP, AI Servo & the exposure pegged down by -1 IMAGE 2 shows the obvious bits that need cropping IMAGE 3 cropped, no more board edge, oversized trees etc..... IMAGE 4 using Paint Shop Pro 7 image is put through a Median Filter to help eliminate noise IMAGE 5 again using PSP7 image is clarified IMAGE 6 Colour Balance auto adjusted in PSP7 IMAGE 7 Contrast auto adjusted in PSP7 IMAGE 8 Colour Saturation auto adjusted in PSP7 IMAGE 9 is resized in Irfanview to 640 x 480 IMAGE 10 Auto Colour Adjustment in Irfanview IMAGE 11 is Sharpened in Irfanview IMAGE 12 is completed with -15 to Brightness setting & +15 to Contrast setting ........................and its ready to post ! Be interesting to see which processess you think have any benefit or whether after cropping the obvious signs anyone would leave well alone ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mason Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 Thanks jon, thats helped me out big time, iv been messing around with my canon g3 and got some decent shots but was struggling with things after cropping bits out, i know that the process wont necessarily work for my lighting/camera etc but its a good guide and great tips for irfan which i have. Dont know why but i really like how image 6 looks but that could be my old eyes Neil Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBE Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 This is all a bit devils advocate as your photos are some of the best on the forum but looking through your process I think that the median filter is an unnessesary step as at iso 100 you shouldnt have any noise to worry about and I feel also that the last step is a step too far . The next to last shot looks better IMO with a little more brightness and less constrast. Im not a big fan of higher than normal contrast which is of course my taste. Nice how to none the less. Cav Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Worsdell forever Posted August 24, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 24, 2011 I agree with Cav, the last shot has lost the vibrancy from the yellow. Also agree with iso 100, I struggle to find much serious noise at 1600 with mine (Pentax Kx). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nile_Griffith Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 The only thing I would throw into the mix, is that possibly photo shop is doing a little of what the camera should be doing. I'm assuming that you are using a tripod for your photo's. So my own preferred set up would be to set the camera in aperture priority mode with a nice tight aperture and let the camera run the shutter timing to suit. Tripod mounted camera shake shouldn't be too much of a problem with a long exposure time. My own experience of Adep settings is that they are of only an real use for shots where there is a degree of motion in the subject or the camera is hand held and you need the camera to come up with a useful shutter/aperture setting quicker than you can think of one, because of average or low'ish light conditions. Getting Photoshop to effectively bring the depth of field into focus just adds noise and artefacts to something which should be done optically on the camera. I think colour balance etc is a very subjective thing. Of your shots I enjoy most are those that tend to convey an image in a very similar way to how late 80's and 90's print styles used to be. a tad over saturated and contrast'y. I'm not saying that by being that they are visual correct just that they re-enforce the time scale....... if you know what I mean. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
clecklewyke Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 Jon, Earlier in this thread you mentioned that you don't need an airbrush for weathering but later you talk about spraying. Can you please comment more on your weathering techniques and the tools you use? Many thanks Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandhills Posted August 24, 2011 Author Share Posted August 24, 2011 Thanks for the photo related comments guys, very useful and its obvious I need to remove myself from the A-Dep comfort zone I'm in and make the camera and it's manual settings work harder ! Ian - that's correct, I don't own or use an airbrush for my weathering, it's all done using Railmatch aerosol tins and weathering powder applied with brushes, the spraying reference was in relation to 'straight from the tin' rather than a airgun. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jim s-w Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 Hi Jon No need for median and auto colour balance has messed up the distinction between the orange and yellow. Assuming the image is ok to begin with (as yours are) you can and should do all of your adjustments in curves. The other methods are just a bit dumb while with curves you can chose where in your colour ranges you want the adjustment to be. For example adding contrast to the darks but not the lights. Finally one step missing (curves again) is to tell photoshop what in the image is neutral. This gives you a true image (notice how your grey corrigations have a orange cast?). Don't worry about using photoshop though, having worked as a finisher for nearly a decade I have never come across an image that doesn't need finishing, equally I have never met a pro photographer who would dream of putting out unfinished images Cheers Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
artizen Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 If anything needs to be done to the image after shooting it, then PS is the only software you need. You appear to have duplicated at least three steps in the process using two different software packages. My personal method is to shoot on tripod using settings on the camera that I know will give me accurate colour balance (eg outside in soft sunlight using daylight settings) and then crop, sharpen and final colour tweak. Resizing for a forum is more easily done in PS while you are still there and just save the image with a new file name (always keep the original at full size). As Jim mentioned, using curves in PS is the best and most accurate way of determining final values but is a slippery slope for novices as they tend to use visual clues on the monitor instead of using the histogram values (this is probably more important if you ever intend to print the photo). My problem at the moment is fluctuating light values caused by different light sources I have been trialing on my layout as I search for the optimum combination of LED colours and is an ongoing nightmare. At least by shooting outdoors the camera at least has settings that recognise those values. Personally I find the final image too dark and contrasty but I have no idea what the actual colour of the real thing is. Your images are extremely realistic because of the angle and the cropping etc so if you are comfortable with the results, then ignore my dribble. My personal preference is for lighter colours and shadow detail. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandhills Posted August 29, 2011 Author Share Posted August 29, 2011 A free bank holiday weekend and a new loco project. Far from the intended purchase of 70006, after being swayed by a certain 'Toton' layout building type person who will remain nameless I went from thoughts of ultra modern image cl70 to a very retro cl45 !! An extra day off tmow will enable me to do a full entry on the thread and I have taken pictures throughout the process but for now i'll post a before and after shot as SWMBO is waiting patiently to go out and I think an hour spent typing a full 'how I did' will probably tip her over the edge !! The inspiration - Before - During - After - ..............until tomorrow then ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robrailltd Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Have to say the vid is great on all sorts of levels, however the only detail that spoilt it for me was that there was a bloke in the cab at each end. Not sure if thats correct rail practice or not but was the only thing that made me question the reality of it..... I even liked the sound and thats something that in general I dislike on model trains. It does happen sometimes a shunter may be conveyed on a freight service. and travel in teh rear cab if they want some peace or indeed a driver passing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jim s-w Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Hi Jon Nice work - always liked the split box peaks. One little note - 45/1's dont have the body side steps (thus no plates over them) Is this a standard Bachmann release? Have they fitted the correct roof panels for a /1? Cheers Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandhills Posted August 30, 2011 Author Share Posted August 30, 2011 Hi Jon Nice work - always liked the split box peaks. One little note - 45/1's dont have the body side steps (thus no plates over them) Is this a standard Bachmann release? Have they fitted the correct roof panels for a /1? Cheers Jim Hi Jim, It is the standard Bachmann release. Bit of a strange one and totally agree on the plated over side steps. They seem to have taken several features from 45/0 with boiler, without boiler, 45/1 with ETH, without ETH, pre refurb and after re furb ???? I have no doubt someone with better knowledge of the class would be able to point out lots of descrepancies !! What confused me was pictures on the web of 45120 with split boxes & ETH equipment and then centre headcodes with ETH ? I would have thought it would have lost its split boxes at the same time as receiving the ETH equipment ? Did the centre headcode come about through collision damage or during refurbishment ? Will post a pic of the roof for you to study, I can tell you though they supply a couple of roof covers to stick over the cut outs at the bodyside steps end ! Fan grill is a little chunky and I was going to replace but thought better as they may have actually got this right and the grill on the Peaks was a lot chunkier than more modern diesels ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandhills Posted August 30, 2011 Author Share Posted August 30, 2011 A little peek (excuse the pun) at 45120 yesterday and a little more time today to go through the weekends modelling. Although im happy with the VAA vans ive already pictured the Peak with there is actually a plan with this one, inspired by another layout topic on the forum. Im very excited about Alex's (GrimleyGrid) Toton layout and if im ever lucky enough to photograph it when its finished I had thought how good it would be to have a stock box full of appropriate stuff. I had no intention of buying the Peak but after seeing how good Alex's ModelZone example looked sat on shed my mind was made up and the intended purchase of the more modern image class 70 I had my eye on will have to wait ! So, the plan, what do I want to picture this engine with ? It may be a challenge but I just had a vision of Toton sending out a work worn 45120, sometime late 70's/early 80's on this - Still need to think about how im going to do two of these though !! I can just see this with Boxenby in the background ! Anyway, thats for the future, ive got a breakdown crane pack reserved at the model shop & will no doubt get cracking on 'operation crane' in the coming weeks ! The Peak then, as already pointed out by Jim, Bachmanns new split box release isnt entirely correct with the addition of plated over bodyside steps, something 45120 never had ! That aside, its proportions , livery application and shade and front end representation all seem to be very good. With roof recess covers and ETH cables being all thats supplied in the detail bag a dive into my bits box found enough in the way of ETH receiver, air & vac pipes and couplings to tidy up both ends and turn this - into this - The roof recesses where covered using the supplied lids - I also noticed the headcode boxes had winding handles top & bottom, these were trimmed off as per later pics of the prototype - Detailed and ready for spraying - I wanted the various bodyside grills and vents to have the blackened look but ive always found it difficult to either hand paint or get black weathering powder in there neatly. I decided to try something new and after finding my masking tape was exactly the width between bodyside bottom edge and roof line gutter, I masked both full length bodysides off and cut out round the grills ready to spary. Aftyer spraying the roof with weathered black I also treated the sides and was really happy with the neat finish it gave - The axle box covers were picked out in yellow, a little bright but I knew the good level of grime that would go on the bogies would calm these down. The speedo cable and box were also picked out in orange and silver. After several dustings over the bogies with shades of dark grey, black and rusty brown the Peak was starting to look how I had remembered them on the MML at Leicester when I first started spotting around '79. Other little tweaks included tiny strips of silver paint on the cab steps, a silver centre window frame surround (however, I think this needs to be done again a little neater), not quite as thick as a class 60 window frame so a lot harder to do with my 'old man' shakes !!!! I also painted the cables from the headcode boxes black as Bachmann had left these after the factory yellow had been applied to the front end noses. After working round with a cotton bud dipped in thinner softening the lines between BR Blue and weathered black its about where I was aiming. Contrasted with the crane yellow and pictured on my longer more scenic board I hope the two combined will produce my most realistic shots yet, however that cranes going to need plenty of weathering work !! Some finished pics of the loco on a rather glum August day, I hope they improve slightly with the introduction of some brighter sunlight by the end of the week ! and my favourite so far - Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold bcnPete Posted August 30, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 30, 2011 Stunning...Personally, I rather like the first one best of it onshed. Thanks for the 'step by step's... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jim s-w Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Hi Jon The roof is the boiler fitted type thus unaltered from the Bachmann /0. The below picture shows modifications I made to one of mine Note I haven't sorted out the bodyside steps either - thats how I knew! Finally the small bodyside grill at the no2 end should be plated. Hth Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandhills Posted August 31, 2011 Author Share Posted August 31, 2011 Cheers Jim Are your Peaks Bachmann/Modelzone commisions or something different ? I notice one has a new buffer beam and theyre both sporting centre headcodes ? Ive no doubt the resulting photos of them heading out of New St with blue & white Mk2s will blow us all away ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandhills Posted August 31, 2011 Author Share Posted August 31, 2011 My big plan to get some more scenics done on the OHLE board today failed miserably this morning when the intended wake up and get going time of 0800 turned into 1230 ! Must have been more tired than I thought !! With modelling on hold, no decent light to take serious pics and in a slightly mischievous mood I decided to have a photo session combining my latest stock with a totally unrealistic backdrop, so without further ado, I introduce, a Peak on Eastfield !!!! - ''Having lost its way North of Carlisle on a Tinsley trip working the unsuspecting Peak was quickly marshalled between 2 VAAs ready for the short trip over to MC Metals !!'' ''Due to excessive levels of muck on the hand rails & footplate, Eastfield drivers refuse to enter 45120 and the Peak earns a reprieve !!'' ''Later that day, Glaswegian resident 09 (!!) shunter, 09012, is used to move the irate Peak for fuelling so it can make its long journey back down South'' ''On hearing about the missing Peak, Immingham despatch a 'long fuel range' Construction 31 on a search and rescue mission......this later arrives on Eastfield and traincrew ask ''shouldnt those blue & yellow squares be black & yellow diamonds'' ?!'' ''That evening, having been issued with a bio suit and rubber gloves a driver is found and the Bonnet heads off depot and back to the relative safety of South Yorkshire, Tinsley that is, not Booths !!'' Sorry, told you I was in a strange mood today ! Hope you enjoyed the photos anyway ?! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crisis Rail Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 A good story... Your images are an inspiration - I have to look twice as to gauge their reality... The top 45120 by the Rf Van and Baccy depot is the pick for me - brilliant work. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jim s-w Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Cheers JimAre your Peaks Bachmann/Modelzone commisions or something different ? I notice one has a new buffer beam and theyre both sporting centre headcodes ? They are a model version of triggers broom! Starting off as the mainline split box one, this was then modified to the marker light version. Later the bodies were swapped for replica ones. Later still the chassis was swapped to the first Bachmann one and the noses modified to be the right height while the battery boxes were swapped over too. Then the bodies were swapped to the model zone ones which is the state they were in in the pics. Later again the bogies were swapped from the older to the newer bachy ones. But still with the mainline battery boxes! I have 2 more but they are standard model zone ones. I doubt mine will end up as dirty (read as well weathered) as yours though. Cheers Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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