goldngreen

Brilliant, inspiring and informative. Thanks

Looking good. When do we get to see more trams?

Your bare tree looks really good. You have managed to capture a realistic tree shape. It will be interesting to see how it progresses.

I too like to use stripped mains flex for tree structure. I model in n gauge and find that anything else is too thick. 

Very precise ballasting there. Looking good.

Good to see you on Saturday at Aylesbury show. I will hopefully get to one of the above to see Fen End Pit working again.

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.

49 minutes ago, Vecchio said:

 

 

 

from time to time I threw the railway in the corner and made one of these...

 

Merry Christmas

 

Sorry for the dust. Need to clean them....

Wow. Very nice.

1 hour ago, Vecchio said:

Absolute lovely little machine and good choice of music. Did you build it or bought it? 

I would love to be able to say that I made it but I am afraid I bought it!

13 hours ago, Mikkel said:

Lovely work. That last photo is excellent, it feels as if you could walk right into the scene and be a part of it. 

Thanks. It is not easy to get a good photo of N gauge. I am experimenting with methods to improve the photos at the moment.

13 hours ago, ChrisN said:

This looks great, and so near to Christmas too.

 

What and where?  It can go on my Christmas list.

It came from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0917FL9MW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1. It is intended for computing equipment, keyboards etc but it is also good for layouts. 

It looks really good. I would be nice to see some bigger pictures of the already completed modules.

Good luck with it. I hope you get it all sorted out soon. A house move is a nightmare for a model railway. Good to have the dedicated room though!

Your progress is lighting fast compared to mine! I am familiar with the area so will be very interested to see progress.

They are worth the re-post. I love your buildings, scenic work and sense of colour. Great work.

20 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Love it.  You shoould also have weathered the cattle pen. 

You'll need a few dollops of thick cowpat brown for that!

The ratio cattle dock kit includes a couple of very small cow pats! They are not in place at the moment. It is however weathered in various ways including to look like it has been lime washed (which was common practise).

12 hours ago, Lacathedrale said:

Does she play with the layout too? I'm expecting a girl, but not holding out much hope for sharing the model railway bug :)

She does although not too frequently

They are good. I use the N gauge ones. 

The signal box looks particularly good, especially the roof tiles.

Just now, AY Mod said:

 

Hold fire, restoring images after database work today is in progress.

Good news and an impressively fast response 😃 

Thanks.

21 hours ago, Lacathedrale said:

Glad to hear it. I'm revisiting my idea for a laoyut and I have a visible space of 125cm x 25cm - I wonder if something like the Billy Bookcase layout might make sense...

It has worked out well for me. I would simplify the design of the baseboard/box in to a single construction if I did it again, rather than making the baseboards and then adding the box.

If you give it a go, I hope it goes well and please post plenty of updates so we can follow the progress.

It looks like I spoke too soon!

18 hours ago, MR Chuffer said:

The lettering, shouldn't it all be upper case as I have read elsewhere on here that lower case on shop signs and the like only started to appear post-fifties.

I will check that. Thanks. I am not 100% happy with the lettering anyway. I think I probably should have used a serif font.

28 minutes ago, Lacathedrale said:

Is there a link to your new look?

Not yet. I will get round to it. It has rising hills in the background. It means that it is higher but it is clear that it is meant to be high because they are hills.

2 hours ago, Mikkel said:

That's a convincing result.  The shape of trees is usually "uneven yet balanced", a look I find hard to capture, but you've got it just right I think. Thanks for the inspiration. 

 

I suppose unwittingly that is what I was trying to achieve. This puts it in to words nicely. Thanks.

1 hour ago, Simond said:

“Uneven, yet balanced.”

 

yes.

 

philosophical question for the morning.  How does it know?

 

 

Very true. Like the magic of the vacuum flask