Depth of Field Experiments--New Image!

I was doing some experiments last night, as I had forgotten to put the potatos in the oven and had an hour to kill. I was looking at Photoshop's HDR (High Dynamic Range) merge capability, which allows you to take a number of exposures (at different f-stops) and combine them in a 32-bit image that preserves more dynamic range than your monitor or printed paper can display.

It's kind of a more sophisticated Highlights/Shadow adjustment. It works, but you need to be shooting under some pretty harsh situations for it to be worth it. Model train photography isn't one of those conditions.

I can't use Helicon for depth of field because I'm on a Mac. That will change tomorrow. But I got to thinking: suppose I tricked HDR Merge into thinking it was Helicon. Suppose I underexposed the front, and overexposed the back. Would it combine the two images, thinking it was contributing to dynamic range when it was really contributing to depth of field?

Well, it did! Was it worth the hassle? No! I'm getting Virtual PC for Mac tomorrow, and hope Helicon will run under it. But, if it doesn't . . .

Here's two heavy haulers, a Bachmann 2-6-6-2 and a 10,000 ton C-2 freighter. It was a shot more composed to test out ways to handle difficult lighting conditions (and depth of field) than a stirring image. It also shows the 2-6-6-2 can run on C55! (Unless I was faking it, but then I'd never tell!)



I'd display my best "ordinary short under this but, at these resolution jpgs, you really can't see much of a difference. I certainly can at 3000 x 2000, but not here.

[ January 13, 2006, 06:34 PM: Message edited by: Pete Nolan ]

 

Pete:

That's a great photo of combining the two images.

Stay cool and run steam.....

 

Thanks, Bob.

Now I have to make it look like daylight. I'm working on that.

Jeanne and I have been working on the railroad so hard, I've neglected photographing it. I'm getting a Windows emulator tomorrow; Helicon Fcous is next.

On a multi-deck layout, that near-to-infinity capabiliity is essential!

 

Virtual PC?

 

Yep, Virtual PC from--oh my lord--Microsoft. Actually it works OK, and so does the Helicon software. I just finished the installations, and am headed out to the trainroom for the first test.

Where it's a virtual machine, I sure hope it and Windows XP are invisible to the outside world! I haven't used Windows since 1989! But I'm only using it for Helicon right now.

 

OK, I'm wetting my pants! First Helicon test:



I think I confused it with a last shot at focus infinity rather than 15 feet. That's about 12 feet of harbor at 40mm (60mm equivalent) with the nearest object about 2.5 feet from the lens. This is jaw-dropping stuff. I've never seen anything like this outside of government agencies. Simple to use, fast . . .

Wow!

[ January 13, 2006, 06:33 PM: Message edited by: Pete Nolan ]

 

Pete:

You have a great photo there. How many cuts did you use to make the composite?


Stay cool and run steam......

 

I read the article on Helicon and find it interesting, but since I don't have much (in modeling) to photograph, I guess it is not much of an issue.

Harold

 

Mental image I do not need, great shot of your layout tho.

 

Seven shots, although the last, set to infinity, was probably unnecessary and might even have marred the far focus.