The beta test site for the new Railimages software is down, so I thought I upload to the established Railimages site, and show my tests. These are really only tests.
That is an amazing piece of SW! The foreground AND the middle ground AND the background in focus... With the right camera....
Wow! Some tests! Tom, the right camera is a digital one. The combination of that and Helicon software (and Pete's photography) is what does the depth-of-field magic. Pete, I guessed that some of your long runs and scenery depth were at least partly done with photography in mind. Then in walked the Helicon stuff. The million-dollar question is, will you now alter unfinished areas of your layout to take better advantage of the depth-of-field that you can get now? Are you rebuilding a surplus space shuttle arm to get good photo angles from inaccessible places? Just a beautiful job with the layout, too. The great photos validate all the hard work that you guys have put into the detailing.
Steamghost, It may be hard to believe, but most of the layout is scenicked at the first stage. That's more than 300 sq. feet of deck, and lots of backdrops. First stage means that there's no longer any foam or plywood showing. About 70 percent of the layout is stage two, like the ballpark. Given the multi-deck design, there's not a lot of space left in this 11 x 23-foot space. I can't really expand the width of the decks, or take out aisle space. With a few exceptions, this built out almost exactly as planned back in 2002. I did add 5 inches of width to each deck, once I had the track down, and saw that I could do it without too much of a sacrifice in getting light to the lower decks. That's one reason why my fascia are slanted inward at about 45 degrees. In 2002, I bought a tripod with an arm that extends horizontally. Without copious sandbags, it was a waste of money. Jeanne is now sewing together some more sandbags. While costly, it has nowhere near the rigidity needed. Yes, I need a shuttle arm! So, in reality, the Helicon Focus software hasn't changed much on the layout. If I had known about it four years ago, it would have changed some things here and there, but not a whole lot. This is a layout built for long runs that are linear--you pass through a scene only once. Helicon Focus allows me to take photos of those long runs. It enables me to show the depth of Downtown Boston and other turnarounds such as Roundhouse, Harrington Farms, Plutonium Plant, and Westover (Summit). Getting light into the decks for photo'ing "inside the layout" has been a problem. With single shots, sometimes with multiple flashes, I could overcome that. I haven't tried Helicon with flash photography--yet. I have an SB-800, and am thinking that two additional SB-600s, along with some cheap slave units, might be necessary. A multi-deck layout is hard to photograph! I'm tired of Photoshopping out the bottom of the other decks. I'm negotiating--no, actually I'm planning--the extension into the adjoining two-car garage. This will have wide shelves, with the track more or less centered, and two decks that are 30 inches apart. [ January 17, 2006, 10:43 PM: Message edited by: Pete Nolan ]
Pete, Of all the pics I've seen of the ball field this is deffinately the most flattering. From this angle it looks symetrical. Was this a planned forced perspective or did that just kind of happen?
John, The ballpark is symmetrical. It's a Little League Park--180 feet from homeplate to the fences, 60 feet from base to base, etc. This shot was planned. It's from across the aisle, as far back as I could go and still see the viewfinder--about 3 feet from the edge. Chris, Actually, this is mostly Jeanne's work.
Pete - I "purchased" a one year license for HELICON'S FOCUS on Monday - what is the next step in getting a working application - from them of course - so I can use it on some upcoming shots I would like to take of "my layout". Please advise when you have a moment. John Coots
Nice stuff. You can actually get a good perspective of the grades, and the Roundhouse shot and the ballfield are awesome.
John, If you're on a PC, perhaps someone else could answer? I'm just not very familiar with PCs and Windows. I'm on a Mac running a PC emulator, so things might be different for me. I haven't paid for mine yet, although I certainly will. I just downloaded it onto the Mac, and just dragged the .exe file into the Windows emulator. No documentation. [ January 19, 2006, 10:59 PM: Message edited by: Pete Nolan ]
John, Did you purchase Focus or Focus Pro? Have you downloaded either of them for a 30 day trial? You should have rec'd a registration key with your purchase. The one year license makes your registration key good for 1 year from the date of purchase. At some point you should be able to enter that registration key into a screen presented by the software. That will take the "This Image produced with Helicon Focus" of any pictures you produce. And it may unlock certain features as well. The license should also be good for any upgrades during that time. I just looked at their site and they should email you a registration key the next day... Enter the key and the software should not pester you to register at all, until your year is almost up.
Thanks, Tom. Does that help, John? I'm going to buy Focus Pro, because I can use it for so much stuff.
