Florescent lights be they full size or compact have a lot more green in them then natural sunlight. This tends to skew color rendition when using them. Your options are prettymuch two. 1: utilize lighting specifically for taking photos. 2: use daylight (6500K) CFL bulbs The first options is a bit of money for something you won't always be using. On the second option. I have mixed opinions. My railroad is under 6500k bulbs and right now I feel like it looks like a bright overcast day in photos and in person. I think to combat this I'm going to use those small Halogen spots to create a more yellow "sun" so the general lighting will be colored right with a bit of warmth on top Your other option, assuming you have a digital camera is to simply adjust the white balance.
Yep, you're right... too many Supertrees can become very expensive. I'm sure putting them in front with the puff balls to give depth will improve the overall vision. Again, great job! Please post more photos as soon as you go along with construction!
Outstanding in every way! you should submit it MR for an article. Keep track of the lighting situation. They are coming out with daylight type bulbs for the florescent lamps and they are getting pretty compact. Matter of fact the light spectrum is just right for digital cameras. I wish I had that kind of space. good luck to you and the layout. Rob
Because fluorescents by nature emit very diffuse light, you will get that bright hazy day look, especially with overhead lighting. There are a number of ways around this problem. 1. Use Photoshop or equivalent software to increase brightness/contrast. But this will not correct for multiple short shadows. 2. If you want single longer shadows, trying shutting off or shielding some of the lights on the shadow side. 3. Use a key light, which could be as simply as a big CFB in a cheap reflector, held just out of camera field of view--as close as possible to you subject. 4. Use a flash to substitute for the sun. This usually won't work unless your camera has something called "slow synch," and the flash is further away from the lens than a pop-up flash allows. Slow synch means your camera's meter collects all the room light first, then fires the flash just before the shutter closes. It takes a lot of experimentation to get this right. I usually bounce the flash off something so it doesn't create a huge hot spot on the subject. The flash acts as the single source of light that is, in nature, the sun. Though it takes some fiddling, it's my preferred method these days. 5. Make your backdrops a bit gloomy--that was my first reaction. Not every train runs on a sunny day!
Please be careful. The bulb portion does not, as you note, seem to get hot. However, we have had our house CFL equipped for several years now. During that time, a couple have gone bad. The base, which I assume contains some sort of ballast, got very hot. One turned almost black. Boxcab E50
I tried rearranging a couple of the puffballs and added a few more Super trees. I think it helped a good deal. Also added a couple of darker clouds here and there. Think that helped also, but the white tops didn't show up until the last pic. I'm just trying to get some scenery on the thing instead of blue foam, and will probably move along and come back later with more. Thanks for the suggestions.
Just awesome....simply awesome!!!! The new clouds really add a sense of realism to the scene. The trees, grass, cornfield....all of it works so well together. So, when do you come over for dinner
I am also a closet NS fan shhhh dont tell anyone . I used to be stationed at MCAS Cherry Point and lived both Moorehead City and Beaufort NC while in the Marines. After the Marines went to college (first time) in Minnesota then moved back to North Carolina living in Charlotte. I used to enjoy watching the NS trains when I lived down in Carolina. Beautiful state (miss the smokeys). Dont get me wrong....I like Minnesota as well and the three weeks of summer
Outstanding job on the scenery, you have a very good eye for it. Keep up with the photos Its better than whats on the tube. Rob
Thanks guys. I need a reality check every once in a while. I get immune to the look after a couple of hours. That, and being color blind (color ignorant)... have a problem with red/green. KB
Vary,vary good work you have done so far!!!!I wish I had your space,I would love to build my own building just for model railroading! JIM
I can't believe your color blind and managed to do the scenery so well. For an artist using color, thats quite the handycap. My hats off to you Lad! Rob
A few pictures from different places on the layout. I am working a little here and there on wooded areas. It helps hide the mass of foam everywhere.
