Great Photograpy highlights Great Modeling!

Great Photography highlights Great Modeling! And the delightful story highlights great operations modeling too. Thanks for sharing!

awesome

Got to say really love reading though these stories really reminds me of rail fanning back in the 1980 and Mike I'm have a question about you grain elevator  where the white towers scratch buildt or are they kit.

Very  nice part 2, an

Very  nice part 2, an relaxind enjoyable read.

The only sight sadness I had, was that it was night time, covering up most of that great modeling, but that's just me

Grain building

Drastal54,

The Franklin County Feeds mill is kind of a scratchbuilt-kitbash combo. Some of the building was scratch built, other parts were kitbashed using available building parts.

Thanks!

Mike Confalone

posting pixs

how do i post my uploaded pixs?

Mark the spots on the map

photography

How about writing a series of articles about taking photos of our layouts? I remember that there are some ways of combining pics with varying depths of field and focus. But your skill goes far beyond that.

Jim Pierce

Photography skills - Fujifilm camera

Thanks Jim.

Honestly, there's not much to what I do. A while back I invested in a good camera that is NOT a DSLR. It's actually a "point and shoot." It's a Fujifilm X100S. It's not cheap, but I consider it a very long-term investment. I think I paid around $1,200. Prices vary, but I've never seen it for under a grand.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=910403&is=REG&Q=&A=details

Depth of field is average at best. It stops down to F16, which isn't all that great. It's sufficient for most situations, but in some cases it comes up short. My Nikon D200 goes to F29 if memory serves, but the thing is HUGE!

The great thing about it is that it is small and can fit "into" scenes on the layout to gain the perspective of a railfan standing trackside. Aisle-side photos of the model railroad from above are fine to illustrate a point or show the model railroad in its environment, but to get prototypical, realistic railfan angles, you need to get down low and get into a scene. Most digital SLRs are way too large to accomplish this. This Fujifilm camera is absolutely superb for getting trackside angles.

If anything, I've learned to apply my railfan photography skills to the model railroad. Composition is important. Ask yourself, how would it look if the railroad were real?  Some of this night photography you see in the latest issue is just like lighting up the real thing. The methods are the same, just downsized.

Mike Confalone

Journey to Allagash.

Where's the 6th star button?  So real looking!  Thanks for a great article.

I felt like I was railfanning with these guys.

Mike,

This was a great article and very well done. I felt like I was driving around the backwoods of west-central Maine railfanning with these guys. Your photos are specactular even as night shots.

I look forward to the next installment if there is going to be one.

John

Next installment?

The "next installment" is the Allagash Story eBook series. (wink)

Photography tips

For the NMRA X2011 convention, our friend and contributing editor Charlie Comstock gave a clinic with a marvelous presentation. It may be of use by those wanting good photography tips/techniques.

It is available as a subscriber only bonus download on this page"

https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/mrh-201108-august-2011-bonus-downloads-12188510

Enjoy!