Color or temperature of your lights!

What color or temperature of your lights did you use?  Nice improvement.   

Dunno.

Actually I am just using the lights supplied by the manufacturer of the fixture which came included in the kit.  I've got no clue what they are right now but I assume they are a very basic halogen spotlight bulb.  I think I will be replacing them with LED 7 watt flood bulbs at around 5000K but I am having some difficulty finding cheap bulbs for this fixture.  Something I didn't consider when I made my purchase.

I am using similar lighting

I am using similar lighting on my layout. I looked at the LED replacements but for now the price has driven me away. Maybe replace them one by one as the halogens burn out.

I concur!!

Track lighting is a very easy way to add controllable light to a train room, you can move the light at will and put it anywhere you need it.

I put this up this past week:

I used standard 40W incandesents, even if the box says 45 the bulbs inside have 40 on them - HA!

You may try adjusting the white balance on your camera.  I stick with one type because it makes it that much easier for the camera to maintain white balance. 

Before and after - I've also when ahead and put in a blue sheet of paper for my backdrop - after I realized I wanted SOMETHING more than the wall and that blackout curtain!!

The first picture is a single light bulb behind a yellow tinted shade.  The quality is there because I've stepped the camera down to F22 and adjusted the white balance settings manually.  it was taken on a tripod with a delayed timer and took roughy 5-10 second to capture.  You can see how the building is practically washed out, there is no detail to the sign.

The second picture was done full-auto, point and shoot.  Colors look good, no real editing to speak of done here. 

My system is Home Depot, Hampton Bay.  It's affordable, I dare say.

Daylight bulbs

For years I have used daylight spectrum bulbs for layout lighting. I first used them in 48 inch shoplight fixtures and now in conventional screw in light sockets in the form of daylight Spectrum CFL's. Sometimes in a pinch we have stolen some from my supply for use in the house. My wife doesn't like the light for that application and neither do I but I love the light they give on my layout. I use to be quite a photography aficionado back in the day but I haven't done more than snapshots in years.  I find that the daylight CFL's work fine for pics of my layout that I use to show progress and such. I don't have to make any adjustment to the camera, use no flash, and have to do very little color correction with the PC in most cases. I would think that for the type of photography done for inclusion in MRH that one would want something more but for general viewing and photography the daylight spectrum bulbs work fine for me. Just remember that whatever the type of lighting you use for your layout that you should keep the lighting over your workbench area consistent with it so as not to have surprises as far as color changes in the finish of your structures and cars. IMO proper lighting and valances is one of the most overlooked parts of building smaller layouts. Most of the guys who build the "basement monsters" take it into account but a lot of folks who build room size layouts are content to let the regular room lighting suffice.

Michael

White balance

I have no connection to the product other than I use it in my photography but this little item called "WhiBal" is something that all photographers should use if white balance is an issue in their pictures.  You can find all the details at their website: http://michaeltapesdesign.com/whibal.html

Briefly, what the card does is place a colour neutral patch in your photograph.  You can do one of two things, "tell" your camera that the card is white or "tell" your photo processing software that the card is white.  Either way you should end up with correct colours in your picture.  The only caveat is, if you are using more than one temperature light source to light the subject, you will end up with variations in colour correctness depending on how much of one light source is falling on the subject versus the other light source.  The advantage of digital photography is that you get instant feedback on your picture and you can make adjustments all in a short time.

LED bulb source

Check this web site for LED bulbs that are cheaper than at the "big box" stores. They're shipped from Hong Kong, I believe. 

http://www.miniinthebox.com 

link fixed

http://www.miniinthebox.com