Model building is a visual hobby, and while it is enough for many to enjoy their models live, taking good photographs of your models can be quite satisfying.
The image above of my Bachmann On30 Mogul was taken on a small and simple photo diorama that I originally created to photograph HO and HOn30 models.
But a great thing about photographing models is that different scales can provide an illusion of distance, although care is needed or realism suffers.
The light comes from three LED spotlights angled from the ceiling. They are each equivalent to old 70 watt halogen bulbs.
When buying LEDs for photography, please note the RA-value of the bulbs. The higher it is, the greater range of wavelengths of the light is reproduced. The standard is 80, which is difficult to use in model photography – instead use bulb with a RA-value of around 95.
I have used various Canon DSLRs over the years and that provides both a high image quality and a great deal of control over the final image.
But slowly I am finding myself increasingly using newer smartphones instead. The newest generation take several shots at once and automatically combines them into a single image, making it extremely easy to achieve good quality with very little work.
When photographing motives with a great depth, it helps to focus more or less in the middle of the model – in this case on the drivers and then most of the model becomes sharp enough.
But perhaps the most important advice is to move the camera lens down to the level of a scale human being – that really helps in terms of realism.
Another tip is to print an image of a distant landscape and a beautiful sky to use as backdrop – it is easy and very effective. I simply glued a number of prints on pieces of foamboard.
I hope this might provide some inspiration for photographing our wonderful models – it is quite a fun part of the hobby. 🙂
Epoch 