Model or Prototype?

[bill937ca]

 

[Bernard]

Ooooh, oooh.....I'll take "What is a prototype?" for 10 points, Bill.

[cteno4]

bzzzz... Ill take tilt shift for 50 bill!

 

jeff

[CaptOblivious]

My first, gut reaction was "model", but the final photo sealed it: The detail is too delicate to be N-scale, it's gotta be real. But, wow, it wasn't an easy call, was it?

[David]

bzzzz... Ill take tilt shift for 50 bill!

 

jeff

 

But it is a rather original use of it - most tilt shift shots are long distance shots. By comparison this one is "close up", but not at prototype eye level. If not for the people inside and some of the distant headlights this could really sell as an HO photo. The second photo is really clever - it is framed to looked like it's the first setup photographed from a different, seemly impossible for real life position (floating above the road). Its only when you look closer you can see it's just a similarly composed scene (it's a different tram passing the same intersection with the same model of car in nearly the same place) that has been taken using a zoom lense from the the blurred out overpass just barely visible in the first picture.

[bill937ca]

The location is Nagasaki, just south of the JR station.  At that point there is are pedestrian bridges which are the photograph's location. The video below probably looks in the opposite direction.

 

Its possible that the track at this location is the prototype for Kato's Unitram.  I see a great similarity in the photos, but not so much in the video.

 

[Hobby Dreamer]

My gut reaction was model - but there is a turn-out and no on makes them. I actually thought is was a prototype (but there are not supposed to be any tram turn-outs in Japan).

 

Just kidding, who does not want a turn out for their trams !!!!!..... 

 

My layout would be one year old if they made turnouts, but its all in boxes until then...

 

 

 

Have a great Christmas!!!!

 

and New Years.....

[marknewton]

Real NET tram.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[bikkuri bahn]

Leaving out the background, the trackwork, and the people in the streetcar (in other words 80% of the scene), and just looking at the streetcar: the fineness of the current collector, the side mirrors, and the cowcatcher (I don't know the correct term for this device), pretty much rules this out as a model (or at least a working model that needs to handled with human hands).  Also the fineness of the current wire.

[KenS]

I was convinced it was a really good O-scale or larger model, perhaps with a bit of photoshopping. There's something about the glossy colors, particularly in the first model, that just said "plastic" to me.

[disturbman]

Without any hesitations: prototype. Nice pictures but definetely of the prototype. Ah! Nagasaki, one of the most beautiful city of Japan.

[marknewton]

the fineness of the current collector, the side mirrors, and the cowcatcher (I don't know the correct term for this device),

 

The documentation that came with our NET car 1054 calls it a fender. "Cowcatcher" made me smile, BB - I doubt there are many cows wandering the streets of Nagasaki unsupervised! 

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

[clem24]

Tilt shift is pretty neat. If it wasn't for the fact that TS lenses were so freakin' expensive, I'd have one now LOL. Except I am trying to achieve the opposite of what people usually do - increase DOF at close distances.

[cteno4]

I think there is some tilt shift software now. dont know if it requires the multiple focal points for creating them though. wheres aaron???

 

ive actually been on the look out for a good deal couple of studio lights (nice to have a kit with 80" height and would be grand if they came with box diffusers) for doing better lighting on small shots to flood the whole area with a good amount of light then use the little photo lights as more accent lights. also help when we wanted to shoot the layout as the normal lighting we have in most venues is crap and the big work lights arent that great for that.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[lsapp1]

Tilt shift is pretty neat. If it wasn't for the fact that TS lenses were so freakin' expensive, I'd have one now LOL. Except I am trying to achieve the opposite of what people usually do - increase DOF at close distances.

 

the way I increase dof at any distance is to increase my f-stop to a higher one like f16 to as high as f22 depending upon what I am wanting to see most

 

pic taken from the wooden stage at Kiyomizudera on a fogy morning you can still see most of downtown Kyoto

[clem24]

the way I increase dof at any distance is to increase my f-stop to a higher one like f16 to as high as f22 depending upon what I am wanting to see most

 

Yes of course... But N scale is a completely different beast...

[Tecchan]

the way I increase dof at any distance is to increase my f-stop to a higher one like f16 to as high as f22 depending upon what I am wanting to see most

 

Yes of course... But N scale is a completely different beast...

 

In models, you want a big DOF to make models look real.

With tilt&shift lenses you want small (and corrupted) DOF to make real thing look like models! :-D

[cteno4]

First solution is light and tripod to be able to push the f stop up as high as possible.

 

second solution is to use a camera with manual focus, take multiple focal point shots of the same shot and then use one of the hyperfocal software packages to pick only the in focus pixels out for the final combined picture. gives that depth of field you see in real scale photos and does just the opposite of making a model photo look very real!

 

heres an example

 

http://japanrailmodelers.org/photos/_oldtown/pages/page_3.html

 

cheers

 

jeff

 

ps some new point and shoots are moving to putting this kind of processing on the camera!

[disturbman]

Interesting! Clearly a perfect subject for our Photography forum. :)

[Bernard]

About a year ago I found an application with Photoshop to make actual images look like miniature models.....now I can't find it. :BangHead:

[bill937ca]

About a year ago I found an application with Photoshop to make actual images look like miniature models.....now I can't find it. :BangHead:

 

Check this out.

 

http://weburbanist.com/2010/11/01/make-believe-miniatures-15-more-amazing-tilt-shift-photos/

 

Is this it?

 

http://tiltshiftmaker.com/

[Bernard]

 

 

 

Check this out.

 

http://weburbanist.com/2010/11/01/make-believe-miniatures-15-more-amazing-tilt-shift-photos/

 

Is this it?

 

http://tiltshiftmaker.com/

 

It might be....One thing I remember about the Photoshop blog was there were images inside a RR station where they made the train waiting at the depot look like a Model RR train, but your links give the same idea, thanks!

[clem24]

With tilt&shift lenses you want small (and corrupted) DOF to make real thing look like models! :-D

 

Ah yes a TS lens can decrease the focal plane at a given f/stop but it can also increase it too...

[marknewton]

The irony of T/S is that people have gone to a lot of effort and expense to make photos that aren't very convincing. I doubt anyone who is a modeler would be fooled by these images. But I have seen model photos processed using the hyperfocal software Jeff mentioned that were very convincing. 

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[cteno4]

I think the TS shots are meant for the general public who are fooled by them. there was a commercial (i think and insurance company) recently that used it for the video to make it all look like it was an intricate model and not real. probably convincing to the non modelers, but a modeler looks at it and gets whats going on right away.

 

I agree with you mark that the hyperfocal stuff can take a regular modeling scene and make it look much more alive by making all elements of the shot in focus. really does not add detail, but just brightens up the shot a lot. if its a well detailed model it then brings it up to that double take from a modeler to see if its real or a model!

 

cheers

 

jeff