Chuffnell Regis

[MrWolf]

1 hour ago, Graham T said:

I put a bigger hard drive in my iMac today (well, I paid a nice chap to do it for me).

 

Now it's restoring all my files - hopefully.

 

 

There's been about a minute remaining since before I ate my dinner...

 

"Transferring your information", but it doesn't seem to be all that specific as to where to...

[Graham T]

Hopefully not to File 13...

[Graham T]

Still fighting with the computer...

[Graham T]

Battle now won 🙂

 

Unfortunately that means I can now start catching up on all the work that I've not done...

 

But it did give me a chance to do a bit of pottering over at Chuffnell R with a clear conscience.  First order of business was to deal with a hole in the oak tree foliage that had been bothering me.

 

 

[Graham T]

I also added some bullrushes to the banks of the river, as well as a little bit of flock, of various colours, to the left bank.  The water in the river still needs some more work, but I don't think there's any point in doing that until I've finished all the scenic work along the banks.

 

The fencing between the river and the engine shed has been installed as well.  It was a pain to make, if somebody produced it ready-assembled then they'd be guaranteed a customer here!  Try as I might, I haven't been able to get nice straight runs of wire between the posts.  I know that the routing is probably wrong as well, but I went for this option to match what I'd already done on the other side of the river...

 

 

[Graham T]

Last one for now, a view of the fencing around the back of the water tower, showing some of the added flock a bit more clearly.  I'm still not sure whether to add a bit more greenery on this bank, perhaps some more grass here and there, maybe the odd bush?  Any thoughts?  Bueller?

 

[Harlequin]

On Little Muddle, KNP often uses "focus stacking" to improve the depth of field in his photos. It makes them look more realistic - removes some of the telltale signs of photographing a model.

 

Your last two photos would benefit hugely from the same technique. (The clear surface on your river looks great, BTW.)

 

[BroadLeaves]

32 minutes ago, Graham T said:

I do like this one.

[Graham T]

38 minutes ago, Harlequin said:

On Little Muddle, KNP often uses "focus stacking" to improve the depth of field in his photos. It makes them look more realistic - removes some of the telltale signs of photographing a model.

 

Your last two photos would benefit hugely from the same technique. (The clear surface on your river looks great, BTW.)

 

 

These were just taken with my phone; I do have a reasonably decent Lumix digital camera, I must stop being so lazy and actually dig it out for some photos now and again!  That being said, I would also need to figure out how focus stacking works...

 

Thanks for the comment ref water 🙂

 

[Andy Keane]

1 hour ago, Graham T said:

Last one for now, a view of the fencing around the back of the water tower, showing some of the added flock a bit more clearly.  I'm still not sure whether to add a bit more greenery on this bank, perhaps some more grass here and there, maybe the odd bush?  Any thoughts?  Bueller?

 

I love this scenery work - it is really impressive - I really like the reeds. Not sure I have any basis for making inputs but one minor suggestion - normally the undergrowth / foliage at the bottom of a fence and particularly around the posts is notably different from that further away from the fence line. Have you thought about some taller plant growth or different shades, particularly around the posts? Also some weathering of the posts?

[NHY 581]

2 hours ago, Graham T said:

I also added some bullrushes to the banks of the river, as well as a little bit of flock, of various colours, to the left bank.  The water in the river still needs some more work, but I don't think there's any point in doing that until I've finished all the scenic work along the banks.

 

The fencing between the river and the engine shed has been installed as well.  It was a pain to make, if somebody produced it ready-assembled then they'd be guaranteed a customer here!  Try as I might, I haven't been able to get nice straight runs of wire between the posts.  I know that the routing is probably wrong as well, but I went for this option to match what I'd already done on the other side of the river...

 

 

 

 

Nicely done Graham. That bottom picture is simply splendid. 

 

Rob. 

[Graham T]

37 minutes ago, Andy Keane said:

I love this scenery work - it is really impressive - I really like the reeds. Not sure I have any basis for making inputs but one minor suggestion - normally the undergrowth / foliage at the bottom of a fence and particularly around the posts is notably different from that further away from the fence line. Have you thought about some taller plant growth or different shades, particularly around the posts? Also some weathering of the posts?

 

Thanks Andy.  I should be clear that I didn't make the bullrushes!  They're from Tasma Scenics, who make a nice range of bits and pieces.

 

I was thinking about adding some longer grass along the fence line, that's a good idea.  As is a bit more weathering!

[Graham T]

1 minute ago, NHY 581 said:

 

 

Nicely done Graham. That bottom picture is simply splendid. 

 

Rob. 

 

TVM Rob 🙂

[MrWolf]

2 hours ago, Graham T said:

I also added some bullrushes to the banks of the river, as well as a little bit of flock, of various colours, to the left bank.  The water in the river still needs some more work, but I don't think there's any point in doing that until I've finished all the scenic work along the banks.

 

The fencing between the river and the engine shed has been installed as well.  It was a pain to make, if somebody produced it ready-assembled then they'd be guaranteed a customer here!  Try as I might, I haven't been able to get nice straight runs of wire between the posts.  I know that the routing is probably wrong as well, but I went for this option to match what I'd already done on the other side of the river...

 

 

 

I really like what you've created here. A very convincing rendition of a rather deep slow moving river with all the growth you would expect on steep banks that can't be munched down by livestock.

[Neal Ball]

You have some lovely scenes there Graham. 
 

Both the river and fencing are very convincing, to the point I wouldn’t add anything more on the river, it’s fine as it is…. But as has been said, taller growth by the fence would be good.

 

Regarding photo stacking, there used to be an interesting article from Andy York about this. Instead though I’ve found a very good blog post by Phil @Harlequin which goes through the details. 
 

Sadly, it’s something I have tried and not been able to master it. With Henley coming on in different areas, I should have to try again. 
 

 

Obviously it’s using a proper camera and a tripod as well.

 

Good luck

 

Edited April 17, 2022 by Neal Ball

[Graham T]

Thanks Neal, that's a handy link.  I've been playing with the software on my phone, and have managed to at least take a stack of pics - but the next step will be finding the right software to process them...

[Graham T]

I got some rather nice LED lamps from Layouts4u (very good customer service too btw).  I've tried one in place in the engine shed area; we had quite a discussion about where to put this a few pages back, but I think this looks more or less ok?  I don't really want to put more than one in this area.  It will get a lick of dark stone paint before it gets fixed in position.  Also, I probably won't actually have it lit, otherwise I'm sure I'd feel the need to add lights to the various buildings as well, and that's one slippery slope I don't want to go down...

 

[Graham T]

I've also had a very brief play around with some focus-stacking software (Helicon), but am not going to spend too long on this at the moment - otherwise I can see myself spending the rest of the day (at least) trying to figure it out...

 

[Graham T]

And just a smidge of flock has been added to the further stretch of the river bank, plus a little white flock to the hedgerows; I wanted the cow parsley to look a bit more scattered than it was.  I need to finish painting that cart...

 

[Andy Keane]

1 hour ago, Graham T said:

I got some rather nice LED lamps from Layouts4u (very good customer service too btw).  I've tried one in place in the engine shed area; we had quite a discussion about where to put this a few pages back, but I think this looks more or less ok?  I don't really want to put more than one in this area.  It will get a lick of dark stone paint before it gets fixed in position.  Also, I probably won't actually have it lit, otherwise I'm sure I'd feel the need to add lights to the various buildings as well, and that's one slippery slope I don't want to go down...

 

I like that very much - there is a photo of a very similar light in almost exactly that kind of position relative to the loco shed at Helston in 1933. Interestingly it had gone in post war pictures.

[Graham T]

As I said, I'm not going to wire it up, but I'm quite happy with it.  I originally wanted some Gaugemaster lamps, but they are like hens' teeth.  These from Layouts4u look similar, and are a lot less expensive if I remember correctly.  As to the customer service - the first set I got from them had much bigger lamps than these and looked odd.  When I asked them, the company provided me with a photo of several different lamps side by side to compare, and also exchanged the first set very promptly.  Good service I thought.

[Harlequin]

2 hours ago, Graham T said:

I've also had a very brief play around with some focus-stacking software (Helicon), but am not going to spend too long on this at the moment - otherwise I can see myself spending the rest of the day (at least) trying to figure it out...

 

It's worked but you need more images at different focal distances, I think. I can only see 4 in that composite.

 

[Graham T]

11 minutes ago, Harlequin said:

It's worked but you need more images at different focal distances, I think. I can only see 4 in that composite.

 

 

It was a very rough and ready first stab, to be honest (also without a tripod).  How on earth can you figure out that there are four focal lengths?!  Is this some sort of superpower?  😉

[Harlequin]

20 minutes ago, Graham T said:

 

It was a very rough and ready first stab, to be honest (also without a tripod).  How on earth can you figure out that there are four focal lengths?!  Is this some sort of superpower?  😉

Sure, don't worry about it but you're on the right track!

 

No superpower (I'm not "Focusman") - just counting the layers that are in focus: Near grass, far grass, bridge, background.

🙂

 

[Graham T]

I'm now getting a slightly odd picture of a caped Harlequin wearing his underpants outside his trousers!