OUTSTANDING

Nothing more to say, and the RR looks great also. 

Excellent Article

I've always admired Charlie's modeling and envy his photo skills.  I wish that I had his discerning eye for composition, lighting, etc.  What makes this article excellent in my opinion is how well he explained the process and how he documented it with the pictures.  And of course I'm a big fan of Horace Fithers!

Plaudits for Gen2 MRH

Up till now I have been downloading MRH Magazine to my Laptop and enjoying each and every issue.  This issue, however, I was able to download to my new Ipad and I thought I would share my experience.  Despite those who have had problems, the August issue downloaded quickly and flawlessly using the standard download format (noting too that I am on the other side of the world in NZ..

While the screen is a little smaller than my Laptop each page displays in full (Landscape mode).  The real plus was reading Charlie's excellent photo shoot article - on each of the photos I was able to pinch zoom them to fill the screen without the distraction of surrounding text or borders and easily see the imperfections that Charlie was talking about.  Zooming further into each picture brought up even more detail such as what appears to be fine dust on some of the vehicles.  The disadvantage (if you can call it that) was seeing how the gloss paint on the human figures tended to stand out.  Charlie if I am being really picky that is a detail you might want to consider.  However, that is probably a bit rich coming from someone who can only dream of achieving the realism that you achieve.

Thoroughly enjoyed this article thanks especially with the Ipad benefits mentioned above.

Peter

Inspiring! I wish...

photo shop

Charlie,

I've just purchased my first SLR and look forward to taking photos of my Placerville Branch. I was wondering if there might be a more cost effective photo editing software I might try before purchasing photoshop? I know most use photoshop, but it is  expensive......

thanks

Tom Ebert

Auburn, Ca

Photoshop Elements is cheaper

Photoshop Elements is cheaper and I do all my Pictures with it.

Try these freebies

Tom, start out simple and try either or both of these:

- Windows Live Photo Gallery ( included with Win 7 Home).

- Picassa from Google.

Both offer a good selection of tools, and are easy to understand.

Great information!!

Great information!!

Solid stuff

I agree that Charlie presented some great pointers for people to achieve some good photos, but one thing has bugged me about the NMRA photo contests. Now I've been an NMRA member for most of the last 40 years, I've worked on regional conventions, and led local divisions, but I've never had anyone answer this question.

Why does the NMRA have a photo contest when the results do not hold any meaning in the Achievement Program?

I understand that photography can help us do a better job, as I've benefited from reviewing images of my own model work. But if this is part of the contest room at regional and national events, then why isn't there a photography component to the Achievement Program? If a judged model in the contest room earns 87.5 points, then it receives a Merit Award and can be used towards the criteria for components of the NMRA Achievement Program. But photography awards are more of a popular vote at NMRA events and the award does not lead towards additional recognition. 

This seems like a disconnect to the NMRA hobby mission, especially at NMRA events where there are more photo contest entries than models on display.

Eric

Tom, Gimp is what you need.

Full blown photoshop has more features

Full-blown Photoshop has more features than Photoshop Elements.

1. Photo focus stacks are built-in.

2. Remove camera movement blur is built-in.

3. Content-aware deleting is built-in.

Content-aware deleting is pretty impressive. For example, you could delete a post that's in the way and it will fill in the hole with content from behind the pole based on what is near the pole.

The built-in photo focus stacking is $115 if you purchase Helicon separately, so you need to add that to the cost of Photoshop Elements if you intend to do any focus stacking.

P'shop

http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopfamily.html

Elements

thanks Jurg...Tom

Gimp

Thanks Michael.....I'll look at Gimp as well...Tom