Bryan Robertson

This short article describes how more realistic images of our models can be produced using modern digital cameras and imaging software. Two problems with the relatively close-up nature of our model photos are the limited depth of field and an unsuitable background. These two problems were tackled to make a more realistic image of my Heljan Class 37 at the head of a rake of Darstaed coaches in the green and cream West Highland line livery.

Focus-stacked picture combined with a naturalistic background showing improved realism. (Photograph by Edward Simpson, with digital manipulation by Bryan Robertson.)

Apart from the immediate foreground my original photo lacked sharpness and a much improved version was taken by Edward Simpson of the Fawley Museum Group. Ed's photo had a marked increase in image sharpness from the foreground right through to the background.

The photo using 'in-camera focus stacking.' As can be seen, the picture is sharp from front to back. (Photograph by Edward Simpson)

Ed’s original photograph of the Class 37 and Highland coaches is not uniformly sharp.

This was achieved using the 'in-camera focus stacking mode' option that many digital cameras now provide. This allows multiple images to be taken each with a slightly different focus so that the full depth of the scene is captured in focus via a number (anything up to 999) of individual images which are combined by the camera software into a single final image. Obviously a tripod is needed, as is the choice of a sensible number of shots that will not overwhelm the power of the camera. Typically this process only produces a final JPEG file which for most requirements is perfectly adequate. A second option, permitting more extensive manipulation, is to use the camera software to take multiple photos using 'focus bracketing' where you can define the 'focus step' and the number of images to take and then transfer these to a computer running an application that provides an 'image stacking' function such as Adobe Photoshop® or in my case Corel PaintShop Pro®.

Ed’s Coronation on Darstaed coaches

To make the photo of the model more realistic I needed a relevant background to replace that of the layout on which it was taken. Fortunately I happened to have a photo of a Class 37 at Tyndrum taken at a very similar angle to that of the model and which had a suitable background of trees and loco exhaust. I now needed to combine the background of this photo with that of the model Class 37. This I did by first tracing the outline of the model loco and coaches to effectively mask out the unwanted background. I then overlaid this onto a similarly sized version of the photo of the Class 37 at Tyndrum which by good fortune had the loco exhaust in the right place. I also darkened the model trackwork to make it look a bit more like the real thing. It took me an hour or two to make the join undetectable and get the whole scene as realistic as possible.

Coronation on Darstaed coaches in digitally enhanced landscape

Technical Note

Not all digital cameras and lenses have the in-camera focus stacking capability. The camera used by Ed is the Olympus OMD EM5 Mk11 with the ED 12-100 F4.0 IS PRO. There are currently seven Olympus lenses and three Olympus camera bodies that have this capability.