This looks funny...

[Ember]

Much better. And I'm with the others drooling over those Vee Wee Vans. Shame they're wrong scale. :(

[Ember]

I've got a Bburago one sitting on the shelf that I've looked at. But, I think there'd be a couple of clearance issues on my track. BTW: Love that one.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

I guess I revealed more about me by my subject choices than I thought. Yup. I'm a VW nut. I have 6 of them. A bus, a beetle, a Thing, a double cab truck, a Squareback, and a former race car Karmann-Ghia. This fall, they are all getting a major tuneup, cleanup, and prep for sale. I'm going to keep my college car (the beetle- 300M miles, first engine), and maybe restore the K-G to race spec, just for crazy fun. Everybody else is going to a new home. I just can't keep up with all of them anymore, and they need to be loved.

I also made choices according to color, because some of the colors in previous shots that I tossed were way off. The white Charger looks a little yellowed, but the rest seem to be pretty much true to life this time.

[Czar]

Flash is not evil, but it can be hard to get right. Especially with cars, there are little nooks and crannies that go too dark and need extra light to see the detail. I would venture that more than 50% of the staged photos in the car mags flash is used to some extent. And flash (or some other supplemental light) is used in 100% of the studio shots of cars. I would venture that more than 50% of photos that are not action shots in car mags use reflectors, sometimes in combination with flash and also with natural light to add more light to the shot. The point is that supplemental illumination is not only common for many/most professional shots it is necessary. Anyway, direct flash (aiming the flash directly at the car) is not how it is done as that will give you the harshest light possible. That means the little popup flash built into your camera is at best problematic, but mostly junk. If you have a flash that is not built into the camera and if you can rotate the flash head upward you can use bounce flash to soften the edges. If the ceiling is too high or off colored to bounce, just take a white index card and a rubber band and attach the index card to the flash so it extends out about three inches. Then bend the card at about a 50 - 60 degree and take your picture. For small objects, like slot cars, a very effective way of lighting is to "tent" the product. Basically you shoot through a thin white cloth so the light is diffused. (This is much like the light that comes from those big softboxes that pros use on their studio lights.) The further away your light or flash is from the tent the softer the illumination. You can also use a large piece of white mat board or preferably a piece of white foam board (it's stiffer) to reflect light back onto the car. Just have an assistant aim the white board at the side where you want more light. Especially with cars that are lit with sunlight a reflector helps to spread the light evenly and open up dark/shadowed areas. You will be amazed at how much light can be reflected back. In all cases make sure your white balance is correct (wrong color balance is why your white car looked yellow) and look carefully to see that the reflector or tent cannot be seen as a reflection on the body.

[Czar]

Sorry to be so long winded on this. Also, be careful what focal length lens you are using. A wide angle lens will exaggerate length and curves and the closer you are, the more the exaggeration. A telephoto lens will compress the image, this time the further away from the subject the more obvious the foreshortening. Use a "normal" focal length, something from 50mm - 60mm for the most correct looking proportions. With anything but a full frame digital camera you have to compensate for inherent crop factor in determining what focal length you are actually using.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

[Ember]

I believe the correct terminology is RTFM. :)

MUCH better!!!

[dge467]

Those pictures look great! I have a couple of those woody wagons, and I never thought of putting a T-Jet chassis under them! A couple of new projects for sure!

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Yep, I think I have my method now. Now I have to take hundreds of pictures of the TJets, followed by hundreds of pictures of the trains. I could be at this for quite a while. I'm doing the pictures as a work break from the track restoration that wears me out a couple of times a day.