Night workers

[beavercreek]

The last evening before the wind brought a blanket of tree debris over the layout I had a quick chance to shot some night scenes. No locos, no trains but scenery.

The first two were in a previous post but they fit a little bit better here
The natural light was just enough for these two to be taken without any other light except from the buildings

No natural light available now

Heinz works

Work carries on into the night at the feed and seed depot

At the quarry works shipping depot there appears to be an argument

The quarry works 24/7 but everyone needs a pit stop!

 

[garrymartin]

Marvellous. In pictures 7 & 8 you can almost hear the raised voices

 

[korm kormsen]

you got a fine layout there.

 

[trammayo]

Very nice Mike - plenty of atmosphere (and good photography)!

 

[nicebutdim]

Really nice, lots of atmosphere

 

[bobg]

Very nice Mike, I used to do a lot of 'available light' stuff with 35mm, but I cant seem to get to grips with it in digital at all.

 

[beavercreek]

Thank you lads.

Bob, the problem with digital is that when doing available light shots you are at the mercy of the camera sensor's ability to 'pull in' information before if gets noisy. My camera's sensor is okay until I have to use ISO above 400 or the scene is very very dark and then it gets a bit too noisy, for me anyway. With film there seemed to be always more latitude to 'push' it and still get a decent image. Mind you grain was still a problem even then.

 

[Don Gilham]

Terrific set of pictures Mike - full of atmosphere !

 

[Shawn]

Mik I love the scenes you creat on the layout. You capture the US theme perfectly.
I have been dealing with the leaf battle for a few weeks now. Should slow down in a few weeks. I usually take most of the structures in this time of year, so I can use the leaf blower. Once the leaves are done the buildings come back out. Plus its a good time to fix and reseal the buildings.

 

[beavercreek]

Hi Shawn
Thank you again for you kind comments , especially, as you being State-side, would definitely know if my efforts were a passable attempt or not.

The idea of bringing in the buildings was one that I had considered but I will have to change the lighting connections to them as they are wired directly at the moment. I do like your option of being able to blast the leaves off the layout! I can hoover them up in parts as I have 'doctored' the impeller blades on my garden hoover so it does not suck up the ballast. But, as I leave the little folk and lots of detail bits out all year I have to take care that they don't suddenly disappear!
I have made some polythene and wire covers, for some of the wooden buildings, which are camouflaged with mottled spray painted green netting to blend in with garden plants etc. The plastic buildings fend for themselves!

 

[Richie]

Fantastic night shots Mike
Been wet and windy here out with the garden vac this afternoon .

 

[Gizzy]

Great pix, loads of atmosphere Mike....

 

[Steve]

Brilliant pics love all the detail you have created

 

[Philbahn]

Love the photos

 

[beavercreek]

Hi Johnnie, thanks for the kind comments. These piccies were from last years posting. The 'Quarry' area has some added pole lighting and led bulbs in place of the tungsten ones. The Heinz building ( a scratch built wood jobbie in pictures 3 & 4) has had a total revamp this year and now looks like this:

at night (sorry that these ones are a bit blurry)

 

[bobg]

Cheers. It was nice to be reminded of this thread.

 

[Dennis Paulson]

Wonderful shift worker pics , you really made this old shift worker smile and remember night shifts , great modeling .
Your pics were so good that it got me to thinking , skunks , yep , you need a skunk off in the background , so that you have to look to really see the skunks , they always were out at night feeding , and you had to be watchfull 8|

 

[beavercreek]

Hi Paul
Oooo! nice snow and night shot!
When night shooting, I use manual settings on my DSLR, sometimes with a tripod, but balancing the led and tungsten layout lights against the available light is still a 'dark art' as highlight blowouts are always hard to avoid.
Here is one from a chilly February this year with moonlight and 'sleeping' rolling stock. Luckily there were no layout lights on to 'blow out'.

 

[Ray Dunakin]

Great pics! Night shots are always a good way to bring a scene to life.