Back Street Finished! A close look at Chandwell's latest scene using focus stacking
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- čas přidán 17. 08. 2023
- The back of High Street is finally finished at Chandwell! I have added all the little details which will bring this part of the layout to life. In this video I use photographs taken using the "focus stacking" technique to show you a close-up view of the latest part of Chandwell in a conversational tone. So sit back, have a cuppa, and take a close look at Chandwell like you've never seen it before!
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Notice, no matter how deep you dive the texture and detail hold up. Studio class work.
Thank you!
These photos are relly nice and they show the nice job you are doing on the railroad!
Thank you!
They all look amazing Michael. Stunning depth to them. You have every reason to be pleased 🙂
Thank you Carol!
👍👍Back of High Street looks quite marvelous with all the updates completed!🚂🚂
Many thanks!
That's superb Michael. There's no limits to your techniques involving your modelling skills associated with your I.T. and camera skills.
Thank you very much Michael. 😊
Thank you very much! I am really pleased with how the photos came out.
Soooo nice. Great technique, Michael. Layout is looking superb, my friend.....♨♨♨♨♨♨
Thank you! Cheers!
What I admire most is your attention to detail even when you can hardly see it! YOU know it’s there! I believe the late Alan Downes used to say that if you can’t see it I don’t model it. I’m of the same same opinion but then I am lazy! Your approach is inspirational!
Sshhhhh! Don't tell anyone, but there isn't a face on the culvert that the little stream runs INTO. I know! I just left a gaping hole! Shocker!
Wow Michael, that photography was magnificent. Fantastic technique. Thanks for sharing. Roy.
Thanks Roy!
Great tip. And love how the back alley has come out. Craig
Thank you! I am pleased with how it looks.
Love the photos Michael it really shows off your hard and detailed work, many thanks for sharing your tip with using Focus Stacking. Regards Barry..
Glad you enjoyed it
With all the work going on in Chandwell, it strikes me that you should create a portable building site which you can pick up and move to each new building location. Now *that* would be realism at its best!
Actually why not have building site. They deemed to be everywhere in the 90s.
Excellent modelling as always.
That's a good idea. You may see a building site somewhere on Station Road.
focus stacking is exciting, looking forward to trying it for myself, thanks Michael
Hope you enjoy it!
Amazing stacked shot detail wow, what a great idea Michael.
It worked really well!
These vid was so deep. It certainly kept my focus.
:D :D Hahaha - brilliant!
Micheal Great is that how you got the good photos for the BRM article. They really make the whole scene come alive. Seeing the Skaters which I had fun building and hand painting in such a prominent space is such an honour, I thought they’d fill the corner on the Plaza behind the blue shed and in front of the Mar et Tower. I was also wrong on Water Lane I guess it is a C Shape down by the Town Hall along the beck and back by the Wesleyan Hall, thought that might have been 3 smaller lanes. Ian
Thanks Ian. Yes, that is how I took the photos for the BRM article.
Fascinating use of stacking! I knew the technique but mainly used it in astrophotography. Now I guess I'll have to apply it to my H0 and N scale layouts. Thank you Michael for the tip and again, kudos for the patience and talent you're demonstrating every week for our utter delight.
Thank you very much!
Wonderful way to produce an amazing picture. Thanks for showing this possibility, Michael!
All the best
Valentin
Thanks Valentin!!
Thanks for the tip on the photo app tip!
You're welcome!
I remain in awe of your attention to, and creation of detail in 2mm. Thanks for the inspiration around photographing the layout. Cheers and well done, you should be rightly proud of your achievements.
Many thanks!
Hi Michael, I'm enjoying your recreation of a grimy inner city, it reminds me of my time working in Holbeck and Hunslet during the seventies and eighties. On one of my rare trips to Shipley today I spotted the Carnegie Library building which shrieked pure Chandwell to me, an oddly shaped beautiful old building in dereliction, vivid graffiti on the boarded up windows and trees growing out of the gutters - perfect!
I am literally standing on a rainy platform in Shipley station right now. I love that building too and I have seriously long consideration as to using it where I now have the old Town Hall building. Although it’s not on Chandwell, it has been a great inspiration.
@@Chandwell Even if you don't use the building you should incorporate the tree growth in another, keep up the good (or grimy) work.
I very much appreciate the undulating road surfaces - it makes everything 100% more realistic. Very cool!
It is subtle but really does add to the overall scene. I had wanted to make High Street go uphill a little but I’d made the arched bridge too low. I didn’t want to cut out a dip, so High Street is unusual in Chandwell as it is completely flat.
The close ups reward your skills and attention to detail. Enjoy my visits to Chandwell muchly. Please keep on keeping on. Arthur
Thanks Arthur!
Very clever photo technique.
Wait for the wave of complaints from those with motion sickness!!! ;-)
Hahah - none so far. Hope it wasn't too wobbly/sudden for you.
Pure genius,well done
Thank you!
looking good thanks for sharing
Thank you!
Wow! That is a brilliant technique, producing superb results. Once again, well done, Michael!
Thank you! I am very happy with how the photos came out.
Hi Michael! That's a fascinating use of a technique I've used many times to enhance my macro photography of wee bugs and beasties! Great job! All the best, Ian.
It worked out really well - I am happy with it!
Chandwell is an amazing creation, Michael, taking on its own reality. Not many layouts would stand up to that sort of scrutiny even in larger scale. In N gauge it's simply incredibel. Thanks as always, Tom (normally from France, but in Stoke on Trent, which is not dissimilar to Chandwell, this week).
Thank you Tom (normally from France, but in Stoke on Trent)! Very kind!
Interesting video...thanks for sharing. It does produce amazingly detailed photographs.
It does! I am pleased.
Looks fantastic. The model really stands up to such detailed photography.
I think it does too. I am really pleased.
What a wonderful piece of kit and how very well you have used it, Michael. Are there no limit to your skills? Cheers, Bob
Thanks Bob!
At 0:27
For focus stacking, you don't take photographs at multiple focal *lengths*, you take photographs at multiple focal *distances*.
Multiple focal lengths would be "zoom stacking" and I'm not sure what that would even look like.
(and to be complete, taking photographs at multiple shutter speeds is done for HDR, and taking multiple photographs at multiple angles is done for panoramas).
I once shot a focus stacked, HDR panorama. I took a LOT of photographs.
You are completely correct. This was pointed out many times! 😬
The new photos look fantastic and add a new dimension to everything by highlighting the details you have put into everything. My concern is that we are nearing the end of this journey you have taken us on and eventually you will have completed the build. With that in mind my suggestions are that you
a) build an extension to the house and build a version of Chandwell from the 1920-30's so we can see Chandwell in more prosperous times.
b) Move to a bigger house and do the same as above
😂😂😂😂
An extreme approach to the problem, Stu! Fear Not!! Station Road will take at least the rest of this year. I then have at least 3- or 4- times the bare baseboard that High Street and the Market take up, so I think it will be at least 2026 before I am finished. By then I will have sufficient CZcams subscribers to get me onto Strictly Come Dancing, and when I win, I will use my fame to buy the house next door and make an O-Gauge Chandwell.
This is amazing stuff Michael, thanks loads for sharing. The layout is looking great, and the results of the focus stacking really show off all your hard work and attention to detail. The process reminds me a bit of HDR bracketing, but with focal length instead of exposure. Really clever idea!
Glad you enjoyed it - that's exactly the thing that it is - very similar.
Michael that is really clever, some great photos there. One point about the new chain link fence, the posts are the wrong way round. The overhang at the top should face out to stop people climbing over. Really great modelling in such a small scale, keep up the good work.
Hey John. Thank you. There was a massive debate on this subject on my video two weeks ago. I initially thought the same as you, but countless people convinced me otherwise. If the fence is closer than 600mm from your land boundary, then they need to face inwards or be classed as a flying trespass, I believe. One viewer went out to her local industrial estate to check for me, and one viewer went to far as to check a fence at BAE Systems which points inwards. Regardless of which way they face, I’m sure with barbed wire in them they will be difficult to climb. I’ve seen examples both ways, but I am now fully convinced that in this part of the UK in this type of location, they would point inwards.
Amazing, really amazing. Those shots look so good I will investigate all of that at some point in the future. Is that a Sony ZV-1F?
Yeah, it's a Sony ZV-1. I originally bought it to record my videos, but I get better video results with my pone.
It's great, Michael! But can you do your focus-stacking adding some atmospheric perspective? What I mean is reducing the contrast as the focal length gets longer and longer? It might improve the feeling of a photo of reality still further.
I am not aware of anything that automatically does that, but someone who knows their way around Photoshop or GIMP would be able to achieve something like that if they wanted to.
I apologise in advance for being picky.
I think you meant different focal points, not focal lengths. Different focal lengths will produce different compositions of the pictures and would defeat the purpose of using the tripod to hold everything still.
I hate myself for pointing this out, but it just sounded wrong, and with your quest for accuracy, I could not let it rest.
This does not take away from the fact that the pictures you have produced are superb.
Hahah, you are 100% correct, of course. And a few people picked up on that. I rushed that video and for the first time in a couple of years, recorded it in one take without a script. I was so excited to share, I just let my mouth go in overdrive. One moment's reflection would have maybe caught the slip, or then, maybe not! Regardless, thanks for your comment. It is always good to have things pointed out. And you're right, the pictures, regardless of my sloppy terminology, have turned out right in the end! Thanks for watching, as ever!
HiTech in Chandwell, How exciting!
Your brilliant and wonderfully detailed work is well served by this complicated math/magik machine.
As the layout is specially designed to be photographed, the 'stacking' option seems ideal.
Is the fence at the water building still meant to keep the workers locked IN?
I very much look forward to your next video and the detailing of water lane...
Many thanks! The fence is the correct way round, I think. If you watched the episode about the fence, I too thought I may have it the wrong way round, and I decided to pull it out and turn it around. However, if you read through the comments on that video, they are filled with people convincing me I had it the right way round all along. Because the boundary is straight onto public land (a highway in this case, even though it’s just a back street), then the cranks pointing outward would constitute a flying trespass and would not be allowed. Outward-facing cranks must be fully within your private boundary. One viewer went and checked her local industrial estate and they were indeed pointing inwards. Someone else told me that the security fencing at a BAE Systems compound near him are also pointing inwards. I have not found a single piece of planning law or advice to shore this up, but more people than not believe that they should be inwards. I guess there’s no real one answer, and regardless of orientation a couple of rows or barbed wire will be difficult to get over. So for now, I have been convinced that they should be inwards in this particular location in the UK. I will continue to keep my eyes peeled for examples in the wild and take photos when I eventually find some fencing like this!
Will you make a website that people can log on and literally take a virtual walk-through the town
I wouldn't know where to begin with that! :)
@@Chandwell thanks for replying. Your videos are a joy to watch.
I thought you were going to turn the chain-link fence posts so they were pointing out.
No. After reading all of the comments and looking at actual pictures, I realise that in the uk, if a fence is along a boundary, it is against planning regs to have the posts pointing outwards - it is considered flying trespass. So if BAE Systems, and so many other examples I found have it right, then I think I had it right all along too!
@@Chandwell Cool, thanks.
@@Chandwellall the MoD establishments have the tops pointing inwards too, so prototypical. Such an excellent layout, taking your lessons and starting to use Inkscape too 👍👍
I like your focus-stacking! This is a good technique for model railways. But, strictly, you're not taking pictures at different focal lengths (this would be zooming in and out), but different focal points.
Thank you James. You’re quite right and are not the first to point that out. I was very excited to share the pictures and recorded the video in one take with no script. That’ll teach me! Regardless of my sloppy terminology, the technique really is wonderful and I am still amazed by the quality of what can be achieved. 👍🏻
@@Chandwell quite! It is a very good invention for model railways, especially N gauge!
I think we need a cat on top of the water building, maybe asleep or better still cleaning it's bum 🙂
First person to 3D-print me an N Scale cat licking its bum gets it pride of place on the front of Chandwell and I’ll open a video with it in shot, Coronation Street style! 😂
Those posters are only 10-15mm high? Yeah, no way I could do N scale
Yeah - they are tiny! Watch next week for a cool example of just how small that shopping trolley is!
Focus stacking - different focal lengths? Surely not. Just focussing at different distances with the same focal length? Great technique for models though.
Hahah yeah! Oops! 😂
Looks amazingly bad now, so it's really coming together in the Chandwell spirit..
Never seen the focus stacking technique before. It's (sort of) the focus equivalent of HDR. I see it works really well in sorting out the depth of field issues that normally plague photography of scale models and dioramas.
I am really pleased with how bad the layout is looking, and how good the photo technique worked! :)