Loarre Castle (Spain) by King Derelict - Aedes Ars 1/200

[king derelict]

23 hours ago, Jack12477 said:

Very well done Alan! Diorama looks great, as do figures.  As to getting a new camera and lights that may not be necessary. All you may need are a few adjustments to the camera, like take it off of Auto mode. What are you presently using? My other hobby is Photography 

Thank you very much Jack. You gave me some great help along the way.

 

The camera is a Pentax WG-4 waterproof (sort of) point and shoot. It does have a series of modes from a basic programmed mode through aperture or speed priority. I'm still experimenting to find the best options. I can get decent results for the smaller models but the castle is big and I have not done too well with it so I would welcome any assistance

Alan

[king derelict]

23 hours ago, CDW said:

Wow, Alan...what a magnificent display. This sure will attract a lot of attention from your visitors.

Thank you Craig

Its been quite a journey but a lot of useful learning - and I'm still trying to find a home for the diorama somewhere visible in the house.

Alan

[king derelict]

22 hours ago, GrandpaPhil said:

Alan,

  Excellent work!

Thank you Phil

Alan

[king derelict]

16 hours ago, AJohnson said:

Well done Alan, that looks spectacular, I have really enjoyed following along on this one, what next?! 

Thank you very much Andrew

I'm pleased with the end result although I'm aware of the areas I could have done better.

I think I will be appearing back in the maritime section with a few short builds to have fun with before ramping up again. I have a couple of ideas

Alan

[king derelict]

15 hours ago, Egilman said:

Brother, Kits are just that, kits... It takes the input, "muse" so to speak, of the builder to make something out of them....

There comes a point in a modelers life where they recognize what they have... Take something completely unrealistic and make it appear as such...

That is the essence of what we do....

 

Brother, you got it down.... At this point I think you realize that there is nothing you cannot build in miniature...

 

Congratulations, it's beautiful... And was an absolute pleasure in watching you create it...

 

Thank you...

 

EG

Thank you very much for the kind words EG. And thank you again for the help along the way. This one had all teh elements; repetition, frustration but plenty of scope to improve and create. I don't see many of these kits come to fruition so its been great to have built and improved this one

Thanks again

Alan

[king derelict]

2 hours ago, Waitoa said:

Beautiful build and well done on completing it.  The night shots really are evocative.

 

Waitoa

Thank you very much. This is the first time I have wired up a model but I confess to sliding over and switching on the lights at frequent intervals

Alan

[king derelict]

1 hour ago, mtaylor said:

Wow.!!!   Actually beyond "wow"...  This is a work of art.

Thank you very much Mark

It feels a bit strange to not be doing something more to it. Its been quite a project. Mostly fun and suddenly it looks good at the end.

Alan

[Jack12477]

1 hour ago, king derelict said:

The camera is a Pentax WG-4 waterproof (sort of) point and shoot. It does have a series of modes from a basic programmed mode through aperture or speed priority. I'm still experimenting to find the best options. I can get decent results for the smaller models but the castle is big and I have not done too well with it so I would welcome any assistance

Alan

I have the whole line of Pentax 35mm SLRs dating back to 1962 when it was Asahi, Heiland, Honeywell, then plain Pentax; all H, SP,  K, and iST series.  T Even have their 110 film format SLR, only one ever produced as I recall.  Now I have their K50 DSLR.  (Ricoh owns them now.)  I also use a Canon point and shoot pocket camera.

 

Need to do a little reading about your model, it should be up to the task.   I'll get back to you.  

 

Update: Alan, is this your model ? Ricoh WG-4 ?  Cool camera ! 

 

Edited February 8 by Jack12477

[king derelict]

1 hour ago, Jack12477 said:

I have the whole line of Pentax 35mm SLRs dating back to 1962 when it was Asahi, Heiland, Honeywell, then plain Pentax; all H, SP,  K, and iST series.  T Even have their 110 film format SLR, only one ever produced as I recall.  Now I have their K50 DSLR.  (Ricoh owns them now.)  I also use a Canon point and shoot pocket camera.

 

Need to do a little reading about your model, it should be up to the task.   I'll get back to you.  

 

Update: Alan, is this your model ? Ricoh WG-4 ?  Cool camera ! 

 

Hi Jack

yes that’s the one. I remember the Pentax 110 and the K. I went the Olympus route with an OM-1 (still got it) and a couple of AX-1. I sort of miss 35mm film.

Thanks for the help 

alan

. 

[Canute]

Alan, great work on your castle. I really liked the night shots; reminded me of a night illumination of a French castle in the Loire Valley, once upon a time. 👍

[king derelict]

Thank you very much Ken. I think it works as modern illumination of an old castle 

Next up something with a bit more historical credibility 

alan

[Jack12477]

Alan, @king derelict I took the liberty of downloading your final photos of the castle so I could cast them to my TV for a better look.  All I can say is Double WOW !  As @Egilman said in a earlier post, you not only mastered the landscaping you knocked it out of the park. Great job !  Your photos show a lot more detail on the TV screen than on my Tablet's screen, especially in the shadow areas and even the nighttime views.  A couple of suggestions to improve a couple photos: Photo #12 (mounted knights entering castle) has two "hot spots" on either wall, you could probably tone this down by placing 1 or 2 layers of Kleenex tissue or even a white handkerchief over the light source to diffuse the light a bit, similar to the lighting in Photo #5. You could also use a white card or a card covered in aluminum foil to "bounce" a little fill light into some of the shadows (e.g. photo #13); likewise on some of the nighttime photos to throw a little more light onto the lowest castle wall exteriors.   But all in all the photos are very well done.

 

After reading your camera's user guide (I hate digital manuals, can never find what you are looking for) it appears the camera is aimed primarily at backpackers/canoeists/kayakers etc. Interesting little camera.

 

I could not find any mention of how to control the aperture (f/stop) (Av or Aperture Priority mode) settings, only the shutter speed settings (Tv or Shutter priority mode [pg 72]) but I did find out how to control the metering (AE metering) for Center-Weighted or Spot metering [pg 93]; this can be used to pinpoint what area you want the meter to focus on.  There is a reference to a D range setting on pg 96 which seems to let the camera balance out the contrast levels between high and low, turning this off may fix the problem you were referring to about it overriding your exposure settings. you can also bias the exposure by plus or minus 2 f/stops (or EVs as noted in manual), page 95, this will cause the camera to automatically over or under expose the photo based on the meter reading. It adjusts in 1/3 EV or f/stop increments.  

 

Hope this is helpful.  Any other questions post here or shoot me a PM. 

Edited February 13 by Jack12477

[king derelict]

On 2/10/2024 at 11:15 AM, Jack12477 said:

After reading your camera's user guide (I hate digital manuals, can never find what you are looking for) it appears the camera is aimed primarily at backpackers/canoeists/kayakers etc. Interesting little camera.

Hi Jack

Thank you very much for the detailed help you have provided and all the time it must have taken you to work on it. The Pentax was bought primarily for outdoor use and it generally works well out there and the waterproofing is a great help in canoes, kayaks and rainy days in the hills.

I have made up a couple of foil covered boards to reflect light into the dead spots and I'll try softening the light sources. I did find a white reflector from my old SLR / 35 mm days that I had forgotten all about. I will give that a try too.

The D range function (never explored that) looks like you can set highlights and shadows to an auto function, switch it off or fixed to on. I will given that a try too. The camera has a raft of options that I need to take time to play with. I thought it had an Av option but I'm wrong; I thought you could do it through the "green button" but that only allows you to retain a series of options like EV compensation instead of setting it each time

 

The castle is sat on the dining table but hopefully a new end table will show up in the next few days and it will be relocated. That will be a great oportunity to shoot the photos again and try some options and maybe get some improvements.

 

Once again thanks for the research and all the great tips.

 

Alan