Rainbows in the Lehigh Valley Gorge

[TMo]

Tom,

    I think my success with lighting is probably built into having my track at about eye level - the lights from my ceiling track lights are then easy to soak the layout with an optimal amount of light.  (Another advantage of the eye-level layout!)  The shadowing in the picture above was unavoidable, but PERFECT for portraying reality.  I love how a sliver of light hits the rust on that hopper and lights it up. 


  Some parts of the layout are great for lighting, others are problematic.  Early in the process I installed some track lighting at the center of my office and I've expanded the track by installing 90-degree elbows and extra sections and put it all on a dimmer switch.  I've found that the bigger track lighting heads are great for overall lighting and the smaller heads are useful for filling in the gaps.  The nice thing about the track heads is that they swivel, so if you need to change the direction of the lighting for a shot, it's relatively easy to put some light on the subject.  The trick is to get far enough away from the layout so the heads don't provide too much light.  A few months ago I think I documented moving the lighting away from the Hazleton section to get better overall coverage.   

           

  The Mud Run section of the layout has a much lower ceiling, so I had to go with a single LED head with 3 directional heads (like Home Depot sells for garage lighting).  The head is tough to push out of photos of long shots of that section of the layout, but it does put enough light out there.