Getting Started in Model Railroad Photography Written by shamus
I am going to stick to the 35mm S.L.R (Single Lens Reflex) with manual focus, and the ability to place the f-stop yourself. Unfortunately, the Instamatic type camera, is not good enough to be able to take photographs to publication standard.
You must be able to have the facility to stop the lens down to its smallest aperture :- f22 or f32 for the best depth-of-field. In other words, using f22 or f32, apart from the subject you have in focus at the time, objects in front of and behind will also have some degree of sharpness.
Photo Number 1 ( set at f3.5)

Shows the subject in focus, while the middle and background are out of focus.
These photographs were taken focusing on the loco only, to prove a point. When taking
photographs of your railroad, always try and focus on something in the middle, that way, nearly
all of your photographs will be in some degree of sharpness.
Photo Number 2 ( set at f8)

Shows the subject in focus and a part of the middle in focus, whilst the background is still out of focus. Photo Number 3
( set at f22)