How to Photograph Your Models at little cost to you.

[JohnReid]

You know sometimes ignorance can serve you well in the end.Looking back now I realize that I would never have gone to all the trouble of using RR or old dollhouse lighting methods if I had known at the time that there were a lot easier ways of doing things.But I am convinced that LED's etc... just wouldn't have given me the same results.I would have lit my stuff for the museum and not for the camera, no question about it.It is a lot like film making once it is shot and in the can that's it.It is the image that is important not the diorama or movie set.It is all about capturing a moment in time.Things may constantly change but( for awhile )the camera has stopped time.Sure in time the image will get old and deteriorate and go the way of all things but for a brief instant time appears to have stopped.Therein lies the magic !

[JohnReid]

I was out shopping yesterday and was very impressed with all the various types of LED's now on the market.Because these lights run cool and most acrylic paint is transparent to varying degrees ,it may be worth experimenting a bit with creating mood lighting using a painted bulb technique.The only problem I can foresee is getting the paint to stick to the bulb permanently.
I will try experimenting with a transparent undercoat or maybe even a little fine sanding of the bulb itself and see what happens.
Man,if it works,I wish that I had this option ten years ago when lighting the inside of my structures.
The other option would be to borrow them back from the museum and re-wire them here at home using LED's, as I really would like to have them displayed as they were intended to be when I built them.

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

This pic was taken using the facade of my latest airplane diorama.By positioning the camera just right (no tracks) I can create a whole different scene and use different subject matter as the primary subject,in this case a locomotive that I am building for a "Far West" diorama that I have underway at this time.The locomotive is 1/24 scale and the facade is 1/16th.

For those who may be interested,I was told yesterday the the cases were already built and are awaiting their glass tops and all three should be on display before Christmas.The fourth one is finished but as you can see but I am using it now for photography purposes before sending it along too.

[JohnReid]

Building your own facades or backdrops are really easy things to do using materials that are usually available to most of us.They are quite cheap to build and require only hand tools to make.
Glue,cardboard,tongue depressors , coffee stir sticks or small scale scale lumber is all you need.The core could be plywood ,cardboard or foamboard or whatever, as long as it is easy to cut,and does not warp with the use of water based materials like carpenters glue(white or yellow) and acrylic paint.
You will need a flat surface to work on and lots of #11 Xacto blades (changed on a regular basis) and your basic core material to start with.You will want to be able to easily change your design as you go along ,if you wish to.Save all cutouts from doors or windows etc... to use as perfect patches if required.I just usually tape any mistakes over using the patches,because these basic shapes only act as a easily worked flexible core for any brick or wood sheathing.The actual strength will be in the sheathing material you put on or your basic framing.
Before starting I will usually make a small scale complete structure,walls and roof etc ,using cardboard or thick paper.It doesn't have to be to any exact scale as it is only something that is used to stimulate your imagination or work out a final composition.If you want to build it to scale then that is OK too as you then will be able to take direct measurements for the scaled up version.
I will be using lots of pics to illustrate how I do things and as little text as possible ,I find long texts can be boring .
Well here goes ! I hope that you guys enjoy it.The thread will probably end up a little long so please just bypass it if you don't want to read it. Cheers! John.

[JohnReid]

Lest We Forget

[JohnReid]

Note: first a little of that boring text that I talked about !
Saving Picture References.

For those who may want to permanently save pics or text ,what I have done in the past is just simply save it to my camera.Simply darken the room,set the camera on auto and use a little of the telescopic function to remove any distortion .The quality of the pic will suffer a bit but for our purposes here it will be sufficient. You could of course always save it to your computer the normal way.
Why bother ? you may want it for future reference and I often lose my pics on photobucket when I change anything.Example,whole albums can be lost if I change album names or when switching pics between albums.It is also easy to do and cheap and saves room on your computer.I have in the past copied whole books this way.
It is also sometimes nice to have a hard copy of an example of what you are trying to do right there at your workbench.Sometimes changing them to B & W also helps to get away from all the color distraction as well,especially when looking for shapes and patterns.

[JohnReid]

Click on thumbnail ! Sorry guys I just couldn't resist.

[JohnReid]

duplipost

[JohnReid]

Hi guys ! I haven't been posting much recently as I am trying to finish up my fourth and final diorama commitment that I made to the Canada Aviation and Space Museum to have it finished before October of this year.Thing are going so well that I should be finished earlier than I planned.
I am getting anxious to get back to the RR diorama for a much needed change then on to the Bleriot/Falcon sculpture after that.
Right now I want to post a few pictures of a neat way of taking pictures of water scenes involving any type of modeling .It could be used for any model that passes on,by,over or through a water environment.I will post a few pictures I took the other day as examples,and later I will explain how it was done.

[hot ford coupe]

Photographing models so they look real is a lesson I really can use. I'll be looking forward to whatever info you can share.

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]