Warning!! the next picture that you see may be disturbing to some viewers, yes it is a car. I used it here only for information purposes.Airplane,RR,figure guys etc…will just have to try to avoid looking at it ! Please let me explain.
The pic below depicts a car of course but it really could be anything.The point here is the backdrop and how it was used to create a little vignette within the larger diorama.
Here I have taken a 1/18th scale car and put it in a 1/16th scale diorama.By using camera angles,lighting,focus,forced perspective etc… I was able to create the illusion that it is all the same scale.
I deliberately selected a very shiny new car right out of the showroom for this example. Using proper lighting I was able to control any excessive shine which would otherwise only serve to make it look toy like.This is especially true of figures.You have to learn how to control the shine.Even in this picture it is still quite shiny but you should see it if I didn’t play around with it a bit.
My technique is very simple, I just experiment and shoot lots of pics using different kinds of lighting.I have no professional equipment and I use a point and shoot camera.(In the old film days ,I wound be broke by now.)If you get 1 in 20 that looks good you will be lucky.Don’t spend a lot of time and money on fancy equipment,you just don’t need it.Most of my pics that I am taking now of an outdoor scene I just bounce the light off a white ceiling and use a hand held clip on light with a 60W bulb to produce shadows.Don’t be afraid to keep moving the light around by hand until you get what your looking for.Sometimes an accidental shot will be the best of the bunch.
For my indoor shots in hangars etc… I usually set up overhead lighting controlled by a rheostat especially when I am using figures to take advantage of the shadows that this produces, which is usually better than anything that I can paint on by hand.Simply underpaint only and play with the light to bring out the detail.In a controlled light setting this works very well.My figures for example look best indoors and in artificial light.Outdoors I have got to work a little harder but either way I am no Shep Paine with painting figures,that’s for sure.
To make the scene look like it is all one scale there are a few things that can be played with.Camera angle is one.Low angle shots worked best in this case as it distorts the scale.Out of focus background also helps.Take shots that don’t give it away.For example anything that is of readily known proportions like figures in the foreground or windows in the background must be used very carefully.In the above pic for example the fence can come in various sizes in real life but everyone knows the approximate size of a standard door or window from that era.
to be continued…
pics above
Pic 1
-two guys standing in the door is an example of indoor overhead controlled lighting.Of course the painting could be better,especially the faces,but when viewed at a natural viewer distance in its protective case it looks just fine for my purposes.
Pic 2
-special lighting effects for photography can easily be set up.Here for example,the overhead hangar lights have been shut off and I simply shone a hand held light through the door and windows and moved it around to create interesting shadows.
I like to use colored loghts too… Blue is especially effective for night scenes.
The facade lighting is from the empty space in the back of the diorama that is normally covered with plywood.Here I am just just a 60w bulb to see if any light is still shining through the bricks after I painted the other side black.
The rooms with closed drapes or blinds with be painted various colors on the board in back.This should give each room a different color glow when lighted.The open windows will either be covered with wallpaper or painted ,with maybe a picture or clock hanging on the wall for added interest.I will have to experiment a bit here with the colors and the intensity of the light.
Would my dollhouse friends who follow my posts have some good ideas on this ?
Maybe using LED’s ?
Well guys and gals after ten years I have finished up my fourth and last aircraft diorama for the Canada Aviation and Space Museum.I will be closing my thread “How to Build Aircraft Dioramas” as that part of my modeling career is now behind me.I have accomplished the goals that I set out for myself all those years ago and I am very satisfied with the way things turned out.
I will be moving on and actually going back to my roots 65 years ago when I got my first electric train set, except this time the new thread will be "How to build Railroad Dioramas ".
It has been a lot of fun and I have learned a lot but there is no sense in keeping this thread alive.To wrap things up I will post some pictures later in a new thread of my stuff on display in Ottawa.
Your not going to get rid of me completely though, as I plan on still lurking around and will soon start a new thread on “How to Photograph Your Dioramas and Vignettes” .
Cheers! John.
Ain’t a “Dollhouse guy”, but I lit a HUGE number of houses and stores back in my model RR days…
LEDs will give you plenty of light, but don’t forget that you’ll need to tie in 1/2-watt resistor… They WILL burn out if they too much current… But they last practically forever, otherwise… Grain-of-Wheat and the even smaller Grain-of-Rice bulbs will give a softer, yellower, more “room lamp” lighting effect though… Trouble with those though is that they A; burn out eventually, and 2: are hard to replace unless you really plan ahead with the fixtures…
While the LEDs are easier to maintain and last longer, I still prefer the softer light of GoW and GoR bulbs for room-lighting…
Don’t over-look the mini-lamps on Christmas lights either… They’re a fast source of cheap lighting… They can be mounted with their sockets, or pulled out and soldered right to the wire… They also work well for fiber-optic light-sources…
Well thank you for the info I will give it a go and see what I can up with.Cheers! John.
