How to Photograph Your Models at little cost to you.

[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.

 

[John Reid]

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.

 

[John Reid]

 

[Tecumsea]

Thank you for posting this John it is interesting to see that you don't need a "Studio" these days to take good pics.

Keith

 

[John Reid]

Yes, it really is more about creativity than equipment.Thanks .Cheers! John.