Have anyone tried to use prototypical photos for the backdrop? How did you do it?
All I know, is to use my own digital pics through a program called Huge Picture Slicer. It works fair, but I can’t find where I downloaded the program from, so I am really not of much help at all.
I’ve not used photo backdrops yet.
Many digital cameras and the software that comes with them now have a Panorama feature. This allows you to take a series of pictures and then knit them together digitally. Photoshop also provides the tools needed for this.
The trick will be in coming up with suitable landscapes for the locations where you need the backdrops. I have panoramas for the Silverton area. One set I took for my own backdrop and the other I shot for a colleague on the Silverton list, with both looking from a certain angle to suit the location they would go on the respective layout. I painted my backdrop and may do more and I’m definitely NOT an artist. I used a backdrop painting how-to video by Greg Gray produced by Green Frog. He actually uses the Durango area for the example in his video, so it’s helpful if you’re doing Western US scenery. Thdere are several other such videos that others may be able to recommend if you do decide to paint.
I won’t be going to Colorado and Utah this year, most likely, or I’d offer to help you with pictures, whichever way you decide to go. The good thing is that the vacation season is just starting and there may be other member here who can help by taking some pictures while passing through, if you know what locations might be useful for you, or who even live near enough to shoot them for you.
These should be shot at a relatively high resolution in order to give good results when enlarged. Use of a tripod is recommended to get a series of shots that are easily knitted together, because using the tripod keeps the camera’s angle in the same plane with the horizon.
Here in the U.S., I’d take the resulting file to any copy shop, like Kinko’s, that does custom large format color printing, but I’m sure you have similar options in Sweden. Most likely, you’ll want it printed with a matte finish to blend in more easily with your scenery.
Hi Electro!
I use my trusty Canon Digital to shoot corn fields and hillsides around my home in Illinois. These are several Megapixel so stand up to being blown up and enlarged. I found a piece of software called “The Big Picture Program” which allows me to enlarge the images over many 8" 1/2 x 11" pages. I then print, trim and glue them together like a jigsaw puzzle. I trim off the sky and then glue them to my back drop.
Getting viewing angles right is important. Finding good transitions at the join is important. It is a bit of effort, but I think it can be very effective. So far I have done about 30 feet of backdrop this way.
When I did MY photo backdrops, I took the pictures with my trusty 35mm FILM camera - no concerns with pixels at all !!! After carefully observing and sizing the scenes in my viewfinder, I shot them all on 100 asa film. I also shot numerous scenes requiring up to six overlapping shots to get the width I required. I used print film so I could use the original 4X6 prints to see how they were going to fit together first. Once I was satisfied with the scenes I was going to use, at the time, most developers offer an option called a “poster print”. These are 2’X3’ and are a fraction of the cost of a traditional enlargement that size. Mine were around $12 each at the time. They come printed on standard photo paper and were surprisingly clear for being enlarged that much. And again, even being enlarged to that extent, there is no pixelation with a film enlargement.
Mark.
Mark,
Do you have any pictures to show? I’m very interested to see the finished result.
Sure here’s a few …
This one is just a generic hillside behind the cement plant. The white structure still under construction is only a couple inches in front of the wall …
These next four shots are taken considerably higher than the normal viewing level so to show the backdrops more effectively. This particular scene has had additional photos of homes overlayed onto the original backdrop. Two dimensional trees were added to the backdrop as well to increase apparent depth. …
This particular backdrop was shot off the top of the real bridge (Tunkhannok Viaduct) so as to replicate the scene as accurate as possible …
This shot uses a single poster print between two modelled hills. Again, the picture was taken off the top of Starrucca Viaduct for authenticity ! …
Lastly, this one is hard to distinguish in a photo. The three factories up front are all actual models and all the city-scape behind them is the backdrop photos. A total of four panned shots were used for the entire city scene …
Mark.
[bow][:O] You could fool any one in thinking the model was a real picture! I really like how you blended the hills with the photo. [wow] I wish I had that good of back drops![:O][bow]
Hi
I’ve used a Canon Powershot Pro 1 in panoramic mode to take a number of shots which some Canon software then “stitched” together.
I then used Adobe Photoshop to resize and retouch the image (remove some unwanted details) and enlarge the sky area.
The resulting huge file was then output on a big HP DesignJet (I forget which model). I had access to a DesignJet at my old workplace, but you could go to a Service Bureau (try the Yeller Pages).
Forgot to mention: my printed images are 6 feet x 2 feet.
Mark and Simon are both right Electro…The angle of the area you are photgraphing needs to be correct in it’s placement to the eye. I am modeling Fresno, CA and it’s in N scale and working with about 12-14" in N scale in depth in one area. I am using all digital photographs. I simply size them in Windows Word and then print them on regular paper and Xcto blade them out. Using rubber cement is the best way to adhere them. Here’s a few shots of this concept on my former HO layout and my current N scale layout:
Simon,
It’s incredible what a backdrop can do to the overall look. Looking great!
Mark,
I’m really impressed. It’s very hard to see what’s the backdrop and what’s not. The city scene is outstanding. I now understand how importent this is to make a layout look good. I will save your photos for future reference and inspiration. Thanks.
Chuck,
Impressive! Good work!
Wow guys, thanks for sharing!
Those backdrops are extremely encouraging for me. I take decent photographs (seem to have a decent feel for angles, perspectives, etc.), but could not paint my way out of a paper bag.
It is so encouraging to see what could be done without having to paint!
Thanks very much for showing your work!
Just some further notes:
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Inkjet ink is generally not color fast unless you get special super-expensive stuff. In other words, your images will fade considerably in a couple of years. I have some inkjet images I have printed out a few years back and the colors have faded dramatically. Thermal color printers also are typically not color fast. I have some images I printed out a couple years ago on thermal printers and they have all faded terribly.
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If you want long-term color fast images, you are better off to take your images (digital or film) to a photo processor and get them produced on photopaper. Photo paper will last much longer than inkjet print outs.
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Ordinarily when painting a backdrop you do it before putting in the foreground scenery since it’s much easier that way. You don’t accidentally crush forground details, and so on while trying to “get back there” to paint a backdrop. However, if you install a photo backdrop early like this, moisture from your scenery construction will ruin the photo backdrop. But installing a photo backdrop late in the scenery process now has all the problems of foreground scenery getting in your way and making it much harder to work on the backdrop.
So done right, a photo backdrop can look dandy, but it’s delicate and easy to damage if you do any scenery work after the fact. Even a photopaper backdrop can fade over several years time, more so than a painted backdrop. Artist acrylics and oils are designed to not fade and to last a lifetime or more.
I also subscribe to the notion that it’s the trains that should have the detail and a superdetailed photo backdrop is putting the detail emphasis in the wrong place. A more impressionistic backdrop actually helps emphasize the trains and foreground and doesn’t steal their thunder, so to speak. An impressionistic backdrop can still look quite good, as in this photo of my Siskiyou Line:
[img]http://siskiyou-railfan.net/e107_plugins/coppermine_menu/albums/us
You are probably right, again… [bow]
Electro:
Well, maybe. I’m not saying don’t do a photo backdrop, just be aware they are delicate and may not last more than a few years before needing to be redone. If I were doing one, I’d definitely go with photopaper over ink jet print outs. Painted backdrops do have the advantage that they will probably last the life of the layout (if it lasts a couple of decades or more, as some of the better layouts do).
Joe,
I really appreciate that you told me about it. Do you know when the DVD part 2 (about scenery) will be released? I have part 1 (and all other DVD’s) and I’m very satisfied.
For what it’s worth, the photo back-drops I used on my layout are now 14 years old a still look as good as the day I installed them - aside from having to reglue a few loose edges. My trainroom also is illuminated with strictly tungsten bulbs and no flourescents which I’m sure helps in the fading dept. that flourescents will cause. Also, the room is totally enclosed with no outside light sources (sun) to attribute to fading either. Aside from when I’m in the room, it remains in total darkness.
Mark.