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How to Photograph Your Models at little cost to you.

Discussion in 'Photography' started by JohnReid, Sep 1, 2011.

  1. JohnReid Active Member

    Country:
    Canada
    The car in the weeds is a 1/16th scale plastic kit that I weathered and stuck in the corner of a building.An interesting feature here is the brush.It is something my Huskey dog chewed on years ago and was left outside in the mud.The bristles weathered as you see them here and look quite natural as old dead grass.Nothing has been airbrushed,it is flat acrylics and pastels only.Here again I used a corner to add depth to the piece.The siding is called board and batten and is painted like barn siding.
  2. JohnReid Active Member

    Country:
    Canada
  3. JohnReid Active Member

    Country:
    Canada
    Here is a fun shot through one of the windows.The lighting is dollhouse from fixtures in the rafters above.Unfortunately these shots will never be available again and were taken during construction of the larger diorama.The interior lighting will be impossible to maintain in a museum setting which is too bad but at least I have the pics.
    This downshot uses the flooring to advantage for a 3D effect.There are a lot of square shapes in this piece so I took the pic at an angle to make it more interesting.I got lucky with the depth of field as my camera set this up automatically.Each pane of glass has its own reflective surface and is quite clear considering the problems usually involved when shooting through glass.It is high quality plexiglass with little or no distortion.
  4. JohnReid Active Member

    Country:
    Canada
  5. JohnReid Active Member

    Country:
    Canada
    Smoky and dusty with filtered light,your typical 1920's workshop.The pin up girl is Mary Pickford,a Canadian girl that went on to fame and fortune in Hollywood.Under the other light is Harley the company mascot sitting in the cockpit of a Jenny Canuck biplane.The darkened area beyond could lead to another room or to an outside porch.
    If I knew how to do it I would tone down the shiny hinge on the door as it attracts too much attention for my liking.This is another shot that I took when the diorama was under construction,there is an exterior wall where the camera is now positioned.I have again used the rooms corner and the open door and slanted window for increased depth.The lighting is again dollhouse with real bulbs screwed into in a modified Christmas bell type fixture.In this case out of focus is a good thing.The open window set at an angle adds a little interest and suggests maybe a hot and humid summer evening..
  6. JohnReid Active Member

    Country:
    Canada
  7. JohnReid Active Member

    Country:
    Canada
    I took a series of pics of my 1/72 scale HMS Victory as it sits in a case in my home.These pics were taken in a darkened room through a plexiglass case using nothing more than my camera on auto,a flashlight on a stand and a sheet of kleenex for a filter.By playing with the light and camera angles I could get specific shots of areas of the ship that I could get no other way.Here is my fancy set up:
  8. JohnReid Active Member

    Country:
    Canada
  9. JohnReid Active Member

    Country:
    Canada
  10. JohnReid Active Member

    Country:
    Canada
  11. JohnReid Active Member

    Country:
    Canada
    Here is another little composition that was made up of different elements temporarily brought together.The Model T on the left is actually a diecast and the one on the right a plastic kit.
    I enjoy doing relaxed poses where a lot of movement is not really expected.A driver catching a few rays of spring sunshine while waiting for the mail to arrive.The signs above the window gives us only a few hints about the storyline.
    The open door into another room ,the corner,the car pointing inwards all help to add depth to the piece.The colors of green,red , gray and various earth tones harmonize well with each other.

    The pic before this one is of the various parts required for one overhead light assembly.I had to make about 30 of them for this one diorama and wire them all together just for my own picture taking purposes.It will never be lit this way again.
    I will however send a copy of the pics to the museum to show them how it was originally intended to look when I built it.
  12. JohnReid Active Member

    Country:
    Canada
  13. JohnReid Active Member

    Country:
    Canada
    Sometimes I just enjoy taking pics of just nothing in particular such as this shot.The lines and shapes themselves can be interesting.Yes sawdust can create floors but it can also create airplanes.I wonder what this next board on the pile will become ?
  14. JohnReid Active Member

    Country:
    Canada
    Lighting my way.
    I believe that if you want old style lighting that looks like old style lighting in miniature, then that is exactly what you must try to reproduce, old style lighting in a miniature setting.Yes wiring,bulbs and fixtures just like they used to be.For my own work I have gone far out of my way to try to reproduce that look even though if as it turns out now it was only for my camera.My dioramas were never built for museum purposes although in the end it turned out that way.
    I have always had a thing for creating moods or atmosphere using lighting ,I don't know why but it has always been there for as long as I can remember.
    About fifteen years ago when I first looked into the subject for lighting my first diorama I relied upon the RR guys at my hobby store for basic information so I used RR type locomotive headlights for bulbs.I had no idea about the doll house scene at that time and their much easier ways of doing things,so I came up with my own handmade wiring plan.It was a nightmare but suffice it to say I did get it working using a train transformer as a rheostat.
    I never took many pics back then so I won't even bother trying to explain how it worked.

    The next diorama was simplicity itself .I took two five watt Christmas lights for internal lighting and lit the rest from outside using my hand held ,handy dandy reading light to create a barn like type setting.(see pic)

    The third diorama I went back to overhead lighting using fixtures,about 35 or so in all.Each one hand made using Radio
    Shack type wiring and doll house type bulbs this time but again using a train transformer which of course was overloaded so it had the nasty habit of turning all the lights out after about ten minutes.For my picture taking purposes I really didn't need them all on at once anyway.

    The fourth diorama,an outdoor scene has no lighting at all so far although I am planning a little lighting in the individual rooms behind the brick facade probably using LEDs.

    For the most part I am happy with the way it turned out for my own picture taking purposes, which is really why I did it this way in the first place.If I had used todays more modern ways of doing things I just don't think that it would have ended up looking the same somehow.
  15. JohnReid Active Member

    Country:
    Canada
    In the spirit of "a picture is worth a thousand words"I have started a new album in my photobucket site titled "Lighting" for those interested in how easy it is to obtain different lighting effects when using my method for taking pictures.Remember all it takes is a hand held camera with a stabilized lens and set on auto , a hand held light with changeable bulbs and
    most importantly your own individual creativity.Have fun !
  16. JohnReid Active Member

    Country:
    Canada
  17. JohnReid Active Member

    Country:
    Canada
    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 !
  18. HiroshiAirborne Active Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Outstanding work, John. I too use the flash light taped to the tripod handle method for photos. Your photos are magnificent, it's hard to believe that these are not 1:1 scale!
  19. JohnReid Active Member

    Country:
    Canada
    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.
  20. JohnReid Active Member

    Country:
    Canada

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